Are you new to Twitter? Have you simply been signing onto the Twitter website to check your tweets or tweet about something new? You’re missing out on the amazing world of applications for Twitter: applications developed by outside parties to improve your Twitter experience and connectivity. Settle back as we walk you through some of the most popular Twitter applications around.
- Übersocial. Formerly known as Übertwitter, Übersocial recently underwent some problems when Twitter suspended them for having “Twitter” in their name and for permitting direct messages to go over 140 characters. Twitter unsuspended the application after Übersocial acquiesced to Twitter’s demands. Übersocial is popular with users due to its logical layout and its ability to mark tweets as “unread.” Even with all the Twitter drama, Übersocial remains one of the most popular Twitter applications around, particularly with BlackBerry users.
- Echofon. Echofon is an add-on for Firefox. The application sits in the righthand corner of the Firefox status bar. Users can set tweets to “pop up” onscreen as they come in or have them quietly collect in the application until it’s clicked on. When clicked, a pop-up window appears in the corner that lists the user’s unread tweets. Tweets with @ mentions to the user are highlighted in green.
- Hootsuite. Hootsuite has been taking the social networking world by storm since the multi-platform website and application publishes notifications from all leading social networking outlets, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, PingFM, Foursquare, and WordPress. While casual users may find the capabilities intimidating, Hootsuite is a must-have for those heavily into social media for business or branding.
- Twitpic. Twitpic is one of the must-have popular twitter applications because it allows users to publish photos directly to Twitter. Twitpic is universally available. Users can also comment below the tweeted pics. Users can also choose to publish the location where the picture was taken.
- Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck is a massively popular application that works on the iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome, or desktop. Like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck is able to combine multiple social networking accounts into one streamlined feed. Users can choose from multiple Twitter interfaces to be displayed. Tweetdeck also has an “in-house” URL shortener so users can instantly shorten the links they want to share. Furthermore, Tweetdeck allows users to separate the people they follow into groups. For example, users can make a “family” group or a “co-workers” group.
Be sure to sample around and find the application that’s right for you. Before you know it, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without your newfound Twitter application.