No matter what smartphone or tablet you own, chances are, you will find a large selection of Twitter applications (a.k.a. “apps”). These are fairly easy to find when you Google the brand of your phone or tablet + Twitter, in your query.
If that search does not provide enough search results, add app. If you have an iOS/Mac OS device, add App Store. If you have an Android device, add GooglePlay . You can also try searching on WebToolsWiki.com for information about apps and how to use them.
Is the Twitter App Enough?
“But I already have Twitter on my smartphone and Twitter.com …Why would I even want to do this?”
Although Twitter’s native desktop and mobile app give us complete control of our Twitter accounts, you may find that their layouts may not be exactly to your liking. For example, sometimes it is inconvenient to have a big browser window open on your laptop, or to refresh to see what’s new. Maybe you don’t like Twitter’s default black text on white background. Possibly there is something else that is not your favorite component.
That is where third-party applications (a.k.a. “third parties”) come into play. Twitter’s developers included a flexible application programming interface (API). This interface is the communication bridge between Twitter and the third parties. It is what the applications use to exchange information with Twitter.
Many Options Available
Thanks to intrepid app developers and Twitter’s API, we have many free or low-cost options which allow us to read and send tweets on mobile devices or desktop clients. The desktop clients are those non-browser-based interfaces and applications.
Some apps are feature rich, but the biggest draw is that their interfaces are customizable, to some degree. That is the sweet spot where people decide a certain app is more to their liking and become fans of that app.
Third-party desktop clients for Twitter are usually OS-specific, such as Twitter Windows clients, or for Mac OS only, though some are cross-platform. The mobile ones are always OS-specific such as Android Twitter. Warning: GooglePlay apps have little labels to let you know whether a mobile app is best suited for a phone or tablet by indicating “For tablets” or “For phones”. These labels aren’t very large, so look carefully. The Mac iOS also has a breakdown between iPhone and iPad.
Third-Party Tools
Third-party tools are software of a different stripe, but they have some similarities to the third-party clients, which is what we’ve been discussing so far. Tools are normally convenient desktop web apps, where no download is necessary. Tools tend to focus on a bundle of specific purposes, rather than acting as a client. For example, there are chat tools out there to enhance the experience of Twitter chats. Personally, when it comes to Twitter chats, I don’t need any outside chat tool because I’m really fast with standard Twitter. Mobile tools are far less common, but you can always try using a web tool on a mobile browser if you feel you absolutely need to, but just know it can potentially be a wonky and frustrating experience.
Twitter smartphone apps do act as a kind of Twitter client, but they’re mobile, which is supposedly going to be the new rage in how we use social media. Unlike tools, they don’t really aim to do “specialty” things.
Hopefully you have a better understanding of the two buckets — Clients and tools.
In the past, the iPhone’s normal Twitter was once a third-party named Tweetie. In 2010, through a corporate acquisition, Twitter rebranded Tweetie as “Twitter for iPhone.” Tweetie also had a desktop client, which Twitter also acquired less than a year later. That version was renamed “Twitter for Mac” and appeared in the new Mac App Store the same day.
When apps and clients ask for your username, password, consent, etc., it’s all normal and required. Without authorization from you, nothing will work. You can control most things as you would with normal Twitter. Using mobile touch menus, you will see buttons to read tweets, @replies, @mentions, add-to-lists, and in many cases, without a browser opening, the option to rapidly open webpages within the app or client itself.
So, rock on with third parties; they are really all about preference and you are still partying inside the giant party known as Twitter.
This helps clear the muddy water a little; still confusing though. After I updated Ubuntu it updated FireFox and now site after site asks me if I want to “install” it. I don’t use mobile, so we’re talking about on my desktop. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and many other sites now want to install apps. I have no idea why or if they are safe to ignore or install. So annoying.
Another good thing about using a 3rd party mobile app is that you can use it with the native app, so it’s the mobile equivalent of 2 desktop browser windows being open. ~Waves hi to Gail~ Thanks Deborah for publishing this article. I look forward to adding more. Alex
I go with you, as you said it is true. It is very good thing about using 3rd party mobile applications as that we can use it with the native application, so it is equivalent of 2 desktop browser.
This is an awesome advancement in the communication world, the modern technology keeps the world going.
Thanks for this information, I never think of these benefit from Social network, its better to exploit it than only having fun.
I’m glad this helped you, Morgan. Thanks for sharing.
I can only thank these applications for making my foray into the Twitter world more manageable.
the modern technology keeps the world going it will be advancement in the communication world . thanks for the informative sharing with us !
Thanks, Jasica. It is hard to imagine a world without technology, isn’t it?
Really awesome post. Thanks fro sharing
Hi,
This is such a helpful post . you have done all the hard work to make it easy to understand for all of us. Your hard work is really great it shows your sincerity towards your work .A big thanks to you for sharing such a informative and valuable post .
