Seesmic, known for its desktop and web-based Twitter apps, recently updated its feature-rich Seesmic for BlackBerry client, which was first released late last year. It has potential, despite several uncooperative features.

The Good

Twitter has added a few new features since we published our roundup of free BlackBerry Twitter apps, such as lists and saved searches. Seesmic includes both in its BlackBerry app.

Twitter Lists in Seesmic BlackBerry

Any saved searches you have on your Twitter account appears in the Seesmic menu, a feature not present in Ubertwitter. You can also save new searches in Seesmic, which are carried over to your Twitter account.

Seesmic BlackBerry shows saved searches

Seesmic’s search, reply and all other basic features get the job done, taking about the same time and effort as in the average BlackBerry Twitter tool. You can “Quote” someone’s tweet, which is an editable retweet, or select “RT” to automatically retweet a message without edits. Seesmic comes with picture previews in the timeline when someone links a picture using yFrog, Twitpic and tweetPhoto. However, previews appear to be limited to these three services because images from Flickr and img.ly don’t appear in the timeline.

The Bad

A video on Seesmic’s web site shows how its notifications work, which should let you know when you receive @replies and direct messages. Notifications never worked for me. To be fair, I ruled out the possibility that it was the fault of my BlackBerry Curve 8310 or my AT&T network by verifying that notifications worked in Ubertwitter — and they did.

Seesmic appears in the camera’s photo viewer menu, but sending a photo using this option did not work for me, even though it spends a long time uploading the photo. Nothing happens. No URL to the photo appears. Next, I tried posting the photo using all of the three available photo services and none worked. I even took a photo from within Seesmic and that failed, too. Again, I switched over to Ubertwitter and tested the same feature at the same time using tweetPhoto to send a photo — and it worked.

I mentioned both issues on Twitter and someone from Seesmic responded saying the features worked fine for him. I kept trying over several days and saw no change. If you have a different BlackBerry and/or network, you still might have better luck with Seesmic for BlackBerry. It’s a free app, so doesn’t cost you anything but time to try it. If all the features had worked, it’d definitely be a viable option for those seeking a feature-rich Twitter application for BlackBerrys.

Which mobile Twitter application do you use, and why?

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Seesmic apparently saw the wisdom in that idea, because it recently revealed a new Windows-only Twitter client that doesn’t require AIR to run. I jumped at the chance to take the software, which is currently only available as a preview edition, for a test run.

Feature-rich

Seesmic for Windows has just about every bell and whistle I could ask for in a professional Twitter client, but without a lot of the unnecessary frills that I feel get thrown in with something like TweetDeck. It seems closer to Tweetie for Mac, which is still my favorite client, independent of platform concerns.

You can use multiple accounts, and customize your columns in the main window however you like. By default, your Home feed will display tweets from all the accounts you have registered with Seesmic, which is a great thing for people who use different Twitter accounts to organize the people they follow, like groups. For those who don’t, Seesmic includes support for Twitter lists, so that you can organize those you follow that way instead.

My personal favorite feature of Seesmic is how the compose window uses your first-entered account by default. That means regardless of what post I reply to, and in what stream I find it, the reply originates from my main account. This is ideal for me because it’s my primary publishing identity, while the others are mostly for monitoring.

Searches can be initiated at any time using a field intuitively placed at the top right-hand corner of the Seesmic window, but I couldn’t find any way to find trending topics. While I don’t generally have cause to check the trends, not having the ability to do so does rankle a bit.

Good-looking and Functional

This is the best-looking Twitter app I’ve seen on Windows, and possibly one of the best-looking Windows apps I’ve seen, period. Especially using a dark-tinted Windows 7 glass visual theme, it just looks designed to fit its surroundings, which is more than I can say for any AIR application.

The tabbed sidebar and light-colored stream backgrounds make it a very usable interface, in addition to helping with aesthetic effect. I would appreciate an option to turn on color-coding for @ mentions or conversations between two people you follow, but with columns designed for the purpose, I guess the Seesmic team figures that isn’t necessary.

Advanced controls for each tweet can be brought up by hovering over a user’s portrait, or by right-clicking on any individual post, so you have options in terms of replying or retweeting. You can also create user lists on the fly from anyone in your stream, or add people to existing lists, which makes it very easy to create functional groups quickly. You can even drag a user’s profile pic to the group of your choice to add them to it.

If there was a feature I’m missing most with Seesmic, it’s the ability to follow/unfollow people from within the client. It’s something I use regularly with my iPhone Twitter clients, and something I enjoy being able to do at a moment’s notice without visiting the web-based interface for Twitter.com.

