Jul
11
12 Days of Twitter :: Day 10
(What the heck are the 12 days of Twitter?)
Since I started the 12 Days of Twitter series, I’ve had conversations that have come up about Seesmic. Given the interest, and yesterday’s announcement from Seesmic, I decided to devote today’s Twitter Tip to them.
Seesmic has two free products – Seesmic Desktop, and Seesmic Browser, which was released yesterday. I mentioned Seesmic briefly in my post about TweetDeck. From that, you know I use and love TweetDeck. Before TweetDeck added multiple account support though, Seesmic was what I used to deal with multiple twitter accounts. I’m ultimately a TweetDeck girl, but whenever I suggest someone use TweetDeck, and they say it’s too much for them, I recommend Seesmic instead.
After many, many conversations, I get the impression the two applications appeal to completely different types of people. If you like TweetDeck, Seesmic might not meet your needs. If you like Seesmic, TweetDeck might come across as information overload. Both companies are doing a great job at appealing to their kind of user. I gave a run down of TweetDeck earlier. Today’s all about Seesmic, so let’s take a look at what they have to offer.
Seesmic Desktop
Seesmic Desktop uses columns for your Friends, Replies and Direct Messages. It’s fairly simple, while still offering the ability to include saved searches, rearrange your columns, and view the application in single or multiple columns.
Those of you who want simple and small can choose the Single Column view in the bottom left corner. You can also click the three arrows above Home to shrink your navigation menu.
When you’re ready to reply to someone or send a Direct Message, hover over their icon and hit the @ symbol to reply publicly, or the Mail icon to reply privately.
It also has Userlists, which are customized groups. You can group your personal friends in one userlist, your family members in another one and your co-workers in a third. Click the “+” icon in the left column beside “Userlists”, and name your group. To add people to a group, hover over their icon, click on the Gears icon and choose “Add to Userlist”.
Seesmic Browser
Yesterday, Seesmic released a new browser option. You don’t have to download a separate application. At first glance, it looks pretty similar to Seesmic Desktop with the Timeline and Mentions columns, but the single view button changes everything. Click that and you get a list of your messages in small rows down the page. Leena Rao from TechCrunch points out, that it looks very similar to the Gmail interface. I love that they’re thinking different. They’ve taken an interface and a format so many of us love and they applied it to Twitter.
Just like Gmail, you’ll see a star beside the person’s name. This will add the tweet to your Favorites list, but I’ve been using it to mark tweets I need to respond to later. Once unstarred, it’ll be taken off your Favorites list.
You can click the message to see the person’s picture and respond. The other cool thing is Messages, where your DMs are kept. Your private conversations are threaded, so when someone sends you a Direct Message and you respond, you’ll see the entire conversation in one place…very nice!
I imagine they’ll be updating Seesmic Browser and adding a few more features in the near future. The Single Column feature on Browser is a huge plus for me, and one that I will encourage me to use Seesmic more often.
Read More
Introduction to the 12 Days of Twitter
Day 1: The Secret Code: What are all those initials and symbols?
Day 2: Use TweetDeck to Manage Conversations
Day 3: Share Your Funny Anecdotes While They’re Still Funny
Day 4: Follow Responsibly
Day 5: 3 Newbie Mistakes Made by New Tweeters
Day 6: Use Twitter Search to Connect and Find
Day 7: Twitter Mobile
Day 8: Five Awesome Things You Can Do with Twitter
Day 9: Mix It Up!
Day 11: Twitter for Prizes and Profit
Day 12: Schedule Tweets in Advance
At last, found it, be very! I’ll make sure to subscribe to the RSS feed from here on it.
