Note: A few weeks ago a published a review of desktop Twitter apps.

Desktop Twitter apps are great but browser based clients are pretty darn robust these days too and certainly worthy of your consideration. A colleague of mine was recently having problems with her AIR app functioning properly and switched to a browser one. She is now tweeting problem free.

Browser apps can also have a lot of functionality built into them since they’re not limited by an application on your computer. Here are my top five:

Hootsuite

HootSuite is one of the most robust platforms for updating and monitoring your social networks. You can update Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook from with the same browser window. It also has its own link shortener ow.ly that helps you track how many people are clicking your links. And if you use their link shortener, it will integrate statistics.

One of my favorite features is that it will let you schedule tweets for later. So if you want to Tweet about the blog article you just finished at 2 AM, you can write the tweet then but automatically send it later. Try and do that with a desktop app.

Seesmic Web

Seesimc Web is similar to their desktop application but lives within a browser window. It’s a relatively new offering from them and doesn’t have as many functions as Hootsuite or even their own desktop app. But my guess it that it will get more features over time. So this is certainly an app to watch.

CoTweet

CoTweet is a browser based with a focus on corporate users. The features are built around the idea of multiple users. This means multiple users can tweet to the same account and team members can even assign tasks to each other. CoTweet’s functions add up to a great Twitter CRM system but I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who’s just tweeting for or by themselves.

Brizzley

I dig Brizzly. Unlike most of the solutions, Brizzly actually loads Twitter content right into your browser window. This makes it easy to scan Twitter photos right in the same browser window. Brizzley also has a nice Facebook integration. Brizzly doesn’t try to do everything, rather it focuses on just being easy to use.

Flock

An interesting way to use Twitter is when it’s integrated right into your browser with Flock. Flock does a lot of interesting things I’m not really sure I need my browser to do. Plus I’m kind of addicted to all my Firefox plug-ins.  But Flock is an interesting tool none-the-less. And hey, it might be something you’d like to try.

OK, that’s my list. Did I leave something important out? Let me know and I’ll add it.

Posted on: April 28, 2010, by : Jimmy Gilmore