Twitter App Picks: Windows 7, Windows Phone 7, Mobile Devices
Twitter is a social networking phenomenon, a great way to keep up with people, sure, but also with news in general. Here are some great Twitter app picks for Windows 7, Windows Phone 7, and alternate platforms like Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, and Google Chrome.
May 1, 2011
Every time I venture out of my home office cave and into the real world, I'm forced to confront the ways in which other people go about their days. This takes many forms, some aggravating--the horrific driving techniques of Boston-area commuters, for example--some entertaining, and some informative. On recent back-to-back business trips to Las Vegas, for MIX'11 and then Mobile Connections, I stumbled upon the latter type of experience, noting that virtually every single one of my peers--fellow reporters, bloggers, and industry speakers--spent a surprising amount of their day glued to Twitter, or more specifically, to a third party Twitter client.
This behavior has always amazed me. Done badly, Twitter can be like cable TV, with far too much content, most of it crap. But the difference between Twitter and cable TV is that, with cable TV, you can at least focus on one thing at a time. If you're not careful, Twitter is all noise, as if every "channel" were on simultaneously. It can be overwhelming.
Too, my time is at a premium. I work long hours, seven days a week, and even when I'm supposedly relaxing--watching movies, playing video games, reading, or whatever--I'm still working, sort of, with email, calendar, and at least one in-progress article or blog post at the ready. (This behavior is inarguably unhealthy and I've always strived for a better life balance. But that's another story.)
I joined Twitter years ago, immediately didn't get it, and then was chastised into using it more correctly, or perhaps in a way that was at least thought to be correct. Turns out, I was still blowing it, and as my lists of followers and those I follow grew, Twitter became unmanageable. And as you may imagine, my Twitter usage simply dropped off.
For the past couple of weeks, then, I've been reacquainting myself with Twitter, because I feel it's a valuable way to interact with people who care about the same technology issues that I do. And because, as I strive to whittle my list of those I follow down to a more manageable and meaningful list of people who really matter, it will be a great way to keep up on emerging tech trends as they happen. This, of course, is how much of the rest of the world uses Twitter--within their own interest circles of course--and maybe it bears further discussion.
For now, however, I'd like to focus on Twitter apps for various platforms. And within the context of the Windows 7, Windows Phone, and mobile app picks I've been doing lately, I'd like to offer up some Twitter client picks for each. These, of course, are a moving target, and if you're going to start using Twitter you can and should experiment with any number of clients before picking the one that makes the most sense for you.
Here are the ones I really like and can recommend.
Windows 7 app pick: MetroTwit Beta
App type: Twitter client
Publisher: MetroTwit
Price: Free
Download MetroTwit Beta
Inspired by the Zune PC software, Long Zheng, David Golden and Winston Pang have created a similarly styled Twitter client called MetroTwit, which features a nice multi-column design, a handy Conversation view (my favorite feature), Windows 7 taskbar integration, and more. If you like the Zune look and feel, MetroTwit is for you. But even if you don't, give it a shot, because some of its easily found extra features are priceless.
MetroTwit Beta
Windows 7 app pick: DestroyTwitter
App type: Twitter client
Publisher: