Alert Thingy, the FriendFeed desktop application that launched just three days ago, just launched v 1.2 of the service, with Twitter support.
In addition to viewing FriendFeed data streams and posting directly to FriendFeed, users can now also post directly to their Twitter account as well. Users cannot directly view Twitter streams through AlertThingy, although they can get that information by following FriendFeed users who include Twitter data.
This makes FriendFeed even more useful. Twhirl, a competitor that was recently acquired by Seesmic, works with Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku, but users rarely use more than one of those services. Lots of people use both FriendFeed and Twitter, however (FriendFeed often to read information, Twitter to post), and they may find Alert Thingy a nice alternative to Twhirl.
I’m finding that I use FriendFeed a lot more now than I have Alert Thingy installed. And if they continue to innovate this quickly, I may find I uninstall Twhirl for good. Things they need to add - the ability to view Twitter directly, outside of friendfeed (including replies and direct messages), and integration with snurl to easily shorten included URLs.
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That screenshot is why I stopped tracking Scoble on the web. At least Arrington has something interesting to talk about. Oh and a personality.
the only people using twitter, twhirirril, etc. are located in silicon valley. These “startup” guys need a reality check, and see that facebook has this feature, and noones going to re-register for the 1000th time to use something thats already on facebook.
why people would think building a startup on top of another startup would be useful?
Wow, bs, I didn’t realise I’d moved from SW London.
Here’s the same functionality for Firefox users who use the website:
http://internetducttape.com/20.....s/#twitter
Here’s another ton of Firefox scripts for adding features to the website:
http://ffapps.com/
http://internetducttape.com/tools/#friendfeed
I love Thwirl but FriendFeed is looking more interesting and useful. I may have to spend more time on it.
bs - this blog ain’t for you, dude.
mark evans - to me, friendfeed is a datastream, twitter is a conversation…
I wanted to say that “Alert Thingy Smacks Twhirl and Calls it a Bitch” but that would be inappropriate right?
i like this blog, but i dont see why twitter gets mentioned like its the new facebook, when it isnt
@bs … I’d do your homework before you say that … Twitter may just be the new Facebook my friend
Also, why do you call yourself bs?
Ok now I read more carefully. If Alert Thingy allowed me to view Tweets from friends who don’t use FriendFeed, it would be a slam dunk. Until then…
@David You can create “imaginary” friends on FriendFeed and basically follow Tweets from friends who don’t use FriendFeed but are on Twitter.
@tim That’s a good idea, but you have to admit a little strange. So I follow my imaginary FF friends who follow my real friends on Twitter? Hmmmm.
Yeah, but “imaginary” friends on FF are about as fun as imaginary friends in the real world.
What FF should be doing (and could possibly be doing) is working on reading my friends from all of the services I told them about, then attempting to build my friends for me, instead of having me create them.
This way, I could send my friend a link to his prebuilt FF self and he could claim it.
@bs : best comment I’ve heard on this blog. reality check.
Hmm. Doesn’t work for me. I click on get remote key here and nothing happens. I do have a FF account, along with Twitter.
I’d ask Seesmic founder (and twhirl owner) Loic Le Meur for a comment, but he’s been off skiing for weeks. He’s European.
http://twitter.com/loiclemeur/statuses/788689599
That screenshot made me think about the Leopard skin of Snitter (another AIR Twitter thing):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/j.....882953698/
If you’re looking for a desktop client that helps you discover a broader range of content from your social networks, you should check out the new desktop viewer from Chirp: http://www.chirp.com
Our product calls in updates from Facebook and Twitter too, but also the images from Facebook, Flickr, and eBay. Give it a try and let us know what you think.
Jeff Tidwell
http://www.chirp.com
Hey Michael
I have been skiing on sunday only heh. Tough investor!
Some twhirl news coming soon…
Here’s the same functionality for Firefox users who use the website:
http://internetducttape.com/20…..s/#twitter
Here’s another ton of Firefox scripts for adding features to the Friend Feed website:
http://ffapps.com/
@bs: I think you are onto something. I have been to several cities as of late and only the handful of big, tech oriented cities (or metropolises) seem to have people who use (or even heard of) twitter. Twitter needs to counter this with user profile demographics of active users…
Harry “silly Michael, Twits are for twits” Wang
Will be interesting to see how this fairs against Twhirl?
Loic, had the opportunity to take @alertthingy on Twitter after the Baines strategy backfired… its a great app tho and a great way to understand why twittering will be the new fb and business network all in one etc
and why twitter domain grabbing can kill a great product in the wrong hands … what is that worth in todays market?
I think there are many people using more than one service. For example I use twitter, jaiku, pownce and tumblr simultaneously and I know of many which do the same.
Links need to be clickable ie in the Twitter posts, hate having to open up the links to the twitter to get a clickable one. Also FILTERS! Don’t want to see double posts in twhirl and alertthingy
A majority of my twitter friends aren’t on the Friendfeed bandwagon at the moment so while the posting to twitter is great, being able to view my stream would be killer, namely to consolidate apps and cut back on the API limitations of Twitter.
Oh, and being a linux user, not having the ability to manually download alertthingy (twhirl says its not compatible but you can manually download and install) even though AIR is now on Linux is a tad disappointing to say the least.