Google+ and how it could help with political activism online

With the exception of underwear, Google seems to have become directly involved in every aspect of our lives. By introducing the Google+ social network a couple of weeks ago, they now aim to become a hub for our personal interaction online with our friends, as well as our social circles.

How’s Google+ different from Facebook and twitter?

One of Facebook’s strongest points is the home screen;  a simple way of finding out what’s going on with your friends and loved ones. We might be taking it for granted, but the level of interaction on Facebook is quite phenomenal. You can share a photo or video, with a title, description, and your own comment. After that, people can ‘like’ it and comment. So it becomes a stream of interesting, relevant topics, each with its own interaction.

However, on Facebook, you have to ‘friend’ people to interact with them. This means that they will be able to access your photos, updates, etc. Of course you can have different levels of security, but a) it’s a bit too complicated for the average person not willing to waste time on settings, and b) people can tell if they’re on a limited profile and it becomes quite awkward (we all know that feeling).

On the other hand, there’s twitter. Here you can follow anyone and everyone, it has nothing to do with whether or not you know that person. It’s ideal because you customize your timeline to the extent that almost all of the tweets showing up are of interest, because you’ve chosen whom to follow. However, all you have are the tweets with links. You don’t have ‘likes’ that indicate how many people support the update (you have retweets, but it’s not that same), and you don’t have comments organized on that particular update (each with the possibility of ‘like’ing it as well).

That’s where Google+ comes in. You add people to your ‘circles’ – you can have as many as you want, and add the same person to more than one circle. You don’t need to be friends, so just choose whoever you’re interesting in following. When you open Google+, you get a home screen almost identical to that of Facebook: updates by people with images or videos, description, ‘plus’es (exactly like Facebook’s ‘like’). The big difference, however, is that you have the different ‘circles’ to choose from.

For example, you can create a circle called ‘Alexandria’ where you follow any of the people you know of (but don’t necessarily know personally) who will be updating about anything going on in Alex. You might think this is like a twitter list, well in a basic way it is, but if you have a list on twitter with Alexandrians, the tweets show up in reverse chronological order regardless of their content, and the interaction with the individual tweets is not visible.

With Google+, you can click on the Alexandria circle on the left to filter all of the updates on the home screen, and you’ll see the updates with the thumbnails (or the videos to be viewed directly), and the ‘plus’es as well as the comments. Moreover, it’s automatically sorted according to the updates with most interaction relevant to you.

This is obviously assuming that everyone you’re after is on Google+. With over 20 million users already, and the ease of joining and inviting, it’s hard to see why you would face a problem. Also the mobile app (I’ve installed it on my Android) is pretty slick.

So that covers the major differences in comparison with Facebook and twitter. The following are some other features that I don’t see as important, yet they’re worth mentioning:

• Messaging, which Google called ‘Huddle’ is an attempt to make it easier to send and receive messages with people on Google+. It is similar to Facebook messages, only there’s a separate mobile application to save taps and give you direct access to the messages. It’s meant to be lightweight, and you can send messages to circles. Time will tell how useful this feature really is.
• Video chat with multiple users is an impressive feature. Realistically, though, I doubt it’ll catch on
• Backup photos and content to be shared later, or remove your entire account – something Facebook doesn’t let you do

As a social network, it’s got a sleek interface and some neat features. But let’s get down to business, we all know that socializing is what you do when you’ve got spare time, but Egypt and the Arab world are busying revolting.

How could we use Google+ for political activism online?

While Facebook was always the tool for discussion with friends and acquaintances, twitter took political activism online to a whole new level. The main reasons include the ability to follow those who bring you relevant updates, the simplicity in tweeting and sharing images straight from your cell phone wherever you are, as well as constant updates when on the ground at the scene.

Now that Google+ combines a bit of both, if it picks up in Egypt and the Arab world, it could be huge.

Firstly, you can use the circles for political activists. For example, you could have a circle for ‘Journalists in Egypt’ where you follow about 30 of the journalists who are actively updating. You will then have the opportunity to ‘plus’ any of the updates, and engage in comments. Other circles could depend on geographical location, so that if things get ugly in Suez, and mainstream media ignores them as usual, you could keep on eye on that circle to see the most significant updates (with less interactive/relevant updates not getting in the way and being pushed towards the bottom).

You can also create circles on the fly depending on the ongoing events. For example, if there’s a sit-in at Madrid’s main square, Sol, going on for the week, you can drag a few of the Spanish activists who you know will spend the entire week at the demonstration. Any content shared will be visible – but only if you filter by that circle, which means you’ll only see it when you feel like it.

