TweetyBot: A New Twitter Client For Windows PCs

I just came across TweetyBot, a new Twitter desktop application for users of Windows XP or Vista. This small app includes a lot of features – even more than my everyday Twitter client, Twhirl. Across the top of TweetyBot are several tabs which allow you to see the usual views – your tweets, replies, directs, etc. However, TweetyBot also includes several additional options for managing your tweets. For example, there’s an “Ignore List” tab where you can enter in someone’s Twitter username and ignore them without actually blocking or unfollowing them:

But one of the best features is the “Alert List” tab. Here, you can enter in your favorite twitterers' usernames and you’ll get pop-up desktop alerts when they update their status. The client includes a few other features, too, like separate “Following” and “Followers” tabs and tweet threading for following individual conversations.

Still, there are a few issues with this app that it’s worth noting. For one, the “Options” tab and “Tweet Manager” tab appeared completely blank for me. I don’t know if those are upcoming features or if this is just a bug, but I found that odd. Also, links always opened in IE and there didn’t appear to be any options for setting an alternative browser (or maybe there were, but I just couldn’t see them in my empty Options tab!). The client is ad-supported and features a somewhat large banner at the bottom of the app's window. I understand the need to make money, but I found the ad just a bit obtrusive.

According to the TweetyBot homepage, there are a few upcoming features that look interesting, though, like a tweet auto responder, a tweet scheduler, and an auto-follow option. There’s also a cool auto-UNfollow feature coming which will automatically unfollow someone after you follow them and they don’t reciprocate. You’ll be able to set the time frame for this option.

Although TweetyBot is new, it has a lot of features that could make it a great, feature-rich client for Windows users. Hopefully, they will iron out some of the kinks I experienced before too long. If so, I’ll definitely take another look at this one. I might even switch from Twhirl…maybe…