Twitter Applications

Twitter has become extremely popular during the last couple of years. Tweets range from everyday comments to vital information during emergencies and crisis. Thus, many mobile devices and computer applications have been created to facilitate tweeting.

Just to get an idea, I used an iPod touch and searched “tweet” under the App Store. There were at least 20 applications from which to choose and download. Some are free and some aren’t. I downloaded three applications: Twitter Inc, Tweetboard, and Tweet. The first is the website in a mobile form. It provides the exact same buttons as it does on the web. The retweet, #, and @ buttons are all included. Personally, I find this one to be the easiest to use out of the three. I might be biased in that it is the exact model I use online and prefer to keep the knowledge for both. In addition, it is quicker and provides the other tweets by scrolling upwards instead of having to reload a page or wait. In this application, one can also chose to unfollow or follow other tweeters.


The second model I downloaded to test out was Tweetboard. What got my attention for this app was the image of a sun and clouds; very colorful and inviting. Once downloaded, I noticed it was rather different than the Twitter Inc application. Instead of a list of tweets, it provided a specific amount of pages, each for one tweet. At the bottom there is a button provided so that one can scroll quicker, but I feel it takes up too much time and space. The page does provide a button for one to retweet and reply but only for the tweet on the page. In order to create a new tweet one must press the “New Tweet” button but it does not provide the symbols from the first application. It is more difficult to hashtag and reply to a fellow tweeter. Unlike the first app, Tweetboard does not include the following abilities: hashtag, geotag, shrink URLs, or use the photo library.


Tweetboard compared to Tweet, however, seems to do much better. Many reviews I read were upset that with every tweet a commercial after it. Some of the customers called it “Spam machine.” Others said the application would crash on multiple occasions. In my case, it wouldn’t download at first. After multiple attempts, I was finally able to access it. However, I was in the luck group of the “crashing incident.” I was unable to really test it out. Therefore, I went to the reviews. However, not all of the reviews were negative. Some really liked the features included and the price as well. But most of them found it too difficult to manage. One review said they need help finding the settings.

All in all, I prefer the Twitter Inc application. But there are other similar applications as well. It just depends how patient a person is and how often they use twitter in order to choose the right application for them.