Another advantage could be Huddle, the messaging system. If you are coordinating with a groupwho are active and on the ground with you, you could add them to a circle and easily message them directly if needed. Any sort of political group should make use of that so that if any member faces trouble, he or she could let the entire group know immediately by getting their attention, but at the same time without having to broadcast it to the world.

Facebook, then twitter, and now Google+

As an organization, regardless of its nature, Google+ facilitates the collaboration on the different tools already offered by Google, such as Calendar, Docs, etc.

If Google+ picks up, as it probably will, it won’t replace Facebook or twitter. In my opinion, it’ll make Facebook focus on friends and loved ones (as oppose to have 1,000 ‘friends’ on your list who you couldn’t care less about). It’ll also affect twitter by making it specialize in broadcasting news and minute-by-minute updates, but not discussions and arguments.

It might just fit into that pocket and complement.

In conclusion, I think Google+ could actually reduce the disadvantages of Facebook and twitter, making all three exist side-by-side. If the web spreads to the majority, then I think all three social networks, but especially Google+ and twitter, will be huge.

Let’s not forget, however, that political activism online can only do so much – it all comes down to taking the streets. That’s where revolutions happen.

Case study video: ME app social media campaign

A case study of ME, a mobile application that acts as an infotainment portal. This video shows how we were able to generate interest from the target audience to download and and register to use the free app, provided via Mobinil. It was a bit of a challenge because the app is mainly in Arabic and targets the masses, many of which are not easily accessible via social media,  and are not entirely comfortable with mobile applications.

In Egypt, some professionals in the field of new marketing jump to the conclusion that you can do almost anything with social media, but as Tarek Nasr argues in his blog post, we’re quite a distance from the new world. Having said that, I think this campaign showed that you can still make remarkable achievements. And it’s the people who decide.

Citizen journalism: My voting experience in Egypt’s elections

The Egyptian parliamentary elections are infamous for controversy and tension. This time around, it was yet another example of forgery, violence and chaos from the ruling National Democratic Party. However, with social networks and technology where they’re at, these particular elections were the chance for citizen journalism to shine, and that’s precisely what occurred.

I used some basic tools to share my voting experience, here’s how you could do the same:

• Bambuser on Android
  Using my Google Nexus One, I’ve broadcasted videos live using Bambuser. Creating an account in Bambuser (or Qik, both almost identical) takes a minute, after which, all you need to do is install the software on your phone, and you’re good to go! One of the advantages of Bambuser is that it recommends a certain resolution and quality based on your connection speed. I hid the phone in my pocket to avoid any problems, although in hindsight, I probably could’ve recorded it all openly. There are many phones supported
• twitter
  Needless to say the micro-blogging giant is the way to go for citizen journalism. I have an active twitter account and therefore already have a base to build on. It is important to stay in the loop with the event’s hash tag (in this case #EgyElections), and notify people ahead of time that you will be broadcasting live. I also have my twitter account linked with Bambuser, therefore a tweet is automatically generated as soon as I start recording
• Facebook
  Like twitter, Facebook could be linked to your Bambuser account, which automatically posts the video to your wall when it’s ready. This allows for Likes and comments, which takes engagement to the next level. When you’re finished, you’ll notice that ALL of your videos have been posted, so it’s good practice to remove the one or two that you could do without
• Adobe Premiere (or any video-editing tool)
  Another advantage of Bambuser is the ability to download the flv file and use it for simple editing. No need to worry about making it look professional, just focus on making it simple, straight and to-the-point. Dump all of the different videos in the timeline, making them as short as possible, and run through long, tedious moments
• Vimeo
  When complete, if over 15 minutes in length, it would be too long for a standard YouTube account, in which case Vimeo is a good alternative and highly recommended. Upload your video, filling in the title, description and tags, and you’re ready to roll!

Citizen journalism is not only a privilege, but also a responsibility, especially given how easy it is to document and present your experiences across the different media. My video is quite boring, so I hope you all do a better job!

It is only a matter of time before old-fashioned dictators and their thugs fail to control the population, and the web will be the way in which we will all exchange information and simultaneously mobilize. This is only the beginning, and it’s all uphill from here.

How to create a basic awareness campaign with Social Media; a live case study

Design by Taha Belal

When you want to carry out a campaign to raise awareness about an issue, and/or encourage action, Social Media should be one of your main tools. In this post, I want to share with you how a group of colleagues and I are putting together (yes, as we speak) the campaign to raise awareness about Marks & Spencer’s support to Israel and Zionism, in an attempt to disrupt its plans to open new branches in Egypt later this year. With limited time and resources, we wanted to do the basics, and build on it from there. Many find themselves in similar situations, and therefore, I wanted to share you with the case study live, as it is happening.

