Software : In Depth: 17 best Twitter apps for 2011

In Depth: 17 best Twitter apps for 2011

Posted: 22 Feb 2011 08:37 AM PST

From deposing dictators to slagging off X Factor contestants, Twitter is everywhere

The microblogging service has become a very big deal very quickly - so big, in fact, that Google and Facebook have both been making goo-goo eyes at the firm.

Mobile app stores are stuffed with Twitter clients, but what about when you want to tweet from your PC or your Mac? In our opinion, these are the best Twitter clients to use.

Chromed Bird (Chrome) - Free

Installing Chromed Bird adds a little birdie next to Chrome's spanner icon; click on it and you've got Twitter. It covers the essentials: timeline, mentions, DMs, favourites and even lists. It's very customisable and unlike most Twitter clients, it hides away when you're not using it.

Chromed bird

DestroyTwitter (Windows, OS X, Linux) - Free

Written in Adobe's AIR, DestroyTwitter is a multi-platform client which promises ultra-low memory usage, support for additional services including Foursquare and Gowalla and handy filters to get rid of unnecessary tweets. The default interface is a bit hard on our ageing eyes but themes enable you to completely customise DestroyTwitter's appearance.

DestroyTwitter

Sobees (Windows) - Free

The desktop version of Sobees is written in .NET so it's a Windows-only job, although if you're running the Silverlight plugin you can access a browser-based version too. Sobees supports Facebook. MySpace and LinkedIn as well as multiple Twitter accounts.

Sobees

Blu (Windows) - Free

This very pretty Windows client doesn't do anything particularly spectacular but if you want a good-looking program that covers the Twitter basics, then Blu does the job.

Blu

Mixero (Windows, OS X, Linux) - Free

Multiple accounts, inline image previews and lots of options for organising and filtering Tweets make Mixero one for the power-Twitter crowd. Don't use the Mac theme, though: it's vile.

Mixero

Buffer (Firefox / Chrome) - Free

A clever idea brilliantly implemented, Buffer stores your tweets in its titular buffer and sends them at the pre-defined times you specify. The free account gives you a ten-tweet buffer that can post three tweets today; paid accounts dramatically increase the buffer size and tweets per day, support multiple accounts and start at $5 per month.

Buffer

Echofon (Firefox, OS X) - Free

The excellent, minimalist Echofon for iOS and Mac is joined by an equally excellent Echofon for Firefox add-on (formerly known as TwitterFox) that floats above your browser window, which is particularly useful if you're constantly clicking links in people's tweets or posting links yourself.

If you need more features, the desktop version handles multiple accounts and easy file attachments and is free if you don't mind the odd ad. $20 gets shot of them. Both desktop and Firefox versions sync with the iPhone version, which is clever.

Echofon

Tweetdeck (Windows, OS X, Linux, Chrome) - Free

In addition to its popular iOS and Android apps, Tweetdeck is also available as desktop software for Windows and OS X or as a Chrome extension. The desktop version is the prettiest but the Chrome extension hasn't exactly been bashed with the Ugly Stick either, and the multi-column layout makes it easy to stay on top of not just Twitter, but Facebook, Foursquare and Google Buzz too. If you like the new Twitter website, you'll like this.

Tweetdeck

Twidget (OS X) - Free

Twidget is simple and straightforward: it's an OS X dashboard widget that shows your timeline, enables you to post and can automatically link replies together to form conversations. Er, that's pretty much it.

Twidget

Seesmic (Windows, OS X, Linux, Chrome) - Free

Seesmic is available in several forms: as a desktop Adobe AIR application, as a web application and as a Chrome App. The latter has a few bugs - text rendering went crazy a few times on our Mac - and it's not the prettiest, but there's support for multiple accounts and multiple services including LinkedIn, Foursquare, Facebook and Google Buzz together with integrated translation and the option to schedule tweets for later posting.

Given the choice between the Chrome/web apps and the desktop version, we'd go for the desktop one: it's a nicer place to spend time in and integrates with more services including Google Reader, Formspring and Gowalla.

Seesmic

Twitterrific (OS X) - Free / $9.95

A typically elegant multi-platform offering from the Icon Factory, Twitterrific comes in OS X and iOS flavours. The updated desktop app is free for single-account use, while $9.95 zaps the ads and enables multiple accounts and windows. Version 4 brings a redesigned interface, inline picture viewing, the ability to view conversations and integrated picture and video uploading. It can also translate tweets from other languages.

Some of the best Twitter apps have been for iOS and Android, but now the Mac App Store has launched it's already filling up with Twitter software. The current crop includes the following interesting offerings - and Twitter's own official OS X client.

Twitterific

Twitter (OS X) - Free

The app formerly known as Tweetie is a bit of a Marmite affair, with a non-standard OS X interface and, on our machine at least, a tendency to crash every time we retweet something. It's a very polished client, though, and it's particularly good at displaying Twitter conversations.