Social Networking

Best App for Twitter

Best App for Twitter

Free Version: 3.1.1 | Twitter

Beyond its day job of getting humanity to stop being so wordy, Twitter’s also an app developer. Their flagship effort offers a slick way to blow through your tweets and the web pages most of ’em link to. Its signature feature is the seamlessness with which it lets you move between your timeline (stream of tweets) and the web pages that most of those mini-missives mention. Turns out that by serving up both tweet and linked page, your Twitter account delivers a deeper, more satisfying read. Rather than flittering through blip after 140-character blip, this app’s convenient side-saddle presentation of tweeted links gives you a chance to consume more of your followees’ mental nourishment.

PICK A CARD: The app’s interface takes some getting used to, but the basic design is nothing more complex than columns: the left one for your account’s key tools (search, direct messages), middle one for your timeline, and the right side for viewing the outward-pointing links. The latter two are actually more like stacked, movable cards; swipe ’em left or right to make one or the other center screen.

IN THE STACKS: If you want to return to your main timeline—the one with just your latest list of tweets showing, tap the chat bubble icon on the left side of the screen. For extended web reading, expand the page to full screen by tapping ...

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