Twitter is gaining popularity and thousands of new users are joining every day. With a large audience to cater to, web applications, standalone desktop applications, Adobe AIR applications and Firefox addons are being made.
TwitBin is one such Firefox addon for Twitter. Residing on Firefox as a sidebar, TwitBin can be used to send tweets, read tweets and view public timeline. There is an option to view only public tweets, friends’ tweets, direct messages or replies.
Perhaps the biggest reason why I liked it was because of the neat and beautiful design. Unlike some other Twitter addons which are downright ugly, TwitBin is elegant.
Some crucial features are missing in TwitBin, though. There is no single click method (like clicking message icon in Twhirl) to send direct messages, though you can always use “d username direct message” format. Since this is an application in development, these features will in all probability, be added in future.
The service uses TwitBin servers which might be a cause of privacy concern. Also, the service may slow down if the number of users increase greatly. The TwitBin website mentions that advertisements at the bottom will be used for monetization, but I have not yet seen any advertisements.
However, TwitBin is recommended for active Twitterers due to the fact that it is beautifully-designed and lives inside Firefox sidebar (though an option to move it to right would have been better, since we all read from left to right, and TwitBin gets in the way).
Related reading
- TwitKit extension brings Twitter to your Firefox sidebar
- Tweetpkr: Twitter in your sidebar, in a bookmarklet
- Post to Twitter from your Firefox address bar with TwitterBar
- Bring yer’ questions ‘ere
Will give it a try. Thanks for sharing.
Sadly, I am not an active user!
No time! Will try to get into it eventually. Thanks!
@Haris: Do try it, but remember that it is still under development, and some features are lacking (as I pointed out in the post), but expect them to develop and improve well.
@Aseem: Using Twitter can be done even when busy. Um..maybe I’ll write a post about it