I sat down to write this and got about 4 paragraphs into a writing a comparison of multiple 3rd party twitter clients for Windows, OSX and Web applications. When I got to the end of the 4th paragraph, I realized that I was writing this lengthy boring comparision when all I really wanted to do was just declare ‘Nambu’ the winner followed by Tweetie, both Mac-only programs. So I’m just going to do that instead and write about why members of the PC community should be clamoring for a Windows compatible version of Nambu. I have to work on both Windows and OSX machines all day and I haven’t found a single Windows Twitter clients that impress me since Nambu released a stable version of their software. Tweetdeck, Seesmic and Twhirl all come up short in some way.
Nambu
Nambu has the most comprehensive list of features and the greatest ease of use. Nambu has three views:
- Single Column
- Multi Column
- Sidebar (iTunes View)
Nambu has built-in tr.im URL shortening. It also has a built-in image posting service, pic.im. Both tr.im and pic.im are part of the nambu network. The combination of all of them together create a nice easy experience where you can track analytics for the links you shorten as well as the pictures you post.
Nambu gives you the ability to make groups. The difference between Nambu’s groups and Tweetdeck or Seesmic is that the way you make groups.
While Tweetdeck has you scroll through a potentially enormous list of people checking boxes next to their name, and Seesmic has you add them one by one to a group, Nambu allows you to select people by their pictures AND their usernames. This, to me, is the crucial feature. You can also filter the giant list, this also apeeds up the process. Other clients let you make groups but Nambu’s grouping is by far the fastest and the easiest to use, in my opinion.
Other great features:
- Nambu has a great search that saves your searches. You can filter within those results too. This is great for refining your search.
- Nambu supports multiple accounts, including ping.fm and both facebook and friendfeed integration is on it’s way.
- Nambu threads your replies
- It has built-in translation software.
Long story short, it’s got everything. Not a single other software I’ve found has this many features. If you’re on OSX, give it a try but I warn you, it will ruin all other twitter clients for you. I’m hoping that a Windows version comes out so when I’m on a Windows machine, I’ll be able to Tweet in style.