This post assumes that you have done your research and have your facts ready. Ideally, you would have some sort of strategy, but let’s assume that there’s nothing set in stone, and we want to get as much out there as possible.

With each step, I’m referencing our ongoing campaign against Marks & Spencer.

1. Domain and web page
   It’s absolutely necessary to have a web page (if not a full fledged website) with its own domain. You could sign up for a subdomain with WordPress or a similar service, but having your own domain would be significantly more effective. In this case, we bought http://marksandspenceregypt.org (as well as the .com that forwards to the .org). The advantage here is that, with time and a bit of work, the page could very much come up in search results for M&S in Egypt. Moreover, it’s a domain that M&S themselves would want, which makes it even sweater!
2. Designing and developing
   No branding is necessary, but you should have some sort of logo to make the campaign recognizable. It is best to ask a friend who can draw in Illustrator or Inkscape to come up with something simple in 30 minutes – anymore, and you’re risking time loss. Remember that it is important to keep the momentum.
   If you have the time and the dedication, make it a blog (using WordPress, of course. You can see my tutorial on setting up your own website/blog with WordPress). However, if you don’t think you’d be able to keep up (and in most cases you won’t be able to), then a static website/single web page is gold. Make it straight and to the point – no one wants to read much (and you can always add links to the sources for those who doubt you). With the M&S campaign, we’ve listed 15 facts with a link at the end of each one. We might put together a simple video illustrating the points, which would obviously be even more effective.
3. Ability to share page
   If sharing is three clicks away, then it’s a waste of space. Visitors must be able to spread the title of the campaign, as well as the URL, with a click of a button. With M&S, we’ve added the tweet button, and the Facebook share, positioned at the left of the browser constantly. At any point, users can send out a tweet (mentioning the twitter account – discussed below), or make a wall post on their Facebook profiles. You might feel tempted to provide links to all of the social networks out there, but who are we kidding? All you need are the two big boys, don’t waste time/space on the rest (remember that simplicity is key).
   It would be a smart move to make the first image that appears in the HTML of the web page be the logo/header of the campaign. That way, when people share to their Facebook walls, the thumbnail automatically selected by Facebook is an appropriate one.
4. Links to Social Network profiles
   After creating a twitter account and Facebook cause (see below), you ought to place corresponding icons to your profiles on each. That way, one someone visits the website, they immediately know that they can follow you on twitter and/or your cause via Facebook. You’ll notice that we’ve placed the twitter and Facebook icons at the top right, next to the header.
5. Create a twitter account
   While you could use an already active twitter account, it is best to create a new one solely for the campaign. That way it is specialized and gives you the privilege of  asking for support without providing valuable content in return (as would be the case with any normal twitter account). Moreover, it encourages people to follow your account so that they can take part in the initiative, as oppose to supporting someone who happens to be doing it.
   Make the logo the avatar, write a concise bio and link to the website. Give yourself the freedom to blatantly ask people for support, after all, you’re part of a cause, not trying to fool them into buying your product. Also change the colors and background so that it doesn’t look generic (takes a minute). Our twitter page @MarksSpencerEG has followed those guidelines closely.
   Generally speaking, start following those who you know personally, as well as the ones who would seem to be interested in the cause. Also, follow everyone back, it’s a neat little thank you for choosing to follow you. When your number are close to each other, this means that a) you’re likely to reach more followers, and b) it implies that you tend to follow people back, which will act as a motivation for people to follow you.
6. Create a Facebook Cause
   From your Facebook account, search for ‘Causes’ (an application), and create a new cause. Fill out all of the information and add the logo you already have. After that, invite the friends you know are most likely to join (adding a personal message to ensure it), and allow it to publish to your profile. This should create enough buzz to get you 20 or so members to start off with. After that, invite 75 every day (the daily limit) until you’ve gone through all of your friends. Check out our Facebook Cause.
7. Tweet, post and spread the word
   Tweet 4-6 times a day. Any less and you’re not taking advantage of the direct connection you’re established with the people, and any more and you might repel people who’d feel their timelines have been cluttered.
   Share the website on your profile every 2-3 days, and you could consider making your status link to the website, and changing your profile pic to the logo of the campaign.
   More importantly, use traditional means (emails, phone calls, SMS, etc.) to reach out those you know and ask them to tweet the page, follow on twitter, share on Facebook, join the cause, and spread the word.

