Microblogging, a unique combination of blogging and social media, allows you to build your brand while only doing a minimal amount of work on your blog. The reason it works is fairly straightforward: since you’ll be communicating with your audience more frequently on social media, you’ll develop more rapport than if you just simply focus on driving traffic to your blog through free and paid traffic sources. [Read more…]
Tweetie Surprises Users With “Easter Egg” (Announces Bad News For Developers)
Despite the insignificant update Tweetie released upon the app store, the latest version of the app includes a humerus slot machine that appears whenever users try to refresh their timeline.
Although the Easter Egg (as geeks call them) is cute overall, Tweetie did alert their fans that the app will be renaming itself “Twitter for iPhone” soon (something Twitter itself hinted at after they bought out Tweetie for an undisclosed sum).
The name switch is suppose to happen during the next update, in which Twitter will release the app for free to the masses (as Tweetie’s current asking price is still $2.99 USD).
Although users will probably laugh at Tweetie’s slot machine, most developers will be nervous as the next update of Tweetie as it could easily herald their extinction on the iPhone, well as the world of mobile (since Twitter already has an official Blackberry app and is working on creating one for Android too).
Third party developers are already responding to the official Twitter apps arrival by either selling off their tweet businesses (on the cheap) or by sadly removing their premium apps altogether from the app store (a trend that may accelerate once “Twitter for iPhone” makes it debut).
(note: Easter Egg tip via @babelsquirrel)
Twitter Buys Tweetie, Kills Off Third Party Apps (For iPhone And iPad)
Right after giving their blessing upon the official Blackberry Twitter app (made by RIM), Twitter now has decided to buy Tweetie from AteBits, and releasing it to the masses for free.
Careful analysis of the Twitter user experience in the iTunes AppStore revealed massive room for improvement. People are looking for an app from Twitter, and they’re not finding one. So, they get confused and give up. It’s important that we optimize for user benefit and create an awesome experience.
We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve entered into an agreement with Atebits (aka Loren Brichter) to acquire Tweetie, a leading iPhone Twitter client. Tweetie will be renamed Twitter for iPhone and made free (currently $2.99) in the iTunes AppStore in the coming weeks. Loren will become a key member of our mobile team that is already having huge impact with device makers and service providers around the world. Loren’s work won the 2009 Apple Design Award and we will eventually launch Twitter for iPad with his help. (Official Twitter Blog)
Although this is great news for AteBits (whose founder is ecstatic right now), this is horrible news for numerous third party developers (like Echofon, Twittelator, SimplyTweet, and TweetDeck) who may have to join the ranks of the gloriously unemployed in the semi-near future. [Read more…]
TweetDeck Fixes iPhone App, Update Live On The App Store
After initially pulling their iPhone app due to frequent crashes, TweetDeck’s iPhone app is now live on the App store!
While I was never a fan of their desktop app (as I loathe all things Adobe AIR), their iPhone app has features that put premium apps to shame by striking a balance between power and elegance.
TweetDeck has created a video highlighting its best features, although here is my take on the app thus far. [Read more…]
Will EchoFon’s “Smart Push Technology” Change The Game On Twitter? And The iPhone?
Of the 3 dozen plus Twitter apps available, very few of them support push notification. Even the “big 3” (Tweetie 2, Twittelator Pro and Twitterrific Premium) still lack push support, despite the fact that smaller rivals like SimplyTweet have already enabled them for their users.
While there are many apps out there with push notification, Echofon (formally known as Twitterfon) is the first that I have seen that uses what I call “smart push technology,” a feature that I wish every iPhone app had. [Read more…]
SimplyTweet: Push Notification Heaven For Tweetaholics
After (almost) embracing the hype of Tweetie, I realized what was missing from my twitter experience was push notification. While TwitBird (formally known as iTwitter) was able to do this “half baked” for its users, what I needed was an app that did it regardless of whose service my friends were using.
Long story short I discovered an app called SimplyTweet (by Motion Obj), whose $5 price almost made me weary of spending even more cash within Steve Jobs playground.
Fortunately I decided to take the plunge—hence this review. :-) [Read more…]
Is Twitter Helping Blogging?
VentureBeat runs a story on author Scott Rosenberg who says that Twitter has set blogging free. Or, more precisely:
“Blogging has always had this word ‘trivial’ hung from its neck,” Rosenberg said. “Twitter has finally liberated blogging from that, from all these charges from the media, all these dismissive putdowns of trivialities.”
It’s an interesting thought, the notion that the blog bashers have moved to Twitter. What do you think, is Twitter helping traditional blogging in this way?
Six Apart Goes All Tumblr on You, Still Not Free Though
With the announcement of the new Pico microblogging theme Six Apart now also stepped in to the microblogging game and wants its part of the pie. They also announced new features to simplify microblogging on the TypePad platform:
- “Post from anywhere” capabilities with email, iPhone, and TypePad bookmarklet
- New simple, professionally-designed, stylish themes
- “Post once, publish everywhere” with built-in support for Facebook, Twitter, and Friendfeed
- Control of your own advertising, your domain, and your personal brand
- All backed with support and training from TypePad One
These features might be new for Typepad users, I personally fail to see where they are new. Other than having ‘built-in plugins’ for the technically challenged people. Everything else, and much more, can be obtained freely via Tumblr and/or WordPress. For the minimum $4.95/month TypePad charges, I can host my blog on my own domain and have much more freedom.
Twitter To Implement Official Retweet Option and Fight Fake Retweets
@ev announced today on the Twitter blog that the microblogging company works at implementing an Phase 1 of the official Retweet project. Although details haven’t been finalized yet, Evan Williams showed a sketch of the possible future integration, all while admitting that the users and the Twitter community basically decide what Twitter becomes.
Retweeting is a great example of Twitter teaching us what it wants to be. The open exchange of information can have a positive global impact and the more efficient dissemination of information across the entire Twitter ecosystem is something we very much want to support. That’s why we’re planning to formalize retweeting by officially adding it to our platform and Twitter.com. [Read more…]
SPNbabble micro-blogging posting aggregator launches
SiteProNews has announced the launch of its SPNbabble micro-blogging site which allows users to post their short messages to a number of other services including Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, Plurk and Tumblr.
Cross-platform posters aren’t a new thing, though SPNbabble does offer up a toolbar (compatible with IE, Firefox and Safari) which may well be useful for those who like to post from within their web browser. [Read more…]
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