Seesmic Unveils A Formidable New Twitter Client To Rival Tweetdeck: Seesmic Desktop

I’m live blogging from video conversation platform Seesmic’s headquarters, where Seesmic’s founder Loic Le Meur, is previewing a new Twitter client. We reported earlier about the unveiling of the site. Le Meur says that this is still a work in progress and ongoing changes will made to the product. Seesmic, who also owns popular Twitter app Twhirl, has launched a new Twitter client, Seesmic Desktop. Like Twhirl, Seesmic Desktop is a desktop app, operated by Adobe Air. Seesmic Desktop allows you to view multiple accounts in one window, unlike Twhirl, where you have to view multiple accounts in different windows. It looks like it was designed to rival competitor TweetDeck, who is the most popular desktop client for Twitter. Le Meur says that Seesmic will discontinue adding features to Twhirl (he jokes that it has a difficult name) and will primarily focus on building out Seesmic Desktop. Here are a few of the nifty features Seesmic Desktop will have: Multiple Accounts Not only will you be able to see multiple Twitter accounts in one place, but you will be able to view the window in columns (similar to Tweetdeck). With this timeline, users can easily see Tweets and messages from multiple accounts and easily organize different applications. Le Meur says the interface is as simple as a Gmail interface. Lists You will be able to group your social contacts into lists like family, co-workers and friends. Photos and Video Like Twhirl, you will be able to share photos (integrated with TwitPic) and record and share video via Seesmic (that feature will be coming soon, Le Meur

says). You can also drag and drop an image into messages. You can import video via your web cam as well. Support for Social Networks Currently the client only serves Twitter but Le Meur says that eventually Seesmic Desktop will have integrate with Facebook, Digg, Identica, Ping.FM and FriendFeed. Twhirl currently has support for these networks. Stability Because Seesmic Desktop is built on the stability of company Seesmic’s