So, About This "Twitter" Thing...

If I were to start using Twitter, what's the best way to go about that? That is, what interface to the service makes it the least annoying to use?

It would be a nice bonus if the package in question could handle multiple accounts, too. I will probably sign up as myself to try things out, but the real point will be to create a Twitter account for the dog, for book promotion purposes. It'd be nice to be able to post things from either account without having to switch programs.

(That's not a deal-breaker, but it would be nice...)

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I would recommend Tweetdeck as your Twitter client. It's cross-platform (via Adobe AIR), allows for multiple accounts and can post status updates to Facebook at the same time.

Mashable has lots of good resources on how to use Twitter for various purposes.

Twitter's not just about output though there are lots of interesting folks to listen too also.

Have fun.

I recommend using Friendfeed as your Twitter client. There is a checkbox that allows you to choose whether to cc something that you post to FF to your Twitter account. I don't know whether it allows you to have multiple Twitter accounts, but it should be easy enough to find out.

Advantages:

- Since you are already on FF, you don't have to bother learning a new application.

- Since it is web-based, you don't have to have another application running on your desktop that keeps bothering you to look at it when you are trying to do other things.

- Friendfeed is awesome!

- You don't have to bother with multiple webapps that do similar things. I post some of my FF stuff to Twitter, which then posts automatically to Facebook, so I only have to post things in one place.

- Running everything via FF avoids most of the multiple posting issues that a lot of people run into. If you post to Twitter via FF then it automatically knows not to post the same tweet back to FF again.

Disadvantages:

- At the moment, FF doesn't allow you to track your @replies, so you will only see them if it is from someone you are following on FF. This is a big disadvantage if you are someone who gets into a lot of Twitter based conversations.

- You have to remember to subscribe to everyone you are following on Twitter on FF also so that you can see their tweets via FF. If they are not on FF you can make an imaginary friend to do this.

If you don't want to use FF then I recommend just using the Twitter website. Sure, there are better features in desktop clients, but it only matters if you are going to be a power-user, i.e. mainly if you are planning to follow hundreds or thousands of people.

don't drink the web 2.0 kool-aid!!!

:)

I use twhirl - supports multiple accounts open simultaneously, something which tweetdeck as far as I know doesn't do.

twhirl if you follow a small enough number of folk to track then in a single stack

TweetDeck if you need to sort the folk you follow into groups to organize the following when you get to the many hundreds or thousands.

Both are multiplatform (AIR) and both allow multiple accounts.

I use twhirl. I tried TweetDeck and liked the flex it has, but did not follow a large enough contingent to make it worthwhile.

Like #2, I also use Seesmic Desktop. I have 4 twitter accounts going (my own, 2 for my cats to entertain my fiance while he's at work, and one for the club I was webmaster for last year) and my Facebook account.

The 0.3 update which just came out allows you to post to multiple accounts at once. It shortens URLs, add images, and does searched.

My only peeve is that it's not smaller. They're working on it though.

By CrankyAshley (not verified) on 18 Jun 2009 #permalink

Twhirl and Seesmic desktop are by the same company. (fyi)

By CrankyAshley (not verified) on 18 Jun 2009 #permalink

If you plan on using Twitter from multiple desktops, you might want a web-based client rather than a desktop client. I like TwitHive, which does some of the same multiple-account, multiple-search things as Tweetdesk.

Anyone have any advice on how to get twitter on my at&t sony ericson cell phone?

By John Farrell (not verified) on 19 Jun 2009 #permalink