Learning Social Media: What Twitter Clients Will Do Next
Apr 26 2009 
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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?
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Twitter clients DO matter, for the same reason that thick client applications have always mattered – they make specific tasks easier.
Having said that, what we term “thin” and “thick” client functionality is steadily converging – and with the advent off V8, and other similar projects, applications hosted in browsers may well evolve far further than most are predicting.
Twitter clients would be dead soon. Web applications are the way in, that require no client installations.
I prefer a client, too, preferably:
- native, not AIR-based
- that is basically a tweet management system
- that allows me to work offline as well.
Twitter clients don't matter. Just like one network or the other doesn't really matter in the long run. What DOES matter, is exactly what you said: Social Networking clients. Multi-network clients with their own additional “glue” features. Peoplebrowsr is the first of these to really take broard swatch of the social networking landscape. A couple have taken much smaller steps, the look and features of Peoplebrowsr are what we will start to see more of in the near future. Multiple netwroks, specialized search utilities, and back-end profile “glue” to hold all your friends together across the various networks.
I agree that clients do matter if that's the route that users want to go. That said, I think clients will thrive by providing multiple features. For example, TweetDeck has lots of potential by taking its core goodness, and extending it. A good start would be offering access to multiple accounts.
Mark
I'm with you. Clients just seem like the best way to manage not only Twitter, but social networks in general. Especially for sites that you live in!
I actually believe that Twitter applications offer a huge opportunity for developers to exploit the Twitter's essential functions.
For example, healthcare apps that build upon Twitter's API could provide value to patients. Not only can these applications help to track patients' data but they could also provide responsive feedback. I can think of commercial applications for using Twitter.
In my opinion, I don't think we've seen the beginning of creative & innovative uses for Twitter. It's a new frontier, and I'm sure some smart peeps will figure out how to build remarkable services on top of Twitter. Let's hope Twitter gets over its architectural problems.
I agree that social network clients will be the 'next new thing'. I will take it one step further and predict SNCs will overtake ALL social networks themselves as having one feed where all those you pay attention to (for whatever reason) fits much better into today's busy lifestyles.
I use FriendFeed to view Twitter updates, Facebook and am looking forward to adding more of my social IDs and friends/associates as they join the service.
I'm looking for a client that's already set up to supplant FF if necessary. I'm not complicated and don't really want to do more than separate professional contacts from personal, political influencers from business and music industry related sites/friends/contacts from everyone else on ALL the social networks I belong to and be able to communicate w/them all from one client. Anyone got one like that already? I'll snap it right up. :-)
Molly
Molly
Twitter clients like all software will live and die by their utility. There really isn't one size fits all in software. I expect to see many more clients, all differentiated by what they can do for the user. I am sure nobody can say that they have found the ultimate Twitter experience. We still need and want more features, at least i do!
My intent wasn't to suggest that Twitter clients “don't matter” in the sense that they don't bring utility to users, streamline certain tasks, and are headed towards social desktop aggregation. I was referring to the idea that clients-as-specific-entities, i.e. TweetDeck, don't really stand up as business models on their own due to the surge of popular choices, and the fact that all of these applications eventually must converge into a standard. The real innovation is in the applications / extensibility clients provide, and not any one specific client can gain enough share simply by throwing features into a bag. When I say clients don't matter, I mean clients will eventually resemble each other beyond hope for any competitive advantage. You keep that advantage by building unique applications that leverage whatever client you happen to endorse.
My intent wasn't to suggest that Twitter clients “don't matter” in the sense that they don't bring utility to users, streamline certain tasks, and are headed towards social desktop aggregation. I was referring to the idea that clients-as-specific-entities, i.e. TweetDeck, don't really stand up as business models on their own due to the surge of popular choices, and the fact that all of these applications eventually must converge into a standard. The real innovation is in the applications / extensibility clients provide, and not any one specific client can gain enough share simply by throwing features into a bag. When I say clients don't matter, I mean clients will eventually resemble each other beyond hope for any competitive advantage. You keep that advantage by building unique applications that leverage whatever client you happen to endorse.
I've about this in a similar vein with regard to the hype about cloud computing (http://banapana.com/the-hive/a-hybrid-standard-...). A hybrid of cloud/desktop computing will win the day. The simple fact is, wireless access will never be 100% dense and 100% available (or reliable). It's ridiculous to think that users will be satisfied with the idea that they should just go without those services in the interim.
yes,, that twitter version give me more traffic everyday…
then i can help my network to publish there product affiliate …
thank bro share that info
yes,, that twitter version give me more traffic everyday…
then i can help my network to publish there product affiliate …
thank bro share that info
yes,, that twitter version give me more traffic everyday…
then i can help my network to publish there product affiliate …
thank bro share that info
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