OutTwit Outlook client for Twitter
As I’ve written previously, I’ve become a Twitterholic. As a result, I’ve been trying to keep up with folks over the last few weeks. Twitter can be read and replied to on the web, but in my opinion to get the full benefit out of it, you need a third party app that allows you to get to the tweets you need quickly.
I’ve tried several different apps with Twitter, including Twhirl (works like an IM chat client) and Tweetdeck (a full featured “deck” to monitor Twitter). Twhirl and Tweetdeck require Adobe Air to function, so to me it was another app to install and another Adobe app that keeps prompting me to update (had to post a couple of updates to Adobe Air over a short few week period). I also tried to use the web version which seems the popular way to post, but it’s too hard to track tweets, and with Twhirl and Tweetdeck, I found myself missing tweets from folks I didn’t want to miss. Don’t get me wrong now. I follow interesting folks but some are posting some really good stuff. So, I needed something a little more functional that kept me from missing the tweets of folks I didn’t want to miss. When I set Tweetdeck up the way I wanted it (it allows Grouping, and separate tracking of replies and direct messages), I noticed that it was taking up about 150 MB of memory and growing quickly. I don’t need apps that hog that much memory with as many apps as I use. I’m assuming it’s due to Adobe’s bloatware, so can’t really blame the folks at Tweetdeck. And besides, I get tired of the Adobe prompts to update my apps. So, what did I do?
I spend an awful lot of time in Outlook, and feel comfortable with it’s interface and functionality. I was thrilled to find a client that integrates with Outlook (thanks to @jedimole and @rodtrent). Over the last several weeks, I’ve installed it and used it and now I’ll be summarizing my results of using it and describe how I use it, including installation, how to quickly find friends posts, how to quickly find replies and DM’s, and how to sort.
What are some of the features of OutTwit? You can:
- Update your Twitter status directly from Outlook.
- Receive your friend updates as Outlook messages.
- Archive, manage and search your tweets the same way you manage your email (details).
- Track keywords. OutTwit will automatically download ALL tweets matching the keywords you specify, even if you are not following the tweet sender. This feature is perfect for keeping up to date with the Twitter buzz on your name, brand, interests, etc.
- See new tweets at a glance (details).
- Assign custom folder and categories to new messages.
- Use Outlook's "Reply" and "ReplyAll" commands to send twitter direct messages and @replies.
- Automatically sort new tweets into per-sender folders.
- Shorten URLs with tinyurl.
- See graphs of your Twitter usage statistics.
- Tweets sent to you (@replies and direct) are marked with high importance, so you can see them at a glance.
The latest version of OutTwit is 5.3.38. You can pick it up here. I’ll be covering installation and setup in later posts, and covering some of the cool features that have been added. TechHit has been extremely responsive to suggestions, better than a lot of other vendors I’ve worked with, and is also on Twitter and responds there as well (@TechHit) so if you use OutTwit, or try it out, make sure you drop them a note if you find something you wish it did.
http://www.techhit.com/contact.html
Needless to say, OutTwit has made managing my tweets much easier.