I’m live blogging from video conversation platform Seesmic’s headquarters, where Seesmic’s founder Loic Le Meur, is previewing a new Twitter client. We reported earlier about the unveiling of the site. Le Meur says that this is still a work in progress and ongoing changes will made to the product.
Seesmic, who also owns popular Twitter app Twhirl, has launched a new Twitter client, Seesmic Desktop. Like Twhirl, Seesmic Desktop is a desktop app, operated by Adobe Air. Seesmic Desktop allows you to view multiple accounts in one window, unlike Twhirl, where you have to view multiple accounts in different windows. It looks like it was designed to rival competitor TweetDeck, which is the most popular desktop client for Twitter. Le Meur says that Seesmic will discontinue adding features to Twhirl (he jokes that it has a difficult name) and will primarily focus on building out Seesmic Desktop.
Here are a few of the nifty features Seesmic Desktop will have:
Multiple Accounts
Not only will you be able to see multiple Twitter accounts in one place, but you will be able to view the window in columns (similar to Tweetdeck). With this timeline, users can easily see Tweets and messages from multiple accounts and easily organize different applications. Le Meur says the interface is as simple as a Gmail interface.
Lists
You will be able to group your social contacts into lists like family, co-workers and friends.
Photos and Video
Like Twhirl, you will be able to share photos (integrated with TwitPic) and record and share video via Seesmic (that feature will be coming soon, Le Meur says). You can also drag and drop an image into messages. You can import video via your web cam as well.
Support for Social Networks
Currently the client only serves Twitter but Le Meur says that eventually Seesmic Desktop will have integrate with Facebook, Digg, Identica, Ping.FM and FriendFeed. Twhirl currently has support for these networks.
Stability
Because Seesmic Desktop is built on the stability of company Seesmic’s platform and Adobe Air, Le Meur says that his new client will be much more stable than competitor Tweetdeck.
Shorten Urls
Also like Twhirl, you will be able to shorten URLs to share via Twitter
Search
Search queries of messages opens in different columns and are saved.
This new client is like an upgraded, stronger Twhirl with even more powerful capabilities. According to LeMeur, Twhirl has been downloaded 1.2 million times and is the leading Twitter client on the web. Twitstat says that Twhirl is the 4th most popular Twitter client, behind rival Tweetdeck, which ranks as #2 on the list. But this new app could overtake Tweetdeck with its new functionality. Its actually similar in some ways to AlertThingy. Le Meur wants this client to be the Bloomberg of social software, aggregating all content into one (free) desktop app, perhaps becoming the desktop app version of FriendFeed along the way.
Disclaimer: TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington is an investor in Seesmic, although I am not.
blah…im all about nambu currently. I think that adobe air is a limiting factor here. I’d like to see more native OS X twitter apps…way more power
I’m in the same boat. I’ve replaced TweetDeck with Nambu and I haven’t looked back yet. AIR is such a memory hog.
I’ve been using Tweetdeck but just checked out Nambu after reading the comments here. Really nice! I have to agree if there’s a native OS app with comparable functionality I’m going to use that over an AIR app.
they can’t go native cause they don’t have enough money to pay real engineers; i hate bloggers cause they create on-of-shit products thinking that they can do some typical model of market share dominant blah… death.
the deal is the net is going back to REAL technology and coders;
shoot a Air programmer, save the world.
I entirely agree. Have been using Nambu for a few weeks now and it trounces all other clients in the market. It unfortunately has some performance issues presently, particularly with saved searches, but as soon as they iron out some of these I believe we will begin to see a gargantuan presence of this utility, at least among Mac users.
Sure, Tweetie’s core animation utilization is nice and it’s threaded comments are nice as well, but Nambu simply well outperforms it in other aspects and is free.
Now, having said all of that, their support seems to be backlogged right now. But, hopefully they’re triaging their support cases and preparing to drop a new release to address outstanding issues.
Looks wakewl.
Can’t wait to try it.
Thanks for sharing!
~Ronald
TrueBeliever & HopeDealer
I would really like to see a web app with the power of TweetDeck or Twhirl
Seesmic Desktop looks awesome! can’t wait to get it!
Wow, that multiple Twitter accounts in one interface is interesting – I’m a TweetDeck lover, but AFAIK, it doesn’t support multiple accounts.
Looking forward to trying out Seesmic Desktop – anyone know if it’s stable on Windows 7 (Build 7000 and more recent) ?
I am running build 7078 of Win7 and it works just fine =)
Wow! I use tweetdeck and love alot of the features… I can’t wait to see this!
I look forward to using this to replace tweetdeck on my main box and twhirl on the laptop.