Client of Choice for Windows

I won’t mince words: Seesmic’s dedicated Windows app has become my go-to software for using Twitter on a PC, even though bugs are present in the preview version. It’s just that good, and it’s not Adobe AIR. In fact, it might be reason enough for me to spend a little less time in OS X, and a little more time working in Windows 7. I’ll stress the might in that last statement, though. If you want a copy, for now you have to sign up for the Seesmic newsletter at Seesmic.com, but turnaround time for a download link seems to be less than a day for most.

Have you tried Seesmic for Windows? Let us know what you think of it below.

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I don’t generally like living on the bleeding edge, but some betas are very usable, and I’ve already incorporated them into my daily workflow. Others look promising, but are not stable or are lacking too many features right now. But all of the following are worth trying, and watching as they develop. We’ll review them more thoroughly as they mature.

Adium is my favorite IM client for the Mac OS. Its latest beta supports all of the instant messaging protocols, and also has rudimentary support for Twitter and Facebook Chat. Unfortunately, the latter is not working as I write this, although a fix is expected shortly.

VoxOx is an ambitious program combining IM; social networks (Facebook, MySpace and Twitter); SMS texting; faxing; private email; file sharing; video conversations; and voice connections. As I wrote a few days ago, it is very rough around the edges now, and desperately needs improved tools for managing contacts.

Imo.im is a web-based multi-system instant messaging client with some intriguing features, like shared whiteboards. This service is listed as being in alpha, so we can assume that it has considerable development ahead of it.

Brizzly is a web-based service that looks a lot like Twitter’s own web interface, but with improvements. It supports multiple Twitter accounts and has recently added Facebook support. The multiple accounts aren’t as well integrated as I would like, but I assume that will come.

Tweetminer is another web-based service that includes support for multiple Twitter accounts, tweet scheduling, and RSS feeds. Its interface is attractive, but features are minimal at the moment. There are also Adobe AIR or Fluid-based desktop versions, for those who prefer standalone apps.

Socialite (formerly EventBox, which Imran wrote about here) has just released beta 2, which seemingly broke support for Facebook updates. When this issue is fixed, Socialite could become my favorite, as it combines support for Facebook, Facebook Pages, multiple Twitter accounts, RSS feeds and Google Reader in one attractive interface.

Seesmic Desktop is another Twitter and Facebook program which has worked well for me, but it shares with many Adobe AIR programs some ugly screen fonts and a propensity for using large amounts of memory. Seesmic also has a promising web version, but so far, it lacks support for multiple Twitter accounts, and for Facebook.

Nambu only does Twitter, but does it very well, in what I think is the most attractive interface of any program of its type. I can choose three different layouts, and switch between them easily. Nambu’s development is very rapid, with a new beta released every couple of days.

I find the popular Tweetdeck to be totally unreadable and unusable, due to its AIR interface. I wish Adobe would make AIR on the Mac look as good as the native OS X fonts and windows.

There are lots more betas out there, of course. What beta software and services do you use?

Image credit: Stock.xchng user OmirOnia

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It turns out that there have been widespread complaints about this issue, which Facebook has acknowledged on its Help page:

“Site Maintenance” error
Some users have experienced difficulty logging in to and using the site for several days, receiving “Site Maintenance” error messages after logging in. We are aware of this technical issue and are working to resolve it as soon as possible. We apologize for the delay.

I was lucky, and was able to get back into the Facebook site fairly quickly. While I was locked out, I couldn’t post to my personal Facebook page, but fortunately I could use some Facebook functions because I’d set up RSS feeds and access via third-party programs in advance.

Unfortunately, Facebook seems to be discouraging RSS feeds for Notifications (messages like “Jane Doe has commented on your link”), so you may not be able to follow the RSS instructions given in the Facebook Help. Status Updates (like “Jane Doe is ready for a long weekend”) can be accessed via a Facebook application that creates an RSS feed for your status updates.

If you administer any Facebook Groups and Pages, these should be unaffected by log-in failures. So make sure that you give a friend administrative rights to your group or page. If their accounts are not affected, they can post material for you. You should also be able to post to Facebook Pages (but not Groups) via third-party programs such as Ping.fm and Seesmic Desktop, if you set up these programs with posting rights ahead of time.

It’s frustrating when you can’t log into the Facebook site, but you may be able to do more than you expect. Let’s hope that while Facebook is having log-in issues, it allows easier access to our data through RSS and third-party programs.

How do you manage when you can’t log into Facebook?

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I was poking around the comments on my Preparing to Live Blog an Event post and came across a conversation about live blogging events at ProBlogger that made me think more about how I’m going to handle single-handedly “live blogging” a 3-day conference. The discussion also made me think more about what exactly “live blogging” means.

