I have long been an avid supporter of TweetDeck, particularly when it comes to its uses for marketing online...maybe even more than avid (is there such a thing?). Which is why it grieves me to say that Seesmic Desktop is just short of kicking some serious TweetDeck butt.
If you have used the Twitter client, Twirl, then you are already familiar with Seesmic. My difficulty with Twirl was that it was too small and didn't afford me near the versatility I needed to search Twitter. This new incarnation is both a Twitter and Facebook app that let's you manage multiple Twitter accounts, as well as your Facebook profile.
Here's the skinny on features:
- post to and follow multiple twitter accounts from one desktop application
- Facebook integration for posting status updates and following friends updates
- groupings of friends, even across multiple twitter accounts
- all searches and groupings are saved, they aren't deleted when you close the column
- post pictures and web cam shots via drag and drop in the update box
Right now, this service is in its infancy, so it has bugs to work out. And, it will have to address the black hole of memory loss that TweetDeck had to face in the beginning, too. But Seesmic is responding to the demands of Twitter and Facebook users everywhere. And the primary complaints are lack of flexibility...we are no longer satisfied with having to log in and out of all of our accounts to post, contact friends and reply to messages. Not to mention that we can't keep track of anybody without a grouping feature.
Essentially, Seesmic is attempting something that neither Twitter nor Facebook have been able to do very successfully...and that is build a grouping system that would allow for cross-platform connectivity. Twitter and Facebook couldn't do it because they were so focused on keeping their platforms proprietary, they didn't listen to their customers begging for this kind of functionality. And though Twitter has had an open API and Facebook has taken recent steps in the right direction, it still is not far enough.
Maybe it will have to be a third party like Seesmic, that builds a management system to corral our social media platforms. Truthfully, I have been less than excited by Facebook and Google's attempts at connecting people across sites. This could be the best approach, sort of like an Outlook for social media...gather all of your accounts and contacts into one location and organize them all, then transfer to your handheld device for mobile conversations.
We will have to stay tuned to see where Seesmic takes its Twitter/Facebook application. For now, I am using both TweetDeck and Seesmic...but I can forsee a day where the balance will tip in favor of that rascally racoon...