Alternatives to Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is an exceptionally useful client, but it has had its share of issues.

Almost exactly two years ago, in March 2013, it announced it was shutting down its Adobe Air mobile client (details here). Ironically this has now lead to a thriving market and many alternatives in the Mac and Mobile fields. For desktops, there are fewer. However it is not entirely unreasonable to be concerned about security, particularly less than a year after the javascript tweetdeck hack in June 2014 (PCWorld gives the bare bones here).

So if you want an alternative, what is there?

Finding the right alternative can be tricky, as there are a lot of issues to consider:

• Number of twitter accounts
• Personal or business user
• Mobile or desktop
• Android, iOs, Blackberry, Windows, Linux, or many many varients
• Free or commercial

My main issue when looking for alternatives was that Tweetdeck is free*. Many of the better alternatives are not - or to put it in blunt Anglo-Saxon, they are bloody expensive!

The other issue is finding one that handles multiple accounts, and runs on the right software.

*If this makes you wonder where Tweetdeck are getting the funds from, Tweetdeck are owned by Twitter, which means they can advertise directly to you. Most other apps allow adblock.

As this is going to be a very long article, I'm going to make the links to alternates open in new windows, so you can check one out then come back here and try the next.

I haven't used them all, so I can't give personal views on each, but I am in the middle of testing several.

Hootsuite is already Tweetdeck's many rival, and no wonder. Extremely popular, well-recommended and with a free personal client that handles up to three twitter accounts for personal use only. Unfortunately for more accounts it then gains a monthly fee - and that fee is, per month, actually more expensive than some complete clients.

With a similar column layout, allowing scheduled tweets and picking up direct mentions, notifications, etc, it is already a very good product.

Now I'm allergic to paying monthly fees, I want to buy software and pay once, so this one is not for me. However for business users and many others this is a good client with a huge user-base. Its is also very good for the small user with less than three twitter accounts.

• Free, for three Twitter accounts or less (Here's a link)
• Works on most OSes
• Integrates with other social networks - facebook, google, etc.

http://hootsuite.com/

One catch is that you can't register twitter accounts with it anymore (due to the API update), but you can use ones you've already created directly through twitter. Another is that it doesn't appear to integrate with other social networks, but then Tweetdeck doesn't do that well either.

• Windows (XP, Vista, and 7), iOS and Android
• Free download for desktop
• Supports multiple accounts
• Fully customisable appearance.

http://janetter.net/

Yoono runs either as an app on a desktop or as a browser add-on. Yoono is compatible with all three main OSs, making it the only one listed so far with a dedicated Linux desktop.

• compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux

http://www.yoono.com/

There are many clients for the Android and iOS mobile markets. As a desktop user, I am not going to go into details because I don't use them, but they are included here because some people may decide to move their Twitter purely onto their phone rather than look for a new desktop client.

Running on iOS, Android and BlackBerry, Ubersocial also supports integration with facebook

http://ubersocial.com/

Tweetbot  Mac OS, in addition to iPhone and iPad, now also on android, Tweetbot is a fairly popular phone app. 

http://tapbots.com/software/tweetbot/

Seesmic Pro -  This gets a special mention, and it is a warning. Seesmic was bought by hootsuite but the iOs app is still available in some places. However, it is no longer supported, and probably better avoided unless you know the source well.

Android Only

Android has, as you may have seen from the video, hundred of twitter clients. The trick is find a good one. There are two many to list, so I am just adding a few names here.

• Plume - free and pro versions are available

http://www.myplume.com/

• Falcon Pro
• carbon
• osfoora

All of the Twitter clients, no lets be blunt, the "Social Media Management Software" below comes with a hefty price tag. While this may well put it out of range of the casual user, for business or power users, these may be a valid alternative. Price are correct at the time of writing.

Sprout Social - The application for social sprout is available free but you pay for a monthly plan to use it. Available on iOS and Android, it seems a bit limited.

http://sproutsocial.com/

socialdraft - another B2B  one with a monthly fee (a large monthly fee)

http://socialdraft.com/

MavSocial - B2B with NGO discounts, but the discounts aren't likely to be enough to attract smaller NGOs.

http://mavsocial.com/

BufferApp - With plans from $50/month to $250, this is not likely to be popular with the casual users, and on first glance it does somewhat less than Hoostuite for the money. Included for completeness.

http://bufferapp.com/

muFusion Social - part of the MuSigma Suite, formerly Webfluenz, this is less a social management tool than a full marketing suite.

http://www.mu-sigma.com/

Finally, this is not exactly a twitter client - it manages a lot more than just twitter, but it needs a mention here.

BuzzBundle is an absolutely huge marketing suite, allowing integration of multiple twitter accounts, social media accounts, creation of new accounts, and the manufacturing of public personas. You get all this for a one off price tag - or if you don't care about records and storing your past conversations, absolutely free. I haven't used it. Yet.

http://www.buzzbundle.com/

I hope this helps. I'm certainly having to think long and hard about where to move my accounts. As I run several for various NGOs I work with it's certainly a major issue for me.

Leave your comments and feedbakc below and I'll try to get back to you. I might be a bit busy moving my twitter accounts...