The more time and effort you invest, the better. But generally speaking, the points above are relatively easy to implement and can get you up and running in little time.

Now don’t forget to visit MarksAndSpencerEgypt.org, follow on twitter @MarksSpencerEG, and join the Cause on Facebook!

Understanding the Twitter Cycle

The divide between those in the twitter planet and the outside world is constantly growing. Some twitterers could go as far as arguing that unless you’ve been active for extended periods of time, you are almost clueless as to the capabilities of the Web 2.0 revolution, and the power that it gives you. After the traditional Twitter introduction to those who remain oblivious, we reach the more advanced topic to the simple web application: How to take full advantage of Twitter.

Twitter is extremely powerful

There exists a minority who use Twitter to send constant updates to family and friends, but let’s not kid ourselves, their numbers don’t exactly compare to those of big armies. The majority of the Twitterers are trying to achieve the highest number of followers, and thus be able to send out links that could drive traffic to certain destinations. Whether you are a designer, journalist, merchant or even a celebrity, Twitter opens unprecedented channels of communication, and facilitates interaction with an ironic 140-character limit per tweet. As the internet has taught us over the years, you can never expect people to give you their attention if you are not offering them anything worthwhile. And that applies quite accurately to Twitter.

Many believe that they can open a Twitter account, within a few days have hundreds of followers, then make a tweet linking to their blog, and they’re set for life. Unfortunately, the reality is far from that. Before anyone can trust you, you have to prove yourself to them. This basically means having quality, noticeable tweets on a regular basis. With time people will label you as a credible source, and therefore might opt to follow your links. The beauty of this phenomenon lies in the fact that you have to constantly give to the community, before anyone’s ready to return the favor. That in turn prevents selfish contributors from gaining more than what they deserve, and rightly rewards those exerting efforts to helping the community – perfect.

Steps to becoming a successful twitterer

1. Initial phase: Sign up for the account, and plan out who are the type of people you are going to be following, and more importantly, who you’d want to follow you. For example, as an IT professional, you’d want to build relations with big IT geeks from around the globe, and hopefully find means for collaboration or connections. As a musician, you’d want to connect to other musicians, but you also want regular users to visit your MySpace page frequently, join your Facebook fan page, and eventually buy your music and tell everyone about it.
2. Chose who to follow: After you’ve come up with a plan, follow those whose tweets will interest you (regardless of the field – doesn’t matter at this point), as well as those you hope would follow you back. It is important to only follow a small number, because many people would neglect to follow an unproven twitterer, and therefore it is better to build a strong Twitter portfolio so that when you follow someone, they give you the chance to shine by returning the favor. I recommend starting with about 50 users (friends and family included)
3. Start tweeting: This is the tricky part. It is absolutely crucial that you constantly tweet, however, if you go overboard, you’ll lose followers. Therefore, you have to keep providing interesting content so that people take note of you. If your tweets are meaningless (which is relative, but you should be aware of what the crowd you’re after seeks), then it turns into a headache. If you’re making 20 to 30 tweets a day, all with interesting thoughts, comments, ReTweets and links, then you will have become a provider and not a burden. However, you should avoid sending out links that are for your own sake, otherwise it could be seen as undeserved publicity, and that could scare away some followers. You should pay close attention to the language that you use, and the subjects that you discuss. If you are strictly targeting marketing professionals, you should keep your political opinions to a minimum. If you are a journalist covering politics and socio-economic issues, few will want to hear about your breakfast and showers, and some might write you off as unprofessional if you’re using foul language and making immature tweets.
4. Add followers: There are two schools of thought
   1. Mass followers: those are the people that follow up to 5,000 people so that the huge majority of them follow in return. It is an easy way to get people to follow you, but I’d personally deem it unclassy. You shouldn’t follow people whose tweets are of no interest to you. And when you gain thousands, the huge majority couldn’t care less about what you have to say, because you’re not a valuable follower. Therefore, it becomes a mutual acquaintance, and can never become intimate.
   2. Picky followers: those who carefully choose who they’re following, and usually keep the number to below 300. That helps build your Twitter portfolio as it becomes a bit of a complement to those who you’ve chosen to follow, and builds much more intimate communication levels with fellow twitterers. You are unlikely to reach high numbers in a short period of time, but those who follow you are much more loyal to your tweets, and thus you are far more likely to drive useful traffic to your website/blog/service, whatever its nature. In both bases, it’s generally good practice to follow a bunch, and then weeks later, use a service such as Buzzom to see who are not following you, and mass unfollow them.
5. Incorporate PR: Only now would be a convenient time to attempt to attract visitors. By that point, you will have been active for a significant period of time (at least 3-6 months), you will have built connections with peers, and you will be regarded as a credible source. It is important to note that you will be able to grab people’s attention to the subject area your working for, but whether or not your actual content is successful is a completely different story that is beyond this guide.
6. Maintain momentum: By this point, you’ll be an expert in utilizing Twitter, and you’ll see the light that very few have been lucky enough to experience. However, it is important to avoid becoming complacent. We are living in a demanding Web 2.0 environment, and that requires constant work and dedication. Just like the people have given you a credible voice, they have the power to take it away from you. Just like everything the internet has produced, Twitter is essentially power to the people.

