If you’re reading this you almost certainly got the link through Twitter and so you probably already know I am a massive fan. I also much prefer Twhirl to Tweetdeck. At SXSW recently it was announced that Facebook was becoming more open and that both Seesmic (who own Twhirl) and Tweetdeck had new clients to show Facebook status updates.

Seesmic for Facebook launch!

I get frustrated that although Tweetdeck does have some innovative features (groups, auto-completion when typing @usernames, etc.) it is just not as polished or as user friendly as Twhirl. I imagine a big part of this comes down to the differences between one man doing all of the work compared to @Loic who has built up his Team Seesmic community and has a group of developers. So Tweetdeck has added an extra Facebook column (and should allow Facebook chat but when I tried it I got errors that my “browser is too old”) and Seesmic have introduced their own stand alone Seesmic for Facebook client.

Predictions

So what do I think will happen? Here’s some ways I think Twhirl will change:

• Single Client. I imagine Loic is currently working hard to integrate Seesmic for Facebook and Twhirl into a single client. I’d like to see one stream with both Facebook and Twitter updates. Currently most clients show where someone has tweeted from so differentiation could easily be incorporated, going from “Luke 2m ago via web” to “From Facebook Luke 2m ago via Twhirl”. And yes that would imply I expect to be able to post directly to Facebook through clients rather than an application having to handle it for me. In the mean time it may just become “Luke almost 5m ago via Facebook”.
• Groups. With a stream from the 450 odd people I follow on Twitter and 600+ on Facebook the noise is going to be too much. Given Facebook has already implemented “groups” with their recent redesign (they existed earlier but were relatively pointless), I expect these to be incorporated into Twitter clients. I can imagine a drop down menu listing the same groups with the ability to create Twitter groups and merge them. This just allows you to focus in on the people you really care about when you have time for a catch up but you can receive the full torrent when you are busy and just wish to skim over updates.
• Using existing commands in new ways. Currently you can create linked conversations by clicking the @symbol beside a message. When it comes to Facebook messages I would expect the @reply to leave a comment on the status update. A fresh @message, not directly in reply, should write on the person’s wall, while clicking to favourite the post will add to the “likes” on Facebook.
• Sharing more than just text. As more content is shared on Facebook I would hope the clients will keep up. Posts will not be limited to 140 characters and when videos or photos are posted a small image would be posted through the clients for people to click through (potentially one day the clients will play the content themselves).

Those are some of things I can see fitting within the current framework. Do you have any suggestions for further integration and improvement?

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Friendship has been a core value for many people but these days it is being redefined by social media. I think most notoriously for a majority of users is the Facebook friend count – a quick check of my profile and I have 597 “friends”. It’s wonderful to know I’m so popular but the vast majority of those I am not actively looking to talk to.

I am much more of a fan of the Twitter follower model, where you can follow those who you are interested in, and those who are interested in you can follow you. There is no need for a two way relationship and I find myself following (and every so often un-following) random strangers who have piqued my interest.

This all sprang to mind as I received a Facebook friend request at the weekend from someone I don’t know. She at least went to school in my home town, and we have eight mutual “friends” but I don’t recognise her and I find myself reticent to allow her into my network. On Twitter I know that of the several hundred people I am now following, I have met in person only a handful (though Twestival in London helped increase that number a shade). Even on Facebook I know there are plenty of people that I have added myself, simply because I want to network with them. There are people past and present on my course I wouldn’t choose to go for a pint with, but knowing that we will all be progressing through the same industry at the same time it could be useful to have a way of contacting them at some point. Here in France (and I’ll try and extract another post about that soon) Facebook has been a great way to find ways of contacting others and I find myself adding anyone I speak to, reminiscent of my early days on the social network. And I’m very honoured to know a great many beautiful ladies, who make up a tranche of my friendship number because being young, single and male I won’t remove them.

But here I am, wondering whether to let this stranger join my network. I think the problem is control. As Facebook themselves have recently discovered to their cost and quickly back tracked on, people need to feel they have control on their information. This is why there was a mini storm regarding Google Latitude. The fear mongers who were putting out this kind of story obviously had not tried out the software or asked any questions of it. Those who have looked know that only people I actively share my location with can see it and at any time I can set my location manually or simply hide my location. So I am happy to put my information out there, but I want to know it’s only going to the people that I at least acknowledge I don’t mind it going to. I have control.

So, hypocritical though it maybe, request denied.

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