Even the teaser page is irresistible! I don’t say this often, especially with anything related to Facebook/Twitter… But I WANT!
Bah – tried logging in with facebook connect, but got a javascript error in IE7.
Isn’t seesmic partially owned by Arrington? not sure how objective this news is…
Worth trying out, even if Arrington is pimping them in a favorable review. Any tool that lets you easier control your tweeting is a friend of mine.
http://twitter....m/Spideroak_Inc
Just dl’ed Seesmic Desktop Client and I am NOT impressed. First, why are companies so terrible at sitting back from their product and just saying “Damn, this is ugly.” Second, how do groups work. Can’t find out how to make groups. Third, not intuitive and the sorting buttons are terrible. Don’t like the AIR platform mostly because it does not support mac multi touch functionality that I have grown accustomed to.
Positives: combined tweet for multiple accounts in Home tab is neat. I also like the easy to use tweet box on top.
I agree with the second point whole-heartedly… there’s no easy way to set up lists! you’re forced to wait for a friend’s tweet to show up in the home feed, mouse over the icon, and click add to user list. This makes the feature useless in my opinion. Am I missing something?
I’m in agreement Anthony. Seesmic is pretty awful in it’s current state. And hideous.
The sorting buttons are clunky and the whole program slows my system to a crawl. It’s got a long way to go to catch up to Tweetdeck.
(I use a combo of Digsby & Tweetie to manage multiple accounts.)
I wish it wasn’t AIR.
Its great thus far, although the whole “air” thing is not something I enjoy (wish it was stand alone).
Why? Can you be more specific?
are you a ‘tard? do you use computers?
This look very interesting.
“Because Seesmic Desktop is built on the stability of company Seesmic’s platform and Adobe Air, Le Meur says that his new client will be much more stable than competitor Tweetdeck”…
LOL
can you believe how duplicitous and false Lemeur can be? Seismic platform is crap! they first launched their website all in flash (crap) and then spent more than a year remaking it completely (frontend and backend)… to release it again… as html crap…
How much is this company worth? 1 billion?
it’s worth 2.3 billion. it’s french.
The desktop looks great. It runs quickly and smoothly. The functionality is great. There are so many great new clients coming out that we are spoiled for choice. Nambu is one of my favorites, even though it can run slowly. The Seesmic Desktop is another. DestroyTwitter is looking good these days as well. One issue I have with all of these great clients is that we have very little, or no, control over font sizes. I need larger sizes in order to read them, some people with small screens need smaller fonts. Other than online clients, nobody seems to think we should have a say into the font, except for a nice little client, named Twitteron (http://www.tech...ware/twitteron/). I also like threaded conversations, which Nambu has, but Seesmic Desktop does not.
Having said all that, however, I am generally thrilled with the selection of nice new clients for us to use (way too many hours of the day).
Twhirl lets you adjust the font face and size. I hope they carry it over into the Seesmic Desktop client.
My memory seems to be going south along with my eyes. I had forgotten that Twhirl allows adjustment of typeface and size. I join you in hoping that this capability carries over to Desktop.
I like it. Columns and groupings are a welcome improvement. The changes to the notification pop-up are a little annoying for someone who glances at their tweets as they come in.
More thoughts on my blog http://www.russ...the-next-level/
“This new client is like an upgraded, stronger Twhirl with even more powerful capabilities”
Wait, is this a press release? What a sham of a post.
This post is a perfect example of TC’s decline from the golden days of Arrington’s 2006-7 posts to cut-paste reporting.
You explore many possible ways Seesmic MAY overtake Tweetdeck–but leave out any reasons it may not. It’s called critical thinking. And this post has got none of it.
@hmm: i rarely say this, but lighten up. PR folks aren’t the only ones with a license to write in a compelling fashion. the statement is well-supported with evidence and examples.
if you want ‘06-7 articles, i hear there is an archive available. otherwise, keep reading and spare the rest of us your meaningless commentary.
My Yammer RIA app takes up about 45MB. Why do AIR apps hog memory? Skype takes about 25MB. How big is too big?
What causes the Adobe Air apps to be memory hogs? My Yammer client takes up 45MB. Each Google Chrome instance takes 35-50MB. Skype 25MB. How big is too big?
I wouldn’t call it formidable but then I’m not going for page views
Repackaged Tweetdeck with none of the pluses of Twhirl. Formidable? NO!
Loic – build in bit.ly accounts so that I can shorten urls directly inside of Seesmic Desktop and track my links that way. Big feature missing in TweetDeck.