Therefore, converting Twitter to a successful PR tool requires six months of constant activity and depends on what you bring to the table. However, the beauty of the open-source community is in the fact that whatever you do, you can always contribute, and there will always be a crowd eager to learn from you, and ready to exchange knowledge with you. Twitter is but a plateau where the people take the stage, and act out the play. An example of a true product of the beautiful Internet.

Twitter Apps for Mobile Devices

It could take a considerable amount of time to get properly acquainted with Twitter, but it takes no time to fall in love with it. Regardless of what this Web 2.0 revolution was originally made for, it’s current uses surpass those of the most optimistic of the Twitter founders. A huge factor behind its success in reaching and recruiting millions is its flexible API, permitting anyone to develop software on different platforms that communicate with the service and display it differently, allowing users to interact on a much more profound level.

In a previous article, I briefly discussed the four main methods of communicating with Twitter. The one category that is arguably the most important, since it gives Twitter its unique edge, is that of mobile applications. Tweeting and following other people’s tweets regardless of location is an amazing experience, taking the communication between the diverse crowds to a different level. From this pickle spins off the debate: Which is the best Twitter application for your mobile?

Before answering the question, it is necessary to note that there are various platforms on which mobile applications are built, and unlike libraries such as AIR for the desktop, they don’t tend to be available and consistent across all mobile OSs. There are those who own an iPhone, and have had no problem using the “web device” to access Twitter via the 3.5″ screen and the numerous iPhone applications. On the other hand, there is a minority who are so oblivious to the constant failure of the the Windows operating system on desktops, that they chose to take on the hellish torture with them on the road. Aside from the growing Android-based community, many of the main stream cell phone owners are running a recent version of Symbian or Symbian OS (learn more at the symbian.org FAQ page).

Until recently, Twibble was without a doubt one of the best free Twitter mobile applications. Judging by the number of downloads and the fine print associated with many of the tweets, few were unaware of it, and many fully relied on it. That is, of course, until the German makers decided to force users to pay in order to “activate” their accounts and enjoy full features. If you chose not to, besides the annoying announcements getting in your way, you’d be stripped of some of the striking features that had previously attracted an enormous user base.

Let the research for replacements begin.

The following are the common characteristics that the average twitterer would seek:

• Access to many tweets within the same page, and fitting at least two or three within the screen size
• The ability to easily tweet, retweet and reply. As well as the ability to view direct messages and mentions
• Searching hash tags, in order to follow topics on the road (usually precisely related to being on the road, for example: #cairotraffic)
• View people’s profiles, revealing the numbers of following and followers

Some advanced users might be greedy and demand features such as the ability to follow and unfollow others directly, creating groups to show tweets from certain people only, and viewing a complete list of people you are following, as well as those who follow you. It is of my humble opinion that this might be too much to ask from an application running on the basic processors of cell phones, and displaying on the tiny screens attached. For that reason, the goal is to focus on the applications that cover the main points mentioned above, taking anything extra as a plus.

From a long list of Twitter applications available across all mobile and hand-held devices, the following are the creme de la creme.

Snaptu

Snaptu logo

Snaptu is a free mobile application that acts as a platform for many apps and services to be built upon. It could be seen as a mini operating system, or a collection of programs that are accessed from its dashboard after opening it. Funny enough, Twitter is but another one of a handful of applications available, but it might just be the most important one. In fact, using Snaptu exclusively for Twitter is indeed worthwhile.

A bit boring, but informative nonetheless.

