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Give us a Twhirl

by Dennis Howlett on January 24, 2009

It’s getting to something when a tiny application that connects a few dots gets my attention. But then the noise in the Twitterverse around the new version of Twhirl last evening (and most of today) alongside the news that Wossy and Stephen Fry are extolling the virtues of Twitter cannot pass without comment.

Twhirl, which was acquired by my good pal Loic LeMeur has taken a 0.1 version leap forward by including a ton of connectivity that it didn’t have before. Like Hugh MacLeod, the thing that caught my eye:

Why keep your updates only for one social software while you could reach all your friends on all of them? Updating all the major social software is a great way of reconnecting with friends that are using only one–like the hundreds of millions on Facebook or MySpace for example! We have integrated Ping.fm goodness in Twhirl to achieve that goal, just get an account, add your services there and start talking to all your friends. You can even seamlessly send a video via Seesmic to all the social services you setup. Our friends at Ping.fm also added Seesmic recording from their update screen.

That’s the money shot.

I know Mark Lee thinks I’m tilting at windmills but Twitter has superceded my use of RSS as the prime means by which I learn about what’s going on in the world in which I am interested. It’s also the principle way by which people are finding out about the things I am concerned with. If adding in a few more connecting dots increases that reach with Twhirl then I’m in.

Tweetdeck? The ante’s just been raised.

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  • I've been a loyal Twhirl user for months after maintaining multiple Twitter accounts became too much of a pain via the web. While everyone else seemed to be evangelizing Tweetdeck, reviews made it seem as if it would facilitate a full-on Twitter addiction (I needed a tool that made Twitter as useful as possible without making it so easy to get engulfed in the site that I forgot about other useful modes of communication and connection), so I passed. Twhirl accomplished what I wanted. After a tiny honeymoon period, of course.

    As for being able to update across multiple sites, call me old fashioned but I am still reluctant to tie together Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc to the point where updating is nearly automatic. There is too much of an overlap and I hate to automatically inundate my connections with the same information. Each site has its own set of connections, and its own individual purpose, at least to me. I'd like to keep it that way.

    But good for Twhirl. I'm glad to see they might just overtake Tweetdeck after all.
  • If that's what they have set-up, not so bad.

    I refer to the sites that want your password and login ID to every single service you use - pass!
  • Andrew - think logically. You sign up to gazzillions of services, all of which want a y/n and p/w. Sharing them among those same services isn't a big deal if it gives me connectivity. Is it? If so then how do expect that global systems are going to interoperate?
  • I guess I don't value connectivity as highly as you.

    After the recent twitter security breach, my wariness level hasn't decreased! :p
  • @andrew: that's why a bunch of us are working on ESME - secure form of Twitter for serious people like thee and me. :)
  • Only problem is I'm still deeply suspicious of services that want my login credentials to multiple services... :p
  • Why - that's what open APIs are all about?
  • Twhirl was the first client that helped ensnare me into Twitter. Then TweetDeck came out to offer grouping, which helped focus on main followers. Until today, I thought TweeDeck was headed toward the finals in the desktop client race.

    If Twhirl adds a few more functions (like groups), I may return to it as my primary interface. TweetDeck's move I guess.

    ++++

    re: Mark Lee's thoughts: As long as anybody takes Twitter seriously, they will never get anything out of it. It's like being serious about telephony. Once you realize what a stupid, absurd and inane contraption it is, you'll then see that tiny sliver of utility: that utility is different from person to person imho.

    Final remark: I can think of many ways for Accountants to use Twitter (in fact, I can think of thousands of ways accountants could violate SEC laws - but I don't think that should discourage its use). I'd love to see more accountants on Twitter (not just public ones, but all the other varieties). Twitter's as useful and useless as the peeps tweeting.
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