originally posted on www.stopthinksocial.com on October 6th 2010
One of the best things about Twitter, and what has made it such a success, is the fact that you are not restricted to one particular user interface. In addition Twitter is accessible on multiple platforms (e.g. on the desktop/laptop, on a mobile phone, and even on a Tablet computer such as the iPad and upcoming Android Tablets).
In the coming weeks I will be writing a series of posts, each focusing on a particular platform and taking a look at some of the best Twitter interfaces available.
This week we will start by looking at which is the best Twitter interface for the desktop/laptop computer and the top 3 interfaces I have chosen to review are:
- the official Twitter web interface
- TweetDeck
- Hootsuite
OFFICIAL TWITTER WEB INTERFACE
Go To: http://twitter.com
Put simply this is the original Twitter interface which you can get to from your web browser.
However, as you read this article Twitter are about to roll out a brand new web interface on the 14th October and if you want a sneak preview of what this interface will look like then watch the video below.
The Case For And Against
Prior to the update I would not have recommended using the Twitter web interface. Instead I would have pointed people to third party applications such as TweetDeck or HootSuite, which I will discuss later. However from what I’ve read (my account is not yet updated to the new interface) things have improved greatly.
This upgrade has given users greater speed, efficiency and a richer user experience. One of the biggest additions to the new web interface is the image and video integration from within Twitter.com itself, so you no longer need to leave the site. In addition there are now some nifty keyboard shortcuts and a much better way to track conversations.
Some features are still missing though from the new Twitter interface that third party applications do provide:
- No automatic url shortening
- No columns – a huge selling point of some of the third party applications
- Inability to monitor and post to multiple Twitter accounts
- Can’t schedule Tweets
- No integration with other social tools such as Facebook and LinkedIn
Frank’s Verdict
Given that I have yet to see and use the new web interface, for now I’m sitting on the fence. However I’m disappointed to see that some key features from my favourite third party apps, are still missing. I’ll try it out, but I honestly cannot see myself using it on a regular basis.
TWEETDECK
Go to: http://www.tweetdeck.com/
TweetDeck is a free third-party desktop application that works on both the PC and the Mac. This is probably the most popular Twitter interface afterTwitter.com.
The Case For And Against
Originally TweetDeck for the desktop was built to interface only with Twitter. However in 2009 they started building in new functionality to allow the user to integrate with other social tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, MySpace and FourSquare.
For me one of its strongest selling points is its capability to monitor and update my different social profiles from a single place.
TweetDeck was also one of the first Twitter applications to introduce columns and groups as a way of organising your Twitter friends. For me this is really important, as I’m able to see at a glance if there are any new Tweets where I’m mentioned, or if I’ve any new direct messages. I also like the fact that you can create columns using Twitter Search, which makes it easy to follow content that you are really interested in.
Some other great features of TweetDeck are
- Automatic URL shortening
- Twitscoop – use of tag clouds across all of your columns to see trending topics
The main disadvantage of TweetDeck is that it is quite resource intensive on your machine. The Adobe Air platform on which it runs demands a lot of processing power and consequently slows everything else down.
Another frustration is when using multiple machines as it is not intuitive on how to synchronise your customised layout and preferences. You can do this by setting up a TweetDeck account, but this is an unnecessary extra step.
The ability to schedule Tweets is extremely useful, particularly if you want to Tweet at the optimum time which generally means during working hours. Whilst you can do this in TweetDeck, it is much easier to do this in Hootsuite, which we will look at next.
Frank’s Verdict
I have used TweetDeck for quite a long time, however as my laptop got older I started experiencing significant performance issues, which prompted me to look for an alternative. Tweetdeck is definitely worth looking at if you want a flexible Twitter experience, however do not consider this if you have a machine with performance issues.
HOOTSUITE
Go to: http://hootsuite.com
Hootsuite is a website that allows you to manage multiple Twitter profiles as well as other Social Media profiles such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
The Case For And Against
There are a lot of similarities between Hootsuite and TweetDeck, at first glance. For example you can update and follow multiple Twitter profiles as well as profiles in other social tools such as Facebook and LinkedIn. You also use columns to organise your content.
However, one of the big differences is that Hootsuite is web based and therefore doesn’t require a lot of processing power to run and subsequently you don’t get the performance issues that you can get with TweetDeck.
For people who want to pay, Hootsuite also offers a Pro Plan which includes a useful analytical service to track activity on your accounts. This is very useful for people who are using Twitter for business purposes.
The steps to schedule updates via Hootsuite is very easy to follow. This means that I can time my tweets for various stages of the day, accounting for different time zones and audiences, therefore maximising the exposure of my Tweets.
However there is not an automatic url shortner in Hootsuite, so you still have to copy the url into a separate field and click to shorten. Also you cannot clear columns to remove the tweets you have already read and you have to use ‘tabs’ if you want more than 10 columns (something i hate!).
Frank’s Verdict
Hootsuite is a fantastic Twitter application for the desktop/laptop computer. The ability to easily schedule tweets, plus the fact that you can have a consistent look and feel across multiple machines make it a great choice.
CONCLUSION
If you were to ask me which to recommend of the three, it’s a close call between TweetDeck and Hootsuite. However if you want access to analytics and don’t want to be hampered by poor performance, I would recommend Hootsuite.
I’ve been using Hootsuite for about 6 months now, after using TweetDeck for around 2 years, and I honestly have no regrets about making the switch.
Let me know your thoughts. Do you agree or disagree with my selections? Do you use a completely different tool when working with Twitter? Please let me know in the comments.
