Accidental Technologist

Musings about Entrepreneurship, Technology and Software Development

Get the Best Twitter Client for the Mac

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Tapbot icon

It seems I have been on Twitter for longer than anybody. ?Heck, when I started we didn’t have no stinking graphical clients, it was done with SMS. ?

I have used many of the graphical Twitter clients on the Mac and some are nice but not the best fit. ?I won’t bore you with the long history of my Twitter client usage, since this is not about me.

I do want to say I discovered a great client to use on my iPhone and iPad named Tweetbot by the lovely folks at Tapbots. ?I use both everyday and love them. ?Well, they recently offered people to try out the Tweetbot for Mac beta, I jumped right on and have been using it all day, everyday. ??

This week Tapbots released the official version for the Mac over on the Mac App Store for a measly $20. ?Sure, you can try to say it’s too expensive but you obviously have no idea what it takes to write software and when the software is good?it’s even harder. ?I rushed to give them my money.

John Gruber echoes my sentiment exactly:

When a great iPhone app comes out, it?s easy to ask the developer to expand it to the iPad too, and then bring it to the Mac. You know what?s hard? Actually doing it. But Tapbots has done it with Tweetbot. $20 for a Twitter client? Damn straight. Screw the race to the bottom. I?m happy to pay for quality work.

For more, see Rene Ritchie?s iMore interview with Tapbots developer Todd Thomas and designer Mark Jardine.

Now, I can keep all of the things I do on Twitter nicely synced. ?Great stuff.

No Love for App.net

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There has been a huge buzz around the Kickstarter project, App.net, on the web these days. ?I have no intention of supporting them, ever.

It’s a valiant effort but that’s all it really is. ?I think of this project is just designed to make a statement, one against Twitter. ?Sure, they raised some money but who from, folks angry with Twitter. ?It raised over $500K on Kickstarter, but as we all know money does not ensure success.

I like Twitter, I don’t agree with everything they do and I certainly don’t think they care about me or what I have to say but nonetheless, they are were its happening these days in the social world I care about, way more important to me than Facebook. ?It’s interesting to watch those people who backed App.net, come over to Twitter to claim their support for?App.net?on Twitter. ?It’s comical, they pay $50 to someone who is anti-Twitter, yet they come to Twitter to waive their hands in support of the “other” platform.

This should say it all. ?If you want to be heard, you come to the place all the people who matter are hanging out.

MG Sieger, who is a respected journalist in our industry put in his 2 cents and it sums up what I have been thinking since the beginning of App.net.?

App.net is not going to succeed because we don?t really want it to succeed. Deep down, we all know that it?s much better as an idea, rather than a reality. Because the reality of the situation is that if App.net ever was successful, it would face many of the same hard choices that Twitter now does. Or it would fade away.

As pointed out on TechCrunch, another project to create a clone of Facebook, never quite took off:

App.net, of course, isn?t the first company trying to disrupt Twitter and/or Facebook. The most prominent recent entrant in this market is probably Diaspora, which ran a Kickstarter campaign to get started. While it?s still under active development, the project never quite took off.

App.net wants to be the next Twitter but faces all the challenges and so much more. ?They also want $50/year for the privilege. ? Why? ?Not me, I’m happy right where I am. ?Maybe Twitter is angering some developers because it effects their tool or maybe angering users because their tool of choice may face some struggles but all-in-all, Twitter is good for what it does.

Book: UnMarketing

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Unmarketing

I am not really a fan of marketing, most of it sounds so disingenuous. ?The best and most effective marketing is not seen, this occurs when you are marketing and no one can identify it as marketing.

I found a book by Scott Stratten titled UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging which teaches how to do it right, to be genuine. ?This book hits on so many points that are important to today’s entrepreneurs that as I read it I just had nod my head over and over.

Some people claim not to be marketers, not to be sales people, but you are. ?Sorry to be the barer of bad news but you deal with people each day and are marketing yourself.

I’ll admit I “read” Scott’s book but I did it in the audio version from Audible.com and I’m so glad I did. ?If I read the Kindle or printed edition it would have been in my voice and not Scott’s. ?Scott is great narrator and very entertaining. ?It appears the book on Amazon is a revised and updated version but I think the material from Audible is so applicable today that it doesn’t matter. ?Your mileage may vary of course.

When I think of traditional marketing I think of writing and sending press releases, sales pitches and all those things associated with the unpleasant part of selling a product. ?Scott takes the approach that has worked for me in acquiring new clients, low pressure and being yourself and helping people because you care about helping people.

Many of the things taught in this book seem to be obvious but so few people actually get it. ?Scott goes into great details on:

  • How to build trust
  • Examples of companies that don’t get-it
  • No cold calling
  • Evaluation of the main social media services
  • Fast and relevant interaction with an existing customer
  • Tweeting just to tweet
  • Transparency and authenticity (my favorite)
  • so much more?

Summary

I loved this book. ?I read a lot of books and I occasionally will point one out here but only if I really liked it. ?This book is one I really liked and continually get a lot out of.

This book is loaded with gems, some will apply to your business and some might not but I think there is something in here for everyone. ?Read this book and make our social media world a better place.

Scott also runs a very good blog where he discusses various topics close to the book topics. ?Almost like a running errata list.

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