iPhone4idiots

Given the early returns of our latest poll, I decided I had to do an app review of my favorite app, Tweetie 2 ($2.99). I can’t believe the majority of you are not using Twitter? If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch then you really need to give it a try. Trust me on this and whether you agree or disagree – TRY IT – and give me some comments on this article please. The iPhone and Twitter are like peanut butter and jelly or chocolate and anything. Please, do yourself a favor and take a minute to hear my case ☺

First, there are tons of twitter apps for the iPhone. I prefer Tweetie, but its fine if you like Twitterrific, TwitBit, TweetDeck, Birdfeed, Twittelator Pro, Simply Tweet or Twitterfon. Some of these are free (like TweetDeck)  so they might be the best place to start. Why are there so many? It’s the chocolate thing I mentioned. They all are popular because Twitter and the iPhone go so well together. I have no problems with any of these, but I’m reviewing Tweetie 2 so lets get on with it.

When you launch the app you are taken to the accounts page where you add your twitter account. Seen at the very top of this article, I have two. Actually, this is from Tweetie 1  (I have more accounts on Tweetie 2 and on Tweetie 2 you also see the avatar on the accounts page). Why do you want more than one account? Well I’ll get into that later, but I find it helpful to separate my tweets between my friends, iPhone hobby, business contacts and people I find interesting. So that’s four accounts I have. Just tap one of the accounts and you are taken to the page seen here on the right. The far left tab shows the most recent tweets of the people you are following. One nice feature of Tweetie 2 is to refresh you can just slide your finger down and release and it will update for you. I’ve heard many people say, “What can you say or communicate in 140 characters or less?” Well, a lot actually. Many tweets will have a clickable (or is it tapable) link to take you to a picture, video or website article. The 140 characters can act like a headline. The next tab seen here on the left is the @ page. This is filled with tweets directed at you. Each person there is speaking directly to me. The reason for this is simple. Whether you have 10 or 10,000 people following you if you tweet something like “Meet me at the movies.” or “I think it might rain.” you use the @name so other people following you know that you were not talking to them. This is a great way to carry on a conversation or ask for help. The next tab is direct message where you can tweet someone and keep it off the grid. That is, it only goes to that one person and others following you or them do not see it. Personally, I rarely use direct message. The next tab is the search page. Here you can search by name or subject for topics or people to follow. More interesting though, this tab shows the current trending topics. Seen on the right you can see presently that #mylasttweetonearth, Halloween and Windows 7 are three of the four most tweeted phrases. Yes, sometimes it’s junk, but you’ll be amazed how quickly breaking news jumps to the top of the list. Frankly, sometimes the silly TT (trending topics) are fun to chime in on as they fulfill some guilty pleasure. Balloon boy was a big a few days ago and anytime someone dies or there is an anniversary of a big event it usually becomes a trending topic. Personally I got a kick out of Anne Frank becoming a  TT from all the “hiding in the attic” comments that Balloon Boy inspired. I prefer to look for current news here as opposed to CNN, Fox or MSNBC. It’s definitely less biased and depressing. Lastly on this tab is the Nearby function seen here on the left which is amazing. It quickly GPS locates your spot then zooms down to google maps with blue flags showing all the tweets around you. Tap the flag and the tweet is displayed. IMO, this function will have some amazing game applications in its future. I’ve used it to talk trash at LP Field during the Titans games (geez, don’t get me going on that subject and so much for my Super Bowl prediction) or see what neighbors are tweeting about. My wife finds this feature a little scary, but not me. Look at the screenshot again. I’m checking tweets around Vanderbilt University. Someone named Errean is talking about how bad and boring baseball has become. I don’t know this person, but agree so I may tweet back something like “@Errean – I agree. Only my grandparents still like baseball, but they still listen to it on radio!” Maybe I make a friend, maybe not. Lastly, is the more tab seen here on the left. It basically shows your twitter profile including who you are following and who is following you. If you find someone interesting you can go there and see whom they are following and/or who is following them. It’s a great way to find people with similar passions.

Why four accounts? Well, I use iPhone4idiots to promote the website and answer people’s questions. I have another account for my real job. I use hirtme to follow a lot of people with similar interests – mainly tech, iPhone, iPod and soccer. I use the fourth account to follow my closest friends to keep up with what’s going on with them. And Tweetie 2 makes it so simple. Yes, at first it’s a little intimidating with all the tweets. Actually, my biggest gripe with Twitter is when you first register they automatically start you off following 20 people. My recommendation is the first thing you should do is unfollow all 20. Get their tweets out of there and pick two or three subjects you are passionate about and search for ten minutes and pick one or two people to follow in each area. Maybe add one or two celebrities or sports stars you like and follow them. Give it a week and then remove those you don’t find interesting and add and few more. If after three weeks you aren’t hooked, go back to Facebook or whatever floats your boat. My guess is you’ll be tweeting @iphone4idiots soon!

Give it a try. Again, IMO the key is starting by searching for the subjects you are most passionate about. It’s a big world and there are a lot of fascinating people out there talking and doing things in your areas of interest. I bet soon many of you will use your Twitter app more than any other. I rarely open Facebook anymore although there are cool apps that update both Twitter and Facebook at the same time. Obviously, I recommend Tweetie 2 since it’s the app I use the most. If you’ve read this far please do me a favor and leave a comment. I’m very curious why you guys are not tweeting.