3 Best Twitter Desktop Applications for Windows

Microblogging is fast becoming a popular form of human interaction. Twitter,which asks "What are you doing?" and gives you 140 characters to respond, is the leader. Microblogging or "tweeting" is much like standing in a crowded room and sharing tiny bits of personal information - sometimes interesting, sometimes not.

Twitter users can choose to share their tweets publicly or keep their thoughts private and tweet only with a few close friends. Users choose which tweets to follow. Some find the service addictive as they learn about others by sharing tiny bits of information about their lives without actually having to respond.

Tweets come from the Twitter website, cell phones, or desk top instant messaging clients. As the popularity of Twitter grows so does the number of applications that interact with the website. Of the many free desktop clients for windows that work with Twitter three stand out.

Twhirl

Twhirl is a desktop client that you download and install to your computer. It runs on the Adobe Air platform which allows it to work on the Mac as well as Windows machines. Once Twhirl is installed you are able to see and respond to tweets from a resizable window on your desktop. You can chose to keep the Twhirl window always on top or have it in the background when inactive. Twhirl also allows you to set the transparency of the window when its inactive. One especially nice feature offered in a recent update to Twhirl is the option to receive updates from more that one Twitter account. Along with the updates in the Twhirl window there are also pop-up bubbles from the tray alerting you to tweets from friends.

TweetDeck

TweetDeck like Twhirl is also based on the Adobe Air platform. TweetDeck allows you to sort tweets into columns: tweets, @responses, direct messages, etc. It is database driven which makes searches for text within tweets possible. TweetDeck also offers the especially useful feature of sorting into groups. This allows you to follow a conversation more easily. TweetDeck lacks the pop-up notification feature, but this may be added to future releases. TweetDeck is officially in public beta. With its useful features and elegant layout it looks like its going to be around for a while.

Twitterlicious

Twitterlicious, unlike the two previous clients, is based on the Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0. Unlike it larger and more design oriented competition, Twitterlicious is small and simple. It runs quietly in a small corner of the desktop. Like Twhirl it has pop-up notifications. Perhaps its most unique feature is the keyboard shortcuts. Twitterlicious can be operated entirely without a mouse.

These are just a few of the Twitter applications available for the desktop. The Twitter fan wiki offers even more suggestions. With the increasing popularity of Twitter the number of add ons and applications grow every day.

Coming soon - Great Twitter Applications for Cell Phones.