Gee's Blog World: Twitter Tuesday - Twitter launches Earlybird, Beak shuts down, new Tweetie almost here

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Twitter Tuesday - Twitter launches Earlybird, Beak shuts down, new Tweetie almost here

Filed under: Features, Web services, Social Software, Microblogging

We've mentioned Twitter's special @earlybird account before, but this little project has finally left the nest. @earlybird offers deals to Twitter users and it launched with a Disney partnership -- offering discount tickets to The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Apparently, services like Groupon and Gilt will be getting in on the action soon. If you like deals, keep an eye on @earlybird.

In apps news, Loren Brichter, developer of Tweetie (and now Twitter for iPhone) seems to be close to releasing his next project, and he calls it "THE MOST AMAZING CLIENT YOU'VE NEVER SEEN" ... yeah, in all caps. Is this the next version of Twitter for iPhone? Is it Twitter for iPad? Or, even better, is it the newest version of Tweetie for Mac?

As a new Twitter client emerges, we're also saying goodbye to an old favorite: Beak, a great-looking Mac client, has been killed off by its developer, Mike Rundle. Mike just didn't have enough time to devote to Beak, and he couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel with the project. Plus, he's more of a Twitter web interface guy when it comes to his own usage of the service, so he wasn't even using his own app.
What the heck is a Tweetaboogle?! Well, it's a Twitter/Facebook/Google mashup that shows you Google results and the tweets that go with them, and gives you an easy way to Facebook Like any result. You can also tweet a comment on any of the links you find. It might not be the most useful site in the world, but it's definitely very social.

If you're following too many people on Twitter, you've got two new contrasting options to help your stream lose some of that unsightly weight. Chump Dump turns unfollowing into a game, rewarding you for dumping your Twitter friends and entering the reason why you unfollowed. The reasons are mapped (anonymously) on an amusing display called the Chumpdar. For a faster, more powerful (but less quirky) unfollowing experience, ManageFlitter just shows you who's not following you back and who hasn't tweeted in ages, and lets you clean out the cruft from your stream all at once. Easy!

Sometimes when you're reading a news article, you'll see a Twitter account mentioned, but you'd rather not open a new window or tab to go read those tweets. Well, Tweetbeat Firsthand helps you out by showing you a few recent tweets when you mouseover the name of someone with a Twitter account. It's a browser extension, available for Firefox and Chrome.

Well, that's what we've got for you this week! Don't forget to check out Twitter Tuesday next week ... same tweet time, same tweet channel!