Adam – Tweetdeck has support for bit.ly as well…
Tweetdeck has support for using bit.ly, but all of your bit.ly links are not affiliated with your actual account, meaning you can’t track any of your links in bit.ly’s link tracker.
It’s very rough, even for a very early preview. If fact, I just installed and it crashed twice after trying several times to open from the System Tray. First time an AIR app has actually crashed on me. When I relaunched it didn’t remember my account information.
A simple double click on the tray icon does not open the app; instead you have to navigate the system tray menu choices. Don’t like this behavoir.
I’m not a heavy twitter user, but even so I think they might have been better served to start with a more controlled beta.
They could benfit from consulting with a good designer as well.
wonderfull App.
Air is the right techno here .
more apps, recycled faster would be great!
It was high time to justify and use wisely some of the $12M to develop Twhirl client and rebrand it seesmic desktop.
I don’t believe in multiple Twitter accounts except for marketers and social media/community managers.
Man, does that UI look like shit. Does anyone care about how their application looks anymore?
The text could not look more horrible. The shadows look terrible and they mix-and-match drop shadows with shadow insets all throughout the app. Pick a UI paradigm and stick with it!
I’m now convinced that people who create AIR apps only do so because they can stand behind the cross-platform nature of it when people criticize the interface for looking horrible. “Hey, but at least it works!”
exactly, they use AIR cause they really can’t program.
You are a fool that makes rash comments, but never back it up[ with real information. It’s OK that you feel differently, but try saying so in a constructive manner instead of always try to crap on other people.
I’m not a big fan of Adobe Air. Tweetie also announced that there is a desktop application (native application) coming soon: http://www.ateb...om/tweetie-mac/
I can’t keep up with the multitude of desktop clients being released, currently I’m using TweetDeck but DestroyTwitter is supposedly better, Nambu is supposedly better and now the Seesmic client is the new way forward….
Once again, TC decides to kiss the ass of the Clown Prince of Shitty Products, Loic Le Meur.
It is interesting how the feedback on twitter is much more balanced and positive on twitter than on this thread. If you are a user, do not get discouraged, either try it on your own or do a quick search on twitter for “Seesmic Desktop”
Air is not the solution. Worst of both worlds. My vote is for Nambu today.
I did an indepth one hour head-2-head running/analysis between the two, check out the detail http://2above.c...eck-vs-seesmic/
Sending the app to the tray, won’t reopen the app. It gives an system error
Another Adobe-AIR based Twitter client. Seems like AIR and Twitter go hand-in-hand!
Seesmic Desktop has been added to the Twitdom Twitter Apps List.
I agree with the comments above regarding the aesthetics of Seesmic. The fonts and type look bad and it’s distracting enough to make me not want to use it. It does offer some nice features though. And the typography should be an easy fix.
So far (for me) out of Seesmic, Tweetdeck, Nambu and cotweet, my preference is cotweet followed by Nambu.
Apparently very early preview at the moment.
The Last thing I need is another desktop client for a web service.
After trying Seesmic Desktop, I think I’ll stick with EventBox on the Mac. Though Nambu looks interesting…
Maybe I missed it in the article above, but this is a ‘preview’ and not really a ‘release’. Ergo, this likely something less than a beta, which is probably why seesmic doesn’t even have their own seesmic service plugged in with this tool yet.
I like seesmic, like the team, but an article about a preview for an Adobe Air application is a bit of overkill. If this was OS 11 or Windows 7 being previewed, it would rate an article, but for this I don’t think so yet.
Let me know when you get a ful fledged beta up and running.
i’m still amazed how loic pulled of 12 million in funding. sheez.
Indeed Nambu is the cats meow at the moment for Mac OS X.
Apparently very early preview at the moment.
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Wow… I just tried it and it really sucks… i rather use Twhirl 10000 times more than Seesmic Desktop
Whats going on with Loic? He noticed, that his “seesmic video idea” was 3 years to early and now he is spending tons of money for seesmic desktop. Loic, please focus on a business model. Reach is not the only important thing in web-business….
Nambu looks promising, but is it possible to have the view set to see the outline pane on the left but multiple columns on the right instead of just one? Can’t figure out how to do both. If I can get Nambu to replicate Seesmic or TweetDeck, but with the outline pane and their functionality, I’ll give it an extended trial.
I installed Adobe Air and enjoyed TweetDeck, but my XP slowed down, even when TD wasn’t open. Even my husband’s user account slowed down, and he never used TweetDeck.
I uninstalled Air yesterday, and both our user accounts are behaving normally again.
I’m currently using Digsby to view tweets offsite, but it’s really not the same. Aren’t there any decent Windows program that don’t use Adobe Air? It seems I’m not the only one affected by AA.