I use Twitter. I use Facebook. I love these two apps. Twitter is like a virtual text or SMS device for me in cyberspace, while Facebook connects me with my friends and keeps me informed of their goings-on. In the past, I used to log on to Twitter in my browser. Of course that was inconvenient, as I had to perform a number of steps:
- Open my browser.
- Go to the Twitter homepage.
- Log in.
- Look at my messages, type an update, reply, etc.
- Log out.
- Oops, I forgot to post an update—repeat steps 2 to 5 again (groan)
Then I discovered Twhirl, a nice little app which performs all of the above and sits quietly in my taskbar icon area. Whenever a new tweet comes in, or if I want to post an update, I just have to click on it once, view it and do my stuff, and exit. Very nice.
I find that history is repeating itself, this time with Facebook. I have to perform all those six steps outlined above, the only difference being step 2, where I go to Facebook’s homepage instead. Wouldn’t it be great if I had an app that could automate it for me?
Then just a few days ago, my very good friend Crystal was tweeting about an app called Seesmic, and she was glowing about it. Hmmm, time for me to check it out. I went to Seesmic’s homepage, installed Seesmic Desktop 0.4, and I am very impressed.
So what’s so cool about Seesmic? In a nutshell, Seesmic aggregates your Twitter and Facebook accounts into one very convenient app. You can install it straight from their website. It’s free of charge and takes just a while to install. After that, you add your Twitter and Facebook account log-ins to it, configure a few simple settings, and you’re all set to go. From now on, you can do all your Twitter and Facebook stuff from Seesmic itself—it’s just brilliant! I found it hard to believe that this app only came out in May of this year.
And I should have guessed this—Loic Le Meur, the founder and CEO of Seesmic, is the same guy who makes Twhirl too. That’s why it was so easy for me to transition to Seesmic. It’s now a bigger home with Facebook added.
I have nothing much to gripe about concerning the present version 0.4. The only thing I wish is that I’d like for Seesmic to minimize to the taskbar icon area when I click its Close button (Twhirl does this) No luck yet. Seesmic simply exits. If I want to minimize it, I have to click on the minimize button, and Seesmic goes into my taskbar area, consuming a bit of taskbar estate. Perhaps Mr. Le Meur could fix this in a future update? Still, just a minor niggle, or perhaps it’s my OCD showing itself.
Anyways, Seesmic Desktop is one fantastic app, especially if you want your Twitter and Facebook stuff living together in the same house. Try it out!