Twitter on Snaptu offers all of the basic features, in addition to the following:

• Search: People as well as hash tags. It also saves your search, so you don’t have to write in the hash tag every time
• Group people: Only thought to be available through desktop applications, but the guys at Snaptu bring this impressive functionality to your mobile phone
• Attach images: After taking a photo with the camera on your phone, you can locate it on your memory and attach it to a tweet
• Follow and unfollow: You can select to start following people, and you can view a full list of those following you, or anyone else for that matter

Most importantly, the interface of Snaptu’s Twitter is both very attractive/sleek, and efficient at the same time. The size of the image thumbnails associated with each person is adjusted to not take too much space, while still being visible. It also loads the off-screen tweets on demand, significantly improving performance and reducing the load on the network you’re on (which isn’t always as cheap as we would like it to be).

The major turn off for anyone looking to migrate to Snaptu is its lack of support for Arabic (as well as other scripts). Unfortunately, it is impossible to read the tweets that are written in Arabic, making it a no-no for many-a-twitterers.

Tweets60

Tweets60

Tweets60 is another free Twitter client for any phone running the S60 operating system (a full list of phones that run S60 found here). It is the ideal solution for those who don’t break too much sweat on the extra features, and in fact prefer a simplistic approach. Tweets60 is an example of a mobile application that carries out all of the basic tasks, while maintaining a clean interface making it easy to manage.

This is how it looks on the Nokia E71:

Tweets60 on Nokia E71

The biggest advantage over a strong candidate such as Twitter on Snaptu is its native support for Arabic. It’s small, light-weight, and displays the Arabic tweets. While there’s a crowd that view that combination as ideal, many could be pushed away by the lack of features and functionality, as well as the dull interface.

Twibble

Twibble goes commercial

At 4,90 Euros, the former number one has exchanged it’s title for a familiar “if you can’t beat’em, join’em”. In all fairness, it is not too much to ask for, but it still results in an inevitable feeling of betrayal when your favorite Twitter application on your cell phone goes commercial over night and forces you to pay to essentially continue using it. It only take a day’s following of the #twibble hash tag to view the furious comments by users from all corners of the globe.

While very powerful, Twibble does not offer all of the functionality found in Snaptu, but it does offer features on top of the basic needs of a twitterer. Indeed it becomes easy to follow hash tags, handle tweets, browse attached URLs and read/write messages.

Above all, Twibble supports Arabic, making it the ideal solution that has taken the best of both worlds, as it offers a large portion of the goodies produced by Snaptu, while being light-weight and properly rendering Arabic tweets.

But it’s not free.

Regardless of the fact that it is priced at a humble 5 Euros (even when ignoring the fact that many people in the Arab world do not have paypal accounts to pay the Germans and use their application), having to pay for something that bring its beauty from Twitter’s free API leaves anyone with a feeling of guilt for investing. Using Twitter, regardless of the platform, application, or motivation behind it, should always be free.

Conclusion

Unless many of the tweets are written in Arabic, you can fully rely on Snaptu and keep Tweets60 on the side for those tweets that you want to be able to read. Otherwise, you might just need to shell out a fiver from Europe and be a legitimate owner of a commercial twitter application on your mobile phone. I personally use Snaptu regularly, and only open Tweets60 whenever there are a series of consecutive tweets that were written in Arabic that I happened to be interested in (and cannot wait until I’m at a desktop). As for Twibble, I’m not even considering paying for a service, regardless of how powerful it is. Soon, there will be open-source mobile apps for Twitter, and Android seems like a strong candidate to set the stage, and let the people act out the play.

Using Seesmic for Twitter

The Twitter globe won’t stop expanding anytime soon. It only takes a quick observation of the fine print underneath each of the tweets to reach the conclusion that the applications for accessing and managing Twitter accounts are growing by the minute. The question is, which Twitter client is the one you should be using? Like anything else, it’s a matter of what features you require, and which application you’re most comfortable with.

Generally speaking, the Twitter clients are divided into four main categories:

1. Desktop applications: Software that is installed on your local machine, allowing you to access and organize your tweets easily. Usually very customizable. Example include TweetDeck (which I have previously reviewed), Nambu, and Seesmic (which I take a closer look at below)
2. Web applications: Those are websites that store all of your needs online, meaning you can access from any computer with an internet connection, and be able to manage your accounts entirely online. Check out my post on HootSuite
3. Mobile applications: At first overlooked, but now very few could argue that the powerful community lifting Twitter is doing so thanks to the numerous applications offering them full access from their cell phones and hand-held devices. There’s Tweets60, Tweetie and Twibble, to name a few
4. Extensions and Plugins: There are dozens of very powerful Firefox extensions, as well as libraries or WordPress plugins all aiming at integrating Twitter’s services with other websites and applications. They don’t usually offer the full features that you would find via their desktop counterparts, but get the job done nonetheless

One of the Twitter clients that has stood out and reached millions of Twitterers worldwide is Seesmic. Just like TweetDeck, Seesmic is a free AIR application that can run on any of the operating systems. In fact, it is very comparable to TweetDeck as they both offer many of the same features, it’s the little things that separate them.

