Along with a new Twitter Directory to please the microblogging site's fans

Sep 9, 2009 09:43 GMT  ·  By
TweetDeck comes with a new Twitter Directory to please the microblogging site's fans
   TweetDeck comes with a new Twitter Directory to please the microblogging site's fans

While Twitter's traffic numbers continue to impress, a large portion of Twitter users doesn't employ the site itself, but connects using third-party mobile or desktop clients, and some estimate those users may be as many as those visiting the site. The most popular software client for Twitter is TweetDeck and, with the new version just launched, it's making a strong case for itself, while also further expanding its functionality by adding support for MySpace.

The goal now is to make the Twitter client a social-networking hub, with all of the places where a user hangs out online brought together into one app with a unified interface and advanced features. Initially, TweetDeck's creator, Iain Dodsworth, now CEO of the company with the same name, wanted to create a powerful Twitter client, which would let him manage several conversation streams at the same time and generally add more functionality to Twitter's well-known simplicity.

In spring, it gained limited support for Facebook as well, but it wasn't until today, when the latest version (0.30) hit, that TweetDeck became a real multi-tasker. The latest update brings full Facebook support, allowing users to update their Facebook status, keep up with their friends with a fully featured stream, and now also engage with the content with “likes” and inline comments. There is also the possibility to create new friend groups.

Along with the full Facebook support also came the new MySpace integration, allowing the 'few' users still left on the social network to keep an eye on their accounts and also update their status. Users can create new columns of their friends' activity, their comments and other content.

But Twitter users, still its biggest audience, haven't been forgotten and should enjoy the introduction of a new Twitter Directory, which lets them discover interesting Twitterers they may like. There are a handful of similar services already, even the site itself has some recommended users, but TweetDeck really takes it one step further, with detailed categories and subcategories adding up to several thousands of users to choose from.