Last month, Gmail introduced a new feature that was designed to give users a much better overview of their contacts, while they were reading the actual messages. For users with hundreds or thousands of contacts, it's a great feature. So great that it's actually something others have been doing for some time now.
Rapportive, a
Gmail plugin that added much of the same functionality has now released an update which trumps what Google has done and should continue to make it a worthwhile feature, even if it requires several more steps to install.
In the latest update, the plugin greatly expanded support for Twitter, not only are the most recent tweets pulled in, but you can also engage with the service from Gmail, essentially turning the webmail app into a Twitter client, complete with follow, reply, retweet, direct messages and so on.
"Our Twitter widget has always given you valuable context at a glance: you can mention the recent tweets, bring up shared interests, or even plan to meet at an event," Rapportive
wrote.
"Although the recent tweets were very useful, we gave you no way to interact on Twitter itself. Yet to fully understand your contacts, you have to be where your contacts are. You have to chat where they chat, learn where they learn, and play where they play," it added.
"If your contacts tweet, so should you. Today, our Twitter widget gets a massive upgrade. You can now follow, reply, and retweet — all without leaving Gmail," it said.
The new version is rolling out to all users, but if you can't wait anymore, you can grab it from rapportive.com/twitter. With the added functionality, it should be interesting to see if people really do want Twitter in their email.
On the one hand, it adds another communication channel, making it easier and faster to reply to something rather than email, but on the other, perhaps there is a reason why the mediums are separate.
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