The social media maven for nonprofits Beth Kanter defined Live Blogging as: “basically taking notes, photos, or recordings at lectures, conferences, and presentations of what was said and posting it to your blog.” (quote found here) I agree with Kanter’s basic definition, but for anyone who hasn’t tried live blogging before, I think this definition isn’t detailed enough.

If I had to define live blogging, I’d define it this way:

“Live (multimedia) blogging is capturing the words, sounds, and images at an event and posting them online to a variety of Web 2.0 enabled sites with the goal of sharing the experience for those who cannot attend while preserving key moments in an archive.”

Here are some more of my thoughts about live blogging.

1. The view is skewed.

I think that there is no way to avoid the fact that each live blogger will bring their own personal perspectives, experiences and understandings to the multimedia content they share. Is this good or bad? I think it can be both. Knowing where a live blogger is coming from is key – although they will quickly reveal their POV after a few posts.

Should a live blogger remain totally neutral? Sure, like a journalist should. Is that realistic? Not at all, but it is worth striving for. When I live blog the upcoming 3-day event, I’ll be covering specific sessions requested by my client. However, I may hear things differently than others in the room because I’m not in the same field as the attendees. That can be a good and bad thing. The client sees it as a good thing as I will likely bring a fresh perspective to the coverage.

2. Live Blogging doesn’t necessarily mean real-time.

I think some people mistake live blogging for real-time coverage, which you can’t really achieve if you are typing, even if you are a phenom typist. So unless you stream live video or audio, you can’t consider live blogging real-time. With microblogs like Twitter, you can certainly attempt near-real-time live blogging, but if you’re flying solo like I am, I’m not as concerned about near-real-time or real-time.

In my case, the goal isn’t to create a real-time experience for people who cannot attend. If that were the case, I’d stream it all live using Ustream.tv, Qik.com, Justin.tv or another such site. I’d even look into CoverItLive which many live bloggers are raving about. But the tools you choose are based on your goals.

My goal is to carry out a proof of concept, demonstrating how Web 2.0 tools can work in concert to create a rich, dynamic and unique presentation of an event that can be distributed/shared and archived for future reference. They key is to know your goals before live blogging and pick and choose the tools and methodology that will best achieve those goals.

3. Live blogging needs to be “vibed.”

By “vibed” I mean that the live blogger should use their social media instincts to pick and choose the right medium at the right time for the right effect. I don’t think that there is any way to dictate in advance which tools you will be using at what point of the live blogging project. Each session requires a creative gut check.

If one session features an incredibly dynamic speaker, a little live video streaming might be in order. If another speaker relies heavily on PowerPoint, a few photos of choice presentation slides could pepper a culling of key points that are posted as text quotes. Picking up audio often can be helpful, especially during post production to fill in the gaps and go back to post quotes that you missed during the session.

I don’t think a live multimedia blogger has to feel obligated to use all tools or stress out over using more of one over the other. Sometimes the decision of what medium to go with is also a comfort level. A writer may lean more toward text, a photographer more toward still images, a videographer more toward video. The key is to be open to the instinct to grab an audio recorder when that feels like the tool needed at the moment or even to put down the digital tools altogether and use pen and paper for a while then transcribing the notes later.

4. Go deeper.

Because I’m not attempting to document every moment of every session I attend but instead to capture standout moments (which, of course, will be subjective based on the way my brain responds during a session), I want to supplement the session content. I’ll be conducting spot interviews with panelists and speakers before and/or after sessions in a catch as catch can fashion.

Having been a reporter for a number of years now, I feel very comfortable posing a few questions to total strangers. Not everyone feels comfortable interviewing others, however, so that activity would not be in their bag of tricks. I’ll toggle between video interviews with my Flip camera and audio interviews with my Roland Edirol. I’ll also grab interviews with session attendees to get their feedback and takeaways.

5. Flexibility is key.

If I happen to have my Nikon Coolpix still camera in hand at an opportune moment to grab a soundbyte, I’ll just use its digital video capabilities rather than digging through my bag for another device. If the wifi goes down for a while, I’ll just type my text offline and archive images, video and audio to be pasted into a blog post later. If one device runs out of juice, I have several fallbacks and won’t stress over it.

Live blogging isn’t about perfection. It is about spontenaity and point of view. It is a collage and montage. It should be dynamic, organic and flexible. Too much structure or rigidity can kill a live blogging project (or the live blogger).

6. Do your homework.

I’m going to score over the session descriptions and panelist and speaker bios and make some notes to trigger some interview questions and give me some background as a framework. But I’ll also be careful not to let the description or bio color my perspective or limit my thinking.

How many times have you attended a session based on what the description said only to find that it wasn’t about anything related to the blurb? In those cases, we often spend more time examining the disconnect than we do listening to the actual presentation – we’re so worried that we’re in the wrong room or peeved that the description wasn’t accurate. Just letting go and being open to the new, unexpected information is important – especially as a live blogger.

