This article was originally written in October 2009 for Plugged In Lawyer, a blog about social media for lawyers.
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The goal of Twitter is to amass followers and people that you follow. Following all the data that comes with that can make your head spin.
Making sense of all that twitter input can make your head spin, and plenty of companies have stepped in with desktop applications to help you out. Mashable did a great review a couple months back comparing 19 different apps for power users, mac users and pc users. The screenshots are excellent and each review lists pros and cons. The application that gets the most buzz from the commentators I follow is TweetDeck.
The thing that annoys me about these applications is exactly that they are “desktop” — as in one desktop. I happen to work across two desktops — my office and my home office. Should I ditch one desk and go mobile? Doesn’t seem likely until Verizon and Apple make nice with each other. Dump both desktops and go netbook? Somewhat appealing, but I sure like the dual monitor set-up in my home office, and any kind of a docking station arrangement is out of the question at the office.
Does anybody know why a web-based Twitter application is apparently not available? Jayne Navarre over at Virtual Marketing Officer (the woman has great taste in free WordPress templates, by the way) suggests making a Twitter dashboard with iGoogle. It’s an idea that is appealing for it’s ease of set-up, but it sure seems like there should be a better web-based solution. Anybody know something that I don’t?
Update: I’ve discovered HootSuite and I’m in hoot heaven. My initial research says the smart money is on running both, but for me — one thing at a time. Hoot dog!
