Twittering and Twaitting...

Derek on Twitter | Tulane Technology on Twitter | Twaitter | Other Twitter apps

Twitter continues its uninterrupted advances as it moves to take over the world and enslave us all to its demonic will... No, wait. That's Google.

Twitter is the kind, simple, uncomplicated app that's melting the hearts of even the most curmudgeonly of us.

Google is the multi-tentacled monster of the deep. Twitter is a sad-eyed kitten. In the end they'll both steal your soul, but you'll feel better about one. You figure which.

Anyway, on to more Twitter matters...

Twitter's simplicity, its ease of access, and utter ubiquity makes it a no-brainer for even the casual developer. Visit the Twitter Wiki to see hundreds of third-party apps developed to address every conceivable 140-character niche need. One I've just begun to adopt is Twaitter - it bills itself as a "Twitter client and scheduling platform." In short, Twaitter lets you prepare your Tweets in advance and dole them out in pre-measured doses. Now, while i can see this sort of app being abused in the hands of spammers and their ilk, it also has some practical uses. I'm going to attempt to use it soon to send out a series of tips and hints from a technology support account. I'll draw up the list in advance and schedule them to tweet throughout the day, the week, the month, etc. That way I can just concern myself with the more timely content, while the scheduler keeps the account alive and relevant with regular information.

Twaitter (what a horrible name, BTW - enough with the "Twitter" pun names!) still lists itself as a beta product, and all of its features aren't developed yet. The Twaitter team also promises a pro version sometime soon, but it does what I want for now. It's not the only Twitter scheduler out there, but it's easy to use so I'm all for it.