Sometimes, new phenomena show up in Internetland that, at first sight, make you wonder about who would really need this. But keep an eye on them for a while, and you may notice a few things about them that make it well worthwhile to try them out yourself, after all. Twitter is one such phenomenon, and now that I'm finally ready to give it a try, I could use some help.
When Twitter arrived on the 'Net scene, my first reaction was, "Right, I so need even more information to flood my already ADD-stricken digital life. Who wouldn't want to know which of their friends has packed which sandwich for lunch break today..."
However, it seems as though, when used thoughtfully, Twitter is a nifty extension to blogs for those things you'd care to share, but which aren't really worth launching your favorite blog editor for. Using Twitter for asynchronous status messages looks especially enticing: share your availability status like you would via the status menu in a chat application, but without having to remain online and without requiring your friends and contacts to be online at the exact time your status changes. And the 140 character limit imposed by Twitter may be just what some folks -- myself included, methinks -- need to keep their messages short, sweet, and to the point.
Well, theorizing is fun and can make for great -- and very cheap -- "brain training," but personal experience is something different entirely, so, having just signed up, I'm all set to give Twitter a go now. And this is, where you, dear valued and hopefully Twitter-experienced reader, come in.
What Mac desktop client would you suggest a Twitter newbie should use? From what I could gather so far, Twitterific seems to be the benchmark for Twitter clients on the Mac. Would you agree? Are there any services or utilities that you consider essential when using Twitter? TinyURL seems to be a pure necessity when sharing longish URLs. Any others? And what about "best practices" for maximizing Twitter's usefulness?
If you're using Twitter yourself, I'd appreciate any tips and hints you'd be willing to share, either in the comments below or in the discussion in our forums. And just in case you'd never even consider signing up for something like Twitter, that would make for some great insights, too, so please chime in as well!
Many thanks in advance for any choice morsels of information you'll be sending my way. Oh, and don't worry about the length of your comments: there's no 140 character limit on O'Reilly's websites just yet...
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Thanks for all of your comments.
kubi:
At first, I felt tempted to "follow" a lot of people, but eventually only added a (literal) handful, whom I know personally and whose Tweets I find interesting, which, indeed, does wonders for preventing that feeling of "drowning in information."
Grover:
"drift in and out of the conversation at will"
That's very similar to how Andy Ihnatko described Twitter on the MacNotables podcast: to him (as a writer who spends a lot of time alone in front of the computer screen in his home office), logging into Twitter is the virtual equivalent of getting up from your cubicle desk, walking over to the water cooler, and engaging in a chat with your colleagues.
Obviously, in an office with "real people," talking to them will always beat Twitter hands down. Then again, if it doesn't, there might be a more fundamental problem to solve than wondering about how to use Twitter in a meaningful way. ;)
poo:
My first impression of Twhirl, admittedly based solely on screenshots, was that its UI is that little bit more cluttered than Twitterific's. With those added features, though, I think I'll have another, closer look at it.
Thanks for the tip!
Adam:
Adium's versatility is really impressive, but not being much of a fan of doing too many things in a single app, I think I'll stick to a separate Twitter client at least for now.
I use Adium. I'm sure there's a point to using a dedicated Twitter client, but I'm satisfied piping everything through IM.
Both Twitterific and Twhirl are great Twitter clients. I tend to prefer Twhirl for myself since it offers some more customization and has a built-in URL shortener. It also allows me to browse user profiles and add/remove people from the app itself.
As far as I'm concerned, Twitteriffic IS Twitter. Aside from Hahlo on my iPhone, it's the only way I use it.
Also, the TinyURL service if fairly invaluable. It puts a "Shrink URL to Clipboard" option in the services menu, making it much easier to paste in pre-shrunk URLs without having to pull up the website.
http://www.riverdark.net/board/index.php?showtopic=339&hl=tinyurl
I think marketing Twitter as an extension of blogging is a mistake, since I don't know anyone who uses it that way. Instead, think of it like an old-school IRC chatroom where you can drift in and out of the conversation at will. And only people you invite are in on the conversation. Just don't make the mistake of treating it like MySpace or Facebook and start following everyone in the world. I only follow people I actually know in real-life, and it's become an invaluable tool for staying in touch with those folks.
If you have an iPhone, Hahlo is a great client. http://hahlo.com/
Otherwise, when I first started using Twitter I thought it was pointless and quit after a few weeks. The second time around I started subscribing to the feeds of people that weren't necessarily my friends, but were interesting anyway (Leo Laporte, John Gruber, Diablo Cody, JetBlue) and found myself enjoying it a lot more.