Note: The video talks about version 0.4. The latest release, at the time of writing, is 0.6, but the points raised in the video still apply.

Seesmic can be used to manage multiple Facebook and Twitter accounts, but it is safe to assume that the huge majority of users are operating the French invention exclusively for a single Twitter account. Within the same window, you can create your columns based on the groups of people, as well as hash tags, that you would like to follow. Handling tweets is a breeze, and a URL shortner, tweet shrinker and image uploader are all natively integrated. It is an exceptional Twitter experience on a large display.

Seesmic Desktop Interface

When comparing to TweetDeck, the following are the differences and thus, the advantages. But then again, it is a matter of personal preference:

• Resizeable Columns: In TweetDeck you have the option of wide or narrow columns. In Seesmic, however, they are dynamically-sized to take advantage of the full screen, and each column can be dragged to the preferred width
• Notifications’ Options: You can control how long the notification lasts, and whether or not it is accompanied with sound. Personally, a one-second notification is more than enough, and the fine line between a short message to let you know of something, and an obnoxious whiner that drags forever is only two seconds wide
• Fixed Single/Multiple Columns: You can have the window be the exact width of the “Home” column showing all of the tweets. Alternatively, you can choose to keep the home fixed, and have the remaining scroll horizontally behind it

Unfortunately, there are a couple of points that might push people away from the Twitter client. The first is the difficulty in which users can add Twitterers to favorite groups. When you create a group, you have to go to one of the desired person’s tweets, click on the options icon, and add him or her to the list.

The second issue, which is also found in TweetDeck, or any AIR application for that matter, is the lack of support for Arabic and non-traditional languages. This is obviously a huge drawback, and it seems that, on a Mac, a web application is the only way around the lack of Arabic support. Perhaps Adobe will upgrade their runtime to allow for Arabic and Asian scripts, but in the meantime, if the majority of the people you’re following tweet in Arabic, you are better off going “web” and using an online application, such as HootSuite.

Otherwise, a neat AIR application that it light-weight, easy to use, and gets the job done. And comfortably so.

Tori’s Eye: Yet Another View of Twitter

Yesterday I wrote about HootSuite 2.0 as yet another solution for managing and utilizing your Twitter account. Lesson 1 from any book on success with Web 2.0 says that when you set the stage, and let the open-source community and the user-base do the acting, you are inevitably bound for results that out-do your most optimistic of imagination. A working example of this is literally visible via Tori’s Eye, a “website” that displays the latest tweets in a visually pleasing and creative manner.

Catch the flying tweets with Tori's Eye

It might not be the most efficient method in which you can follow the tweets of a chosen hash tag or keyword, but it is not meant to be one. It is easier to look at it as a work of art, a visual presentation that adds a new perspective to something everything has been looking at very mathematically. I personally think it is entertaining to follow a subject of interest, but not of much importance. It could also be good exercise for reading random tweets without any bias towards images or tweet locations.

Very little is known of what the creators of Twitter wanted from it exactly (now it is clear that it is something special). Even if we were to use hindsight and say they wanted it to be the standard channel for millions of people to rapidly communicate worldwide, it would take too much bending-over backwards to believe that they knew such creative outputs would come out of it. But then again, that’s the beauty of the user-based content, and the collaboration of millions of people across space and time.

Tweeting with HootSuite 2.0

Twitter is becoming more and more similar to an open-source application, especially when you look at the integration of its services with millions of products from the open-source community. I have previously discussed TweetDeck, which allows you to efficiently utilize the Twitter service (and for that matter, you can check out the post introducing Twitter to the people in the outside world). TweetDeck is a desktop application built on Adobe’s AIR, HootSuite is a website, or online application. Either way, you need a constant connection to the Web if you are to tweet or follow other people do it. Therefore, they could both be placed in the same category.

HootSuite Logo

HootSuite 2.0 is a free “professional Twitter client” that is ideal for a group of professionals maintaining a joint Twitter account, and taking their tweeting seriously. It gives you a personalized view so that you can group the people you are following the way you want. In that aspect, it is similar to TweetDeck. However, what distinguishes it, or rather pushes it towards a slightly different crowd, is the fact that it is set-up to allow several users to access it simultaneously and to accurately measure the effectiveness of each one of the tweets.

