One of my favorite columns to write for in Gadfly was "Gadfly Recommends." In this section of the magazine, a group of writers would each recommend something that they recommend to readers. For the "Gadfly Recommends" I wrote about an app called Tweetbot. It's been a few years since then and in that time Tweetbot has grown and changed. I still use Tweetbot on a regular basis. Now that I have this fancy little blog, I figured now would be a good time to revisit and expand upon my original recommendation.
First of all, what it Tweetbot? Tweetbot is a Twitter client developed by a small company known as Tapbots. It is an app that allows users to use Twitter. While Twitter provides their own means of using Twitter, Tweetbot offers its open approach to using the service that, in my opinion, is far better than Twitter's official means. Tweetbot is available only on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
By biggest problem with Twitter these days is that they are trying very hard to turn themselves into Facebook. (Look no further than their recent switch of "Favorites" to "Likes".) Personally, I have always appreciated Facebook and Twitter for their differences. What I love about Twitter is its simplicity. All of the posts are always there, always in chronological order. I still don't fully understand how Facebook decides what goes where in the timeline. I like to read (or at least look at) each and every post. Thing is, Twitter makes this hard to do. The timeline always starts with the most recent, but that's not ideal for me. I want to continue exactly where I left off. Additionally I want to be able to use Twitter on many different devices and pick up from the same place on each one. Tweetbot lets me do both of these. The app remembers your place every time and keeps it in sync across all devices. This is a really simple feature, but it makes using Twitter much easier and simpler. As an added bonus, Tweetbot keeps ads out of the picture,
Another thing I like is the wide variety of settings that Tweetbot offers. Twitter's official fare leaves you at their mercy in terms of design. Tweetbot is another story. Want a darker look? Done. Round icons not your thing? No problem. Want easy access to your tweet stats? Consider it done. The large variety of options lets me use Twitter how I want it, which is key.
A smaller bit about Tweetbot that I really like, is more something that they don't do. I stopped using the official Twitter app when Twitter started to take away features. Suddenly I couldn't see what client a user had posted a tweet with. Maps for location based tweets disappeared. Instagram photos were no longer supported natively in app. Tweetbot on the other had never removed these features. They're still there and I still use them today. Small things like this are some of my favorite parts of Tweetbot.
Finally, Tweetbot is built to take advantage of the devices it runs on. A clear example of this can be found in the iPhone 6S's 3D Touch feature. In Tweetbot, everything in the timeline can be previewed using this feature. Tapbots were not only quick to add this feature but also made sure it was well implemented too. Even when I did have a bug with it on the first day it launched, Tapbots had a fix out within hours. (Their customer service is top notch as well.) All versions of the app are built to take advantage of the platform they run on as well. (The Mac version will be adding full screen and split screen support very soon.) Tweetbot makes the most of the hardware, which makes it feel like a great value.
Paying to get an app to use Twitter sounds pretty stupid in theory. After all, why not use the free apps Twitter provides? Tweetbot takes the things I love about Twitter (the things Twitter themselves shies away from) and makes them even better. To those who use Twitter, I can't recommend it enough. It is the best app I have ever purchased. (Mac) (iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch)
No comments:
Post a Comment