My Online Thoughts & Pontifications

We’ve heard from multiple sources that Twitter is likely to have a big-time partner for such a service: Apple. Specifically, we’re hearing that Apple’s new iOS 5 will come with an option to share images to Twitter baked into the OS. This would be similar to the way you can currently share videos on YouTube with one click in iOS. Obviously, a user would have to enable this feature by logging in with their Twitter credentials in iOS. There would then be a “Send to Twitter” option for pictures stored on your device.

Be interesting to see how this one plays out tomorrow at the Keynote. Can't quite see why Apple would want to do this myself but you never know

The rumor mill has been churning Monday afternoon with reports that Twitter is working on its own photo-sharing service that would compete with the likes of Twitpic and Yfrog.

TechCrunch first reported the tip, citing multiple unnamed sources, Monday afternoon. And now All Things D seems to have confirmed the story as well, going so far as to say the service will be announced this week. ATD‘s story also cites unnamed sources, but claims the announcement will be made at its own conference, D9, this week in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

via mashable.com

Looks like Twitter has definitely decided to take control of as much of the user experience with twitter as possible. Gone are the days of just being an API/Pipe company!

Ben Brooks on Tweetbot:

While I have yet to decide if I like Tweetbot any more, or less, than I like the official Twitter app — I did note two annoying things:

1. The app doesn’t have the “one” single feature that is unique to it.
2. The app feels like a nice wrapper of eye candy applied over the existing apps out there (mainly the official Twitter app).

I agree. Tweetbot is a very good app, but I’m sticking with the official Twitter app for now because it’s also a very good app, it seems faster and more responsive to me, I know it’s not going anywhere, and I already know how to use it efficiently.

Full-featured Twitter clients need to have so many features that switching has a learning curve and an indirect cost. It’s not difficult, but it takes time to develop the habits to navigate each app efficiently.

A new Twitter client that essentially offers the Twitter app’s features, but in different places, isn’t enough of a difference for me to switch. If anything, it supports Twitter’s “don’t make full-featured apps” position. Maybe they were right.

This isn’t to say that Tweetbot shouldn’t exist as an option for people who really do like it a lot better than all of the other full-featured Twitter clients. It really is very good. But it lacks significant reasons why anyone should switch to it if they already like their Twitter client of choice.

I couldn't agree more with the points made by both Ben Brooks and Marco Arment in their blogs today.

While I will happily acknowledge that Tweetbot is a great Twitter client with a fabulous looking user interface, there isn't any one feature that stands it apart from my existing Twitter client of choice, TweetList.

While I will keep it on my iPhone and use it occasionally for the novelty value, Tweetlist still retains its privileged location in my iPhone's dock and I cannot see that changing anytime soon.

There has been a lot of excitement about this app since Tapbots first teased us about it a year ago but now finally Tweetbots has arrived in the wild!

Yes its another Twitter client for the iPhone, as if I didn't need another one, but all the feedback that we have been hearing from beta users like John Gruber is extremely positive.

Brief highlights of the functionality available includes:

◆ Multiple Timelines. Quickly switch between your lists as your main timeline.
◆ Smart Gestures. Use Twitter more efficiently with time-saving and configurable gestures.
◆ Customizable Navigation. The last 2 tabs are customizable and unused tabs are easily accessible.
◆ Support for multiple services like Read it Later, Instapaper, Cloudapp URL Shortening.
◆ Save drafts, add locations and POI's, attach photos and videos, manage your lists, and much more.

Nothing awe inspiring in the feature list but their blog post really emphasises the work they have put into both the gesture system and the integration of lists into the main timeline. Does it have enough to get me to switch from my current Twitter app of choice, TweetList? I'll report back once I have had a chance to try it out in earnest.

Have a look at the demonstration video on the Tapbots website and then get over to the App Store and give it a spin for yourself.

Mr Sarver, head of platform and API at Twitter, used the company's software development discussion board to outline its changing policy.

In it, he said, Twitter's growth in the last year from 48 million to 140 million Tweets per day had forced it to think about how users get at the service.

Before now, many people have spurned the official Twitter application or client in favour of alternatives such as TweetDeck, Seesmic, Echofon, HootSuite and others.

In the blog post, Mr Sarver posed the question of whether building Twitter clients was going to continue to be a good business to be in.

"The answer is no", he wrote.

As somebody who actively chooses to use third party applications over the official twitter ones, so as to support third party developers, statements such as this are extremely worrying. While the Twitter app on both the Mac and iPhone, formly know as Tweetie, are extremely good, there are other equally good if not better solutions out there. With Weet (iPhone and Mac) and Twitterific (Mac) my current personal favourites.

Imagine if this was Microsoft or Apple making statements such as this about their platforms, there would be complete uproar!

While I am sure there will be suitable ranting over this statement it does point to a worrying trend for web start-ups who opened up their service to gain traction and wide spread exposure but are ultimately struggling to monetise their success.

I have every sympathy with Twitter and their situation but cannot believe that they are seriously considering this dramatic change of course. My guess is they are putting out this extreme position to then allow them to rail back to something less aggresive which people would then be prepared to accept, which they wouldn't have it it was the original suggestion. This is a tactic we have seen used by other larger organisations in the past to great success.

My guess would be changes in the T&C's of the API to force third party apps to use Twitter driven advertisements for instance within their timeline for instance, with a potential share of the profits to pasify them. This could see the end of free clients on most platforms which rely on advertising to support them but as always time will tell.

The first Mac app I downloaded this morning after finishing the update to Mac OS X 10.6.6 was Twitter for Mac 2.0. This is the app formerly named Tweetie, and it's a free download from the Mac App Store.

I did exactly the same myself and have to admit to being slightly underwhelmed by it myself.

I was a big fan of the original Tweetie but got frustrated by the lack of updates and moved onto other clients. I'm currently using the Weet beta on my Mac, am extremely pleased with it and will be immediately purchasing a license when it hits version 1.

Personally I think the problem with Tweetie 2, or Twitter for Mac as its now called, is that while it stood still other apps overtook it and all this release has done is caught its competitors up.

Don't get me wrong this is still a fabulous application and because its free it will be first choice for many people.  You can download it from the Mac App Store right no, just remember there are other equally good options out there, especially if you are prepared to invest a few quid!

Kevin Rose (of Digg fame) has today launched a new podcast and private email newsletter called Foundation.

Why private? Well interestingly he is charging $3.99 a month to receive it and for that you'll receive the videos without ads a week before anybody else, along with product reviews, rants, rumors, and early access to pre-launched websites.

Its definitely an interesting approach and knowing the connections that he has, I am sure there will be some really insightful content there.

As mentioned above you can still get all the video content for free, all be it a week after subscribers with ads. In the first Kevin talks to Jack Dorsey, the creator, co-founder and chairman of Twitter and the CEO of Square. The conversation talks of entrepreneurship, decision making, trial and error, and the path Jack took that lead to the creation of Twitter and Square.

Watch the interview yourself above and to signup for the private newsletter visit http://foundat.io/n.  

Trickle (US$0.99) is refreshingly different. It does just one thing, and it does it very well: it displays the latest tweets of people you're following in bold white Helvetica letters on a black background. That's it. You can't use the app to respond or come up with your own clever tweets; you just read 'em as they come in. Developer Caleb Thorson refers to the app as a "passive Twitter client."

I have been using this myself for a number of weeks now and I have to say its a great way of consuming Twitter, especially if your iphone or ipad just sits on your desk all day.