Tweeting combos. 

Here we go: 

1. On the Mac - Echofon (with Growl for notifications)

2. On the iPhone - Icebird (with Boxcar for notifications)

3. In the Bin - both official Twitter apps (along with Tweetdeck and Kiwi)

Reasons:

Prettiness doesn’t overcome un-usability. If Twitter is a tool for social networking then the clients used should enable precisely that. Ironically, the two official apps go into the bin for falling below what I now consider to be the basic standard: list management. 

I don’t personally agree with the idea of ‘follow’ing Twitter celebs like Stephen Fry because it is basically meaningless. The genius of a list system is that you can attribute appropriate levels of linkage to the people you are networking with. Until he turns out to be my Uncle I will be keeping him on a list that I can drop in and out of. Anything more feels like a mix between wannabe famous-shoulder-rubbing and cyber-stalking. I am leaning towards the practice of only following people who I have some reasonable connection with. Otherwise it is on the list-pile you go. No offence.

This brings me back to the apps in question. The Twitter for Mac app has no obvious way of adding people you might stumble across into a list within the app itself. Annoying. While the iPhone app is almost perfect (thanks to Loren Brichter’s fab design work) - it has great notification support, gorgeous design and functionality wrapped up in one package - it lacks efficient list management. Several times I have taken people off of lists (or added them) and discovered later on that things hadn’t changed. 

The tools for social networking should provide you with the freedom to network, socially. My preferred list enables that. For now. 

Postscript:

My main gripe with Icebird is the double text effect on the names. Please fix this! Otherwise 5/5.