Yesterday, the big news for the identi.ca crowd was an answer to their wishes: Identi.ca is now supported in the AIR app Twhirl. Why is the support for this open-source Twitter clone so important? For one, it makes Identi.ca that much more of a useful service, but it also shows how quickly Twhirl can adapt to add the latest and greatest online communities to its service. More importantly though, Twhirl's support for Identi.ca means you can now tap into a full, real-time social stream all from one application.
With the addition of Identi.ca, Twhirl now supports for four of the most important social streaming apps: Twitter, FriendFeed, Seesmic, and Identi.ca. These apps are different than traditional social networks like MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo, etc., because they are, for the most part, about immediate interactions. Seeing tweets, "dents," shared social streams on FriendFeed, and even updates of your friends' recorded videos (perhaps the slowest stream of the bunch) is a much different user experience than when we interact with the large application-filled social networking platforms. Instead, the new social network is always on.
That "always on" feature is exactly why social media enthusiasts are dealing with "information overload" issues. Because we're somewhat addicted to these types of interactions, we're hesitant to log off for fear of "missing something." However, for the regular user, always on social networking doesn't have to be a source of stress - it just means that when you go online, socializing with others just becomes part of the overall experience of being on the internet. For today's digital natives this extra information stream isn't worrisome, as uber-multitaksers themselves, they're more adept at dealing with "noise," so this real-time social web is just another channel from them to tune in to.
As for Twhirl, by combining access to these four always-on networks, they're establishing themselves as the go-to application for all your real-time social networking needs. And although you might feel a bit overwhelmed at the moment - especially considering each app opens a separate window - it won't be that way forever.
Johann Romefort, CTO at Seesmic, and Marco Kaiser, Twhirl's creator, have both confirmed some big changes to the Twhirl UI. Specifically, they've said that their goal is to have all accounts in one window. This update will include a "(kind of) tabbed interface," says Marco.
That makes the most sense since FriendFeed is indeed "richer" as Johann says, which means that it should get its own tab. However, he tells me that Twitter and Identi.ca's streams will be combined into one stream. How much longer will you have to wait to see what these changes look like? The ETA on this update is before the end of the summer (which includes September, says Marco).
Once these streams because accessible from only one window, the value of Twhirl will skyrocket. Some people have trouble using Twhirl now because of the numerous windows required, so they simply use it for their Twitter needs. But with everything easily accessible from tabs, Twhirl will easily be the real-time Twitter client of choice, especially when you also take into account its other excellent features like built-in search (Twitter Search, formerly Summize), URL-shortening services, and direct posting of photos, to name a few. Killer app? Yes definitely....Unless you just don't care about the social web...in which case, maybe I can just direct you here.
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indenti.meh
Posted by: adolfo foronda
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July 21, 2008 12:23 PM
Hey, it's just like twitter, only it doesn't go down!... because no one uses it!
Posted by: keif
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July 21, 2008 12:39 PM
that's the "end of summer" release?
Posted by: Naor
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July 21, 2008 1:09 PM
Does anyone use identi.ca? Killer App? eh, slow news day
Posted by: who cares | July 21, 2008 1:29 PM
I'm already running at 1920x1200, but before twhirl doesn't integrate the new tabbed UI, I will keep using it for twitter only. Too much clutter.
As for identi.ca - when it actually becomes the new twitter, I'm there, until then - why use two services that do exactly the same?
Also: Very dark finishing remark there linking to GeoCities. Which immediately reminded me of the time on Leo Laporte's early baby "The Site" (MSNBC) when the host Soledad O'Brien pronounced GeoCities similar to "atrocities" and Leo (as DevNull) could barely hold himself together. Ah, good times...
Posted by: weckman | July 21, 2008 5:06 PM
Feed, feed, feed... how many feeds do we "need"?
Posted by: ian cheung | July 21, 2008 5:06 PM
I (heart) both identi.ca and twhirl ;)
Marco and Johann have been very responsive to the OSS Microblogging platform (laconica) as implemented by Evan at identi.ca.
Thanks to twhirl for recognizing an opportunity and executing on it quickly. Client software is important for user creature comfort, and they are demonstrating that they want to be the "goto" guys for these communities.
Evan at identi.ca is doing a fantastic job of delivering a service and raising awareness for the OS federated alternative to closed source services like twitter.
One of the key issues that isn't being discussed here, is that there are other services/instances of laconica running. As good as the changes that twhirl rolled out today, it stops short of supporting a generalized configuration interface that allows users to work with these other laconica services/instances.
I look forward to all of the proposed developments that Marco and Johann have mentioned. I also look forward to changes that will further other federated laconica and XMPP solutions (which further enhances twhirl's value in this market segment).
Come on over and check out what is going on at http://identi.ca/. There maybe even more geeks there (because of the OS mindset) than on twitter. Join the growing set of users that post to both twitter and identi.ca and learn about new people via both services. The intersection also has value. BTW, you can post to both services at the same time using ping.fm and others. There is information in the public timeline of both services.
Good Journey,
-Len Lynch
Posted by: lenlynch | July 21, 2008 10:11 PM
Thanks Sarah for this great post! Makes our day here in the entire Seesmic team.
Posted by: Loic | July 21, 2008 10:50 PM
Twirl's wonderful, but they're getting a little more credit than they should here -- Indenti.ca recently added support for the Twitter API. That's why Twirl could add it so easily; it was just a matter of replacing the Twitter endpoint with "identi.ca/api" in the already existing code.
http://controlezvous.ca/?p=10
That being said. I'm shocked more systems that are Twitter-like aren't supporting the Twitter API. That would mean more apps (like Twirl) could do the same thing: instantly add support for new sites. This would even spawn an evolution in these client apps by allowing the API endpoint to be user-configurable, and then any new service could be added by any other at any time... effectively creating a growth in the field the same way that blogging did once other blog systems started supporting the Blogger API.
And what a surprise that Ev is connected to that one too, eh?
Posted by: Noah | July 22, 2008 8:35 AM
P.S. Just found the RRW story that reported the Identi.ca news -- for some reason, I hadn't found it through Google search, only local search. So more specifically, lest you think I wrote under the impression you didn't know about that: while Twirl *is* the leader of the pack because it was designed with multiple identities in mind, I still think the magic is still more on the side of Identi.ca (taking a step to establish a microblogging standard) and Adobe AIR (enabling the platform that lets Twirl rebuild and redistribute so quickly).
Posted by: Noah | July 22, 2008 8:46 AM