Thanks
Catrina
Thanks, Catrina, for the feedback. Yes, Alex did a nice job on this post 🙂 I’m off to visit your site now, too. -Deborah
In the past, the iPhone’s normal Twitter was once a third-party named Tweetie. In 2010, through a corporate acquisition, Twitter rebranded Tweetie as “Twitter for iPhone.” Tweetie also had a desktop client, which Twitter also acquired less than a year later. That version was renamed “Twitter for Mac” and appeared in the new Mac App Store the same day. that reason twiter is third party
That is really interesting! Thanks for sharing, Don. I had forgotten about Tweetie and that part of Twitter and Apple history!
Great article. I have a doubt. How to track third party tools.
Nice post thanks for sharing. I would like to visit again your website.
Very Nicely explained about the 3rd party ! got everything that you wanted us to learn 😉
Thanks for sharing !
Great post.
Very informative and educative post!
Many People use Twitter for many reason.
I use Twitter for Business.
Hope next post will be on ” Twitter a big Business Palace ”
And thanks for the nice post.
this is really awesome thanks for such sharings
Thank you very much for the great artcle.I got useful information about third party tools.
sir/madam
first of all i would like to thank you for the awesome tool you have provided in the forum.i have also amazing and extra ordinary android apps and iphone apps thats totally free without any charges. funformobile also have amazing wallpapers i hops you will feel happy when visit this site.
Hello Alex Yong,
This one is great tool about twitter. Really helpful in, if you have a iOS/Mac OS device, add App Store and all.
Thanks for publishing such an helpful post. I would like to visit again.Thanks
Thanks for publishing such an helpful post. I would like to visit again.
Nice alternative of Twitter, thanks for your effort admin.
Nice Post,
Thanks for sharing about third party of twitter,In all kind of informaton is such useful for us to in this type of apps.
Great for this article and keep it up.Thumps up…
Thanks a lot for this post, I myself use a different app to access twitter on my Android phone as the default app is not much to my liking! 😀
Twitter is a strong participant in social media and multimedia also indeed. The power and wish to survive makes everyone struggle up-to their mark and that’s what is happening. Very nice article dear
Thanks for the first, Its title was very attractive and gives full info about twitter parties. This is awesome tool you have provided.
nice post,thank you for sharing us.
Very informative and educative post!
Thanks for sharing the great article. It is really an great alternative of twitter.
Lovely post admin, Twitter has flexible application programming interface (API) which is now used everywhere and act as a third party. This post is very well written and easily understandable.
Thank you
Thanks for sharing about third party of twitter,In all kind of informaton is such useful for us to in this type of apps.
i like that
Thanks Alex for this great post.Its my first time to know about third party apps.
Hey Alex, I totally agree with the fact you enclosed above. Twitter’s default app isn’t that good. So, my personal favorite is TweetCast.. It is free and works great on my Nexus.. 🙂 Thanks for sharing this valuable info.
Yes, Twitter is best solution for social meadia. I like twitter for social sharing and marketing.
Oh yes, I love your articles
Traffic-wise most social media is nonsense. Seo is above it all.
Hi,
it is very informative article and useful too and i actually enjoyed reading it thank you for sharing this article.
This blog is too much information to use another way of twitter.really such a important post.
Thanks for the information.
Even I was wondering that from a very long. Well at last this article has cleared the air in my head. Thanks for helping out.
Thanks for sharing this very informative post. I find this info very helpful.
What a helpful post, i got useful information’s.
Yes thanks for sharing such kind of information…
That is so amazing.I am really surprised. I hadn’t thought of Twitter as a big party. Thanks for sharing this awesome stuff with us.
Twitter is leading Social Media platform and it is lots of help in all form..
you have great post and great hard work and very infroiamtive nice post
Nice post, I would like to know, if using third party application won’t create a way for the hackers to access our data in mobile?
That is an easy answer and yet “not” an easy answer. As long as hackers exist, there are risks that hackers will gain access, regardless of whether you use mobile, a desktop computer, or other technology. The question is not whether it can occur, but the probability of whether it will happen and how that probability affects your decision. If you truly want to be safe, then you would want to choose not to use these third party apps. However, that principle applies to life, too. For example, if you wanted to increase the odds of not having someone break into your home while you are away, then minimize the amount of time that you leave your home. It doesn’t guarantee that nothing will happen but minimizes the odds for those who are affected by homes that are vacant, as far as the decision to break in or not. Do you see my point here?
Twitter is one of the best social media network its have millions of user all around the world. Thanks for this post.
Twitter is the part of the world social media and other goodies…
good post.. thanks for sharing this info..
Great post. There are a lot of things we can discover on Twitter. Thanks for sharing with us.
I read this piece of writing completely concerning the difference of newest and previous technologies and well as twitter is best sites to make parties and bang on
Thank you. And, good to hear about your experience with Twitter and related technologies. Interesting interpretation with the “…make parties and bang…” I guess Twitter could be used in a party or multiple parties, eh?
Thanks for this interesting post.
I access Twitter on my phone.