The following is a summary of the main features:

1. Create tabs and columns to organize the way you follow other twitterers
2. Manage multiple Twitter accounts via the same interface
3. Several user accounts to the same Twitter account, with each person customizing his or her views freely
4. Tweet directly, with a built-in URL shortener, and the ability to schedule tweets
5. Detailed statistics for each of your Twitter accounts

The most significant feature has got to be the ability to follow the stats associated with your account:

The interface is very intuitive, and while you might not be able to skim through the tweets as swiftly as you are used to, it’s only a matter of time before you become a native user. It would’ve been nice to be able to automatically refresh the tweets more frequently than every two minutes (the minimum time offered), especially for those with over a thousand followers, but we won’t lose much sleep over it.

In comparison to TweetDeck, it seems to be more powerful and flexible, simply due to the tab system offered by HootSuite. You can also open it in a Firefox tab along with other websites, or in it’s own browser, while with its AIR counterpart, you are limited to a stand-alone desktop application. If you and at least one other person are managing a Twitter account, HootSuite would be the obvious choice. However, if you’re tweeting on your own, and not that frequently, then it would be another case of advanced, unused features – you’re better off relying entirely on the original website.

Tweeting With TweetDeck

TweetDeck Logo

In an earlier post, I talked about what Twitter was originally made for, and what has become of it. Since the recent Twitter boom has reached all corners of the globe, and on many levels, there have been many third-party products and services introduced to the market to facilitate and improve the tweeting experience. After all, when you are following 4,000+ people, it is almost impossible to keep up, and it consequently becomes a bit of a mess. One of the most commonly used tools by hardcore tweeters is TweetDeck, an application built on Adobe’s AIR providing the user with a much more efficient interface for accessing and participating in the Twitter globe.

TweetDeck Interface

TweetDeck could be seen as a dedicated browser, where there are different columns showing tweets, mentions, messages, etc. Therefore, from a single screen, you can view many tweets at the same time. After that, you have the ability to add your own groups, which is ideal for friends, family, or special interest groups. For example, as a web designer, you might want to place your favorite designers in a group to have their own dedicated column. This way you are sure not to miss their tweets, and can easily browse through them. In fact, there are many features that come into play, most notably:

1. Tweeting directly from TweetDeck, you won’t need to visit Twitter.com in the browser, everything you need is in the application
2. Easily reply and forward, simple as clicking on one of the buttons the replace the tweeter’s image when hovered (Twitter.com does not provide a direct way of RT, this saves a lot of time and effort)
3. Aside from the main Group feature, you can have dedicated columns for searched items or hashed keywords. That is extremely useful when you want to stay updated about a certain topic, without following people who have discussed it at one point
4. Built-in URL shortener, very conveniently placed underneath the tweeting input field. Allows you to go with service of choice
5. Integrated photo-sharing service, also embedded in the tweeting field, allowing you to instantly share photos with a short URL directing to them
6. Access to most popular tweets and tweeters, plus stats that reveal the popularity of each
7. You can also access two different Twitter accounts at the same time, and integrate Facebook for status updates

It is obvious that there was a lot of work put into the application, it seems to offer everything a twitterer would need. However, as always, there are a couple of aspects that could use some improvement:

• As any AIR application, the interface is always strange and takes some getting used to. It seems that to be a Rich Internet Application, you need to have a navigation system that is completely different to what the entire world is used to. Moreover, the black background is not too appealing, and even though it is customizable, very few are willing to go through the trouble to change the colors to a more standard, adequate skin
• There doesn’t seem a way to add people to follow from the application itself, you have to visit the Twitter website from a browser
• You can customize notifications, so that you are alerted from someone from your custom groups has tweeted. However, you’re not given the choice of choosing which groups you are notified about, and which ones you are not

Overall, TweetDeck is a free application that runs on any operating system (since AIR can be installed on Windows, Mac OS or Linux, any AIR application will natively run on either one of them), and is an essential tool for anyone who takes Twitter seriously. After using it for a while, you will come to notice that without a tool of the same caliber, it is almost impossible to fully take advantage of the service. And as an application still in the beta phase, its future is very promising.

UPDATE: You can indeed follow or unfollow others easily via TweetDeck. If you hover on the person’s image and then click on the “other actions” icon > User,  you can make the choice from the menu. Thanks to @idesignstudios for pointing it out. However, you’ll need to click on your own name from a tweet to see your profile/summary. Moreover, in order to find people by name (as oppose to by #keywords), or to see who’s following you, you’ll need to visit the Twitter website from the browser.