7. Be at the top of your game.

For me, getting plenty of sleep, limiting my evening alcohol intake to one glass of wine, and drinking plenty of water is key to being fresh and alert for work as is eating carefully to keep my energy level up and sugar level even. I’m partial to eggs for breakfast and fish or chicken with a salad for lunch. I need to avoid caffeine until I can no longer avoid it and try to take it in the form of chocolate when my energy really starts to flag after lunchtime. While I love the clarity my brain thinks it has with coffee, the crash is often too staggering to be productive.

Another very important tip for any live blogger: Identify the nearest bathroom at all times. Then run your audio or video device while you are taking a bathroom break to review later and see if you missed any nuggets.

8. Not all live blogging is public.

My challenge live blogging the 3-day event is that the client wants all the elements to be private. I had to verify that each site I’m using online offers private posting. Twitter does. As does Utterz. And Vimeo for video (as well as YouTube, of course). Also, I have a feeling that those who cannot attend this conference don’t have the time to sit around and watch Twitter and the blog all day to see what new content has popped up. I think they’ll eventually poke around out of curiosity when pointed to the archive of content from the client’s e-newsletter or web site home page.

Knowing who you are live blogging for is just as important as knowing why you are live blogging. A non-techie audience will be much more forgiving about the speed of posting because frankly they are just not that into the instant gratification of Twitter, Seesmic and the like.

What other things do you do or think about as you prepare to live blog?

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So when you add audio but even moreso video to the mix, you end up with a much smaller pool of potential contacts. Not everyone feels comfortable enough in front of a camera, much less broadcasting their video image to others. So is video microblogging nothing but a fun way to waste time and procrastinate from work? Or are there really going to be business applications for these sites once they get out of their alpha and beta phases?

Here are some of the ways I see video microblogging could possibly be used for work, but I’m open to any and all other viable suggestions:

1. Enhanced comments. If you are going back and forth with a client, you could video your responses to one another and have a record of the dialogue that is much easier to follow than text where misunderstandings can be rampant.

2. Time zone busting. If you are working with others in another time zone, coordinating video Skype calls might be too much effort all the time. With video microblogging, you can record your thoughts then when you get up the next day, your colleague’s video thoughts are waiting for you.

3. Easy demos and feedback. You can’t beat a video when it comes to demonstrating something when you can’t be there in person. You can record a demo of something, and then put it out to your team for feedback. Then again, most of what we do is on the Web and screencasts may work better for many of us.

I was at the BizJam Seattle conference this week and I asked about some potential business applications of video microblogging for Web workers. “Use it for how tos for your products and to show examples of your work,” answered Jim Turner of One By One Media.

4. Cheap video. It was only a few years ago that many of us avoided doing video because of the production expense. Now using the little built-in camera on your laptop is perfectly acceptable recording equipment for Web broadcast quality.

“Press releases are dead,” says Saul Colt of Freshbooks.com, who was also at BizJam. “You can use video microblogging to announce new information, use it for customer testimonials.”

Some Other Pros of Video Microblogging

• Web-based. Doesn’t require special software to download or configure.
• Fairly easy. It is pretty simple to get up and running on a video microblog as long as you have your computer camera and microphone working correctly in the first place.
• Archives. You have a video record of recordings and threaded video “conversations.”
• Motivation. If you know you are going to be on video, you’ll probably be a little more motivated to look your best and to act your best.

Some Real Cons of Video Microblogging

• The Gaps. Video microblogging is not real-time unless you are using some of the live video broadcasting sites which then aren’t really video microblogging.
• Bandwidth Issues. You simply must have a fast connection to get any semblance of video and audio quality.
• Privacy Issues. How private are these video microblogging sites? Even if you can keep your account access limited to clients, vendors or members of your team, what are the chances of a privacy breech?
• Bad Hair Day. Let’s face it. For those of us that work at home, do we really want our colleagues to see us? Isn’t the beauty of working from home that we can wear our pajamas all day and not have to brush our hair (or shave)?

I also posed my question to Leif Hansen of Spark Social Media, and he brought up a good point. Some of our potential audience may be in a work environment where they cannot watch video so keep that in mind – who is your audience?

But, Leif added, “there is still a lot of wow factor with video microblogging. If you are a Web worker, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing with it.” He pointed to the positive reaction he gets by adding a video welcome greeting to each person who joins his Ning network. “They always say it’s the coolest thing they’ve ever seen!” He’s been using Seesmic and Eyejot.

So what do you think? Is video microblogging just too cool to be practical or can you see useful business applications for it at this stage? Do you have an example online of how you are using video microblogging for your work? Or are we just having fun and wasting time?

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