In the end I decided to install both Seesmic Desktop and TweetDeck.  TweetDeck is prettier, gives off a cool vibe, like you’re cool for using it.  Be part of the cool crowd and use TweetDeck.

Seesmic isn’t as cool looking and has kind of a cartoonish icon.  My first impression was not as good and I ended up using TweetDeck more.

But I went back to Seesmic and am staying with it for a few reasons.

1. When you look at your replies in Seesmic you can determine to which tweet was the reply you made.  I cannot figure out how to do that in TweetDeck.
   Update 07-27-2009: Previously when I clicked on the “in reply to” in TweetDeck it would not work.  But for my newer replies it is working and it displays it nicely in the client instead of opening a new browser window like Seesmic does.
2. In TweetDeck whenever you shorten a URL with bit.ly it does not associate this shortened URL with your bit.ly account.  Since it does not do that you cannot track how many times people clicked on your URL.  In Seesmic you can configure it to know about your bit.ly account by giving your username and API key (which you can find in your account settings).
3. This is more qualitative but Seesmic has been developing their product at a faster pace.

For now I am going to stay with Seesmic but considering the rapid pace and competition amongst the various Twitter desktop clients, I might be switching again soon.

What Twitter desktop client do you use and why?

Related posts:

1. To Do Lists
2. Twitter, Facebook and My Blog
3. Proof that Twitter has Entered the Mainstream

Twitter is pretty fascinating.  Please kill me if I start twittering things like “Going to bathroom.”

Related posts:

1. Twitter, Facebook and My Blog
2. Twuffer for Scheduling Twitter Tweets
3. Why I Use Seesmic Desktop Instead of TweetDeck

Then came bit.ly.

Now there is a new competitor, su.pr.

Su.pr and bit.ly both do similar things:

1. shorten URL’s
2. post to Twitter
3. track your links

Su.pr has the following advantages:

1. posts to Facebook
2. very rich tracking statistics which are updated quickly
3. tracks retweets
4. automatically posts your link to StumbleUpon
5. can schedule posts in the future

You can easily set up your Twitter to automatically post to Facebook but in some cases you may not want to do that.  I started using su.pr for my new LoveNorthKorea blog because I didn’t want to automatically post to Facebook from my @luvnorthkorea Twitter account.

Bit.ly has the following advantages:

1. Bit.ly URL’s seem to be 1 character shorter.
2. Bit.ly tracks if your shortened URL has also been shortened by others and tracks how many people used your shortened URL.
3. Bit.ly makes it easy to copy the shortened URL so you can reuse it.
4. When you click on a bit.ly link you go directly to the page.  When you click on a su.pr link you have a StumbleUpon toolbar on top so it feels like you are in the StumbleUpon world.

I can see some advantages to having the StumbleUpon toolbar on top of the page.  It allows users immediate access to their StumbleUpon account and makes it easy for them to vote up or down the page.  On the other hand though it is a bit intrusive.

What do you think of the StumbleUpon toolbar? Click here to see an example of what I mean.

Update 07-27-2009: I have become too frustrated with the intrusive StumbleUpon toolbar.  I am no longer using su.pr.

Related posts:

1. Twitter, Facebook and My Blog
2. Why I Use Seesmic Desktop Instead of TweetDeck
3. Redirect to Login in User Permissions Plugin

I searched for a way to schedule tweets for a future time like I schedule blog posts.  Three different services showed up at the top of my search, Tweet Later, FutureTweets and Twuffer.  Tweet Later immediately turned me off by how ugly they were.  FutureTweets looked the most attractive but then I realized I had to register for its service.

With Twuffer I could simply use my Twitter username and password.  It proved pretty easy to use its service which I did to schedule tweets while I was on my cruise vacation last week.

Related posts:

1. Twitter, Facebook and My Blog
2. Proof that Twitter has Entered the Mainstream
3. How to Schedule Posts in WordPress

I asked a friend how to automatically post to Twitter and Facebook whenever I write a new blog article and he pointed me to twitterfeed.  This started an interesting Web 2.0 journey.

1. Went to twitterfeed.
2. Tried to register and realized I needed an OpenID.
3. Went to myvidoop to register for an OpenID.
4. Returned to twitterfeed and logged in using my OpenID URL.
5. Logged in to my twitter account on twitterfeed.
6. Created a bit.ly (URL shortener that does more than TinyURL) account to use with twitterfeed.
7. Created a feed for my blog.
8. Went to Facebook and added the Twitter application.
9. Linked Twitter to Facebook by clicking on the link “Want Twitter to update your Facebook status?”
   Update 07-27-2009: I now use the Tweetpo.st Facebook application instead of the Twitter Facebook application.  It is much better as described in this Mashable article.
10. Realized I needed to turn off protected status in my Twitter account.
11. Went back to Facebook and clicked on the link “Want Twitter to update your Facebook status?”
12. Posted this blog and hoped that twitterfeed works.

Update 06-02-2009: I decided to turn off twitterfeed because I did not like the tweets it created.  I realized more since to create them manually and try to enter as much information as possible since people do Twitter searches on the tweets.

Related posts:

1. Block Facebook from tracking you
2. Proof that Twitter has Entered the Mainstream
3. 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

Today I tried Remember the Milk which seems to be the most highly recommended and works with Jott and Twitter.  But I was quite unimpressed, it wasn’t too intuitive.  Even something as simple as editing took me awhile to figure out.  I then tried Ta-da Lists which is more intuitive but again I find myself going through different screens to do simple things like rearranging.  I even checked out 30 Boxes To Do list which is good but you have to go through the calendar to get to it.

Now I am back to Netvibes.  It’s To Do list is really great, it’s one small window and you can do everything in that window.  It’s about as close as you can get to a desktop application while having the convenience of online accessibility.  Overall I’ve enjoyed using Netvibes to check email on all my accounts, see my Facebook and Twitter information, check weather, RSS feeds, etc.

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