SheGeeks

Daniel Crenna, a Microsoft MVP, recently expressed his thoughts on why Twitter clients don’t matter in the long-run. According to Daniel, the focus could shift from clients to applications in the true sense of the word: “unique software that solves a particular need, whether broad or niche.”

While I don’t disagree with Daniel on whether Twitter clients don’t matter, he’s helped me define why Twitter Clients will continue TO matter to ME. It’s because of where they could be headed:

“I think Twitter clients really do matter. Web apps are great. They’re portable and once you’re done with them you can simply sign-out and move on. However, that could lead to users constantly hopping from place to place just access one application. Would you rather do that or just live in ONE Twitter client?

I think Twitter clients will eventually evolve into social networking clients, making them far more important standalone apps or features.”

This is a comment I left on Daniel’s post.

Respect My Conglomerate

In the next level, things will surely become a race of who can conglomerate the most apps in the most visually appealing client. However, those that started as Twitter clients are no longer just Twitter clients. They’re dipping into other prominent and bubbling social networks such as Facebook and FriendFeed.

That’s because it’s not just about the features or the apps. Sometimes people just want an easier way to tap into their network. Other times, people just want one place to use their most common apps for their favorite social networks. Twitter clients solve this now and save a lot of tab space in my web browser while doing it.

Which only makes me wonder if these clients will eventually become branded as social networking clients or something along those lines…

What Do YOU Think?

What do you think is the next level for Twitter clients?

• How will they evolve?
• What will they integrate?
• What apps will eventually get lost in the midst of things?

Popularity: 63% [?]

…then I’d advise you to listen in on the latest podcast from The Social Geeks (iTunes) starring myself, Chris Miller, Sarah Perez, Wayne Sutton, and Caleb Elston.

In Two Personalities, we discuss some of the problems we’ve been having with multiple social networking profiles and how we’re handling them, the new Blackberry App Store, iPhone 3.0, and a few more good topics. Diigo bookmarks for points of reference are listed below:
             

TheSocialGeeks Podcast Bookmarks

• The Apps Battle Heats Up - BusinessWeek
• AT&T: New iPhone will be hot, son : Boy Genius Report
• Preview: iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 1 Software Walkthrough | The iPhone Blog
• Twitter Confirms Paid Pro Accounts On The Way
• Skimmer brings your social streams to the desktop | Webware - CNET
• Skimmer Screencast & Review - The Social Networker
• louisgray.com: How To Cleanly Separate Personal and Work Social Media Personalities

Popularity: 29% [?]

Following over 700+ people on Twitter can become one of the most tedious and time consuming tasks of social networking. People are constantly following you and unfollowing you. All you really want is for people to stick around, the opportunity to build your very own micro-community, and for people to listen and be listened to in return. So there’s a bunch of tips out the web on how to increase your followers on social networks. Assuming you plan to follow most, if not all of those new followers, here are are 4 reasons why you probably don’t want to do that.

1. Too Many Connections To Manage

The biggest problem that occurs when increasing your followers/following count is managing those connections. It becomes harder to keep track of why you followed someone or why someone may have followed you. As the list increases it also becomes harder to follow your “real” connections & those that are just information firehoses. If you happen to be experiencing this problem now, check out 2 Great Apps For Cleaning Your Twitter Contact List & Tweetsum.

2. Decrease In Connections

Ah, the decrease in connections. I won’t keep you long on this. In fact, just head over here: Decreasing Connections While Increasing Our Networks.

Maybe growth on some of these networks isn’t the best thing in the world. Should there be self-imposed limits on how many people you befriend? No because in the end, while your network growth may increase, your connection with your network still increases. However, the rate at which the connection can increase actually decreases. Did that make sense? Unless your friends are constantly questioning you or keeping tabs on you, it’s going to take a lot longer to make deeper connections the more your network grows.

3. Increase in Noise

AHH, the noise! Twitter can become a horrible place when off-topic noise suddenly floods your Twitter stream. People are forever changing their minds or expanding their interests. In doing so, those new followers may have absolutely nothing in common with what you relate to on Twitter or current followers may become irrelevant to you. Do you really want to constantly prune through thousands of followers just to continuously get a better signal-to-noise ratio?

4. Getting Off Topic In Your Stream

In turn, taking part in these off-topic conversations can change the flow, context, and content of your own Twitter stream. With an increase of followers comes the task of staying on topic and not abandoning your “original” audience, which I like to think of as the first 400 people to follow you.

Professional Advice

In the end, an increase of followers can also increase any headaches you already have with Twitter, and make room for new problems. Connections can be severed and your pleasant Twitter experience can become a nightmare. So please, think twice before increasing your followers and those you’re following. You don’t have to follow everyone back. You shouldn’t follow everyone back. STAY FOCUSED!

Popularity: 27% [?]