tweetie

As you may have heard, there’s a new Twitter desktop client in town and its name is Tweetie. Formely an iPhone Twitter app, it was released today as Tweetie for Mac. It’s a feature-rich native client, not something built using Adobe AIR (like most other popular Twitter clients).

I’ll link out to some of the in-depth reviews I’ve read about Tweetie for Mac.

Tweetie for Mac: Better Web Worker Soluton?:

So what do I really think of Tweetie, in the end? The design snob in me wants to love it, declare my devotion to it, and never look at another Twitter client ever again, but the pragmatic web worker in me can’t justify using it for more than casual purposes.

If you’re only following a few people, and you use Twitter for personal rather than professional purposes, then by all means, get Tweetie. But if, like me, you care more about what’s under the hood than the bodywork, stick with Nambu for now.

Is Tweetie For Mac Right For You?:

Tweetie’s approach to saved searches is drastically different from the rest — you’ll either love it or hate it. Instead of adding a new column to your Twitter view, saving a search (select Window -> Open in a New Window from the menu bar) detaches the search term in a new window. Sure, you could position it wherever you’d like, but the new windows for saved searches defeat the purpose of Tweetie’s single column approach.

Hands-On: Tweetie for Mac Shakes Up Twitterverse:

Developed by AteBits, Tweetie’s interface is so clean you would think it came straight out of Apple headquarters. The best part about the app is it separates your feeds based on their type: Timeline, @ replies and direct messages. A bonus is the ability to add multiple accounts, which you can switch back and forth between by simply clicking on an account icon. Also, by clicking on the icon of a magnifying glass, you can perform a quick Twitter search.

We can’t applaud AteBits enough for Tweetie’s design. The message bubbles are reminiscent of iChat, the Mac’s friendly instant-messaging client.

Tweetie for Mac OS X: TUAW Hands-on:

One of my favorite features of Tweetie for Mac is the universal Tweet shortcut. I’ve mapped mine to (CMD-T) so that I can quickly tweet no matter what app is currently in focus. I’ve also mapped hiding Tweetie to Shift-Command-T, so that I can hide the app when it isn’t in use. This helps me be more productive. TweetDeck is nice, but I always get the feeling that I’m spending all my time staring at Twitter, instead of you know, working.

First Look: Tweetie for Mac

Loren Brichter, the developer behind atebits, has not yet warmed up to the popular custom groups feature that other clients like TweetDeck employ. As to whether groups will arrive eventually in Tweetie, Brichter only says that “’Maybe’ is the best answer I can give right now.

Still, this is not exactly a great solution for users who want to filter the users they already follow into, say, one group for news organizations and another for notable users who tweet about a specific topic or industry without having to maintain more than one account.

Tweetie For Mac: A Powerful, Native Twitter Client For The Masses:

And while the app doesn’t offer a true columned UI, it does offer a compromise: Tweetie allows users to break search queries into their own windows, which I actually prefer to having one giant unwieldily window taking up my screen. That said, a few of the navigation options are a little awkward, and the application will feel foreign for the first few days that you use it, especially if you’re coming from a multi-column client like TweetDeck.

Tweetie isn’t for everyone, but I suspect its mix of power and simplicity will appeal to quite a few people, particularly those who find other Twitter clients intimidating.

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More articles about Twitter:

  1. SpreadTweet: Use this Sneaky Twitter Client at Work
  2. How to Add a Retweet Button to the Twitter Web Interface
  3. Twhirl 0.9 is Released, Offers More Useful Features
  4. 3 Ways to Work Within Twitter’s 140 Characters Limit
  5. Tweetree: A Better Way to View Your Twitter Stream

Filed under: Reviews of Twitter Clients