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Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it

Here are two examples of two apps doing the same thing, using drastically different UI paradigm.

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As you can see, TwitterDeck is using a multi column approach while Twhirl uses a single column approach. When I saw TwitterDeck, I loved it. It looked like I would have all the information I need right where I wanted it. And being able to add searches as columns looked exciting.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take a long time to see that there are some distinct disadvantages to seeing all of that information in front of me all the time.

There are a few things that drive me crazy with TwitterDeck that Twhirl just solves:

Information doesn’t expire

I don’t get all that many direct messages, for example, but a direct message from Glenn from three weeks ago has the same level of importance as a reply from 5 minutes ago.

Time isn’t explicit

Look at the way Twhirl and TwitterDeck represent time. TwitterDeck shows it as a date, while Twhirl display a duration. I don’t want to figure out when I try to figure out when someone posted something. Just answer my question already!

Don’t make me think

When Twhirl detect a URL in a twit, it automatically shorten it. TwitterDeck has a specialized text box for that. It means another step along the way.

There is one thing about TwitterDeck that I would love to see in Twhirl, and that is to be able to subscribe to searches. But again, results from a month ago are not required.

Twhirl’s model of a flow of information represent information in a way that is much more consumable to me.

Print | posted on Wednesday, September 09, 2009 12:23 AM

Feedback

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 12:43 AM Tuna Toksoz

Tweetdeck can also automatically shorten urls.

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 12:52 AM benl

*Tweet*deck dude, *tweet*deck ;)

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 12:53 AM Travis

I love it! Classic.

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 12:53 AM Ayende Rahien

On my blog, it is TwitterDeck.

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 1:34 AM Damien Guard

No wonder Bing couldn't find it for you if you insist on calling it something else :p

[)amien

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 1:49 AM Ryan Smith

IMHO though...Twirl fails at telling me what I'm looking at if I happen to click on a sender's name...the scroll within a scroll is fail IMO.

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 2:01 AM Ayende Rahien

Damien,
Google get me the right result, given the same input.

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 2:22 AM Phillip Haydon

I don't understand why you keep calling it TwitterDeck...

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 3:27 AM Yitzchok

Did you try seesmic at http://seesmic.com/?

You have a one column view or multiple columns.
Time comes up as *m ago.
And you can subscribe to searches.

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 3:38 AM Scott White

I like having replies separate because I'm more assured to not miss it. I may miss some tweets in a tidal wave of tweets, but less likely to on TweetDeck because of that extra column. Same goes for DMs but since they go to my email & phone I wouldn't miss them. Theoretically I could drop the DM column

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 4:21 AM Peter

TweetDeck (or TwitterDeck or PoopDeck or whatever we're calling it) has a killer feature you should use: the one-two punch of "mark all tweets as seen" + "clear all seen tweets". Unfortunately clearing only clears one column at a time, and every time you reload PoopDeckPro(sp?) it reloads all your seen tweets...despite all these quirks, it's awesome. Not to overstate its importance, but it will change your life.

Footnote: Twhirl has the "clear all tweets" feature, albeit an appropriately simpler version.

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 7:51 AM Kevin Dente

Twhirl lets you subscribe to searches, from the search tab.

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 9:55 AM Emanuele DelBono

Try Blu: http://www.thirteen23.com/experiences/desktop/blu/ I love it.

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 10:26 AM Remco Ros

Did you try Seesmic desktop or Mixero ?

I tried tweetdeck, seesmic and mixero.

What I like specially about mixero is that it saves your groups and contexts serverside. Great for home/business/notebook use.

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# re: Don’t throw the information at me, I expect you to work at it 9/9/2009 12:56 PM Frans Bouma

I agree, twhirl is better in providing the info. You can subscribe to searches, as others mentioned. Search on something then click the 'Activate' button. Then when someone mentions that fragment in a tweet you'll get it in your main window with a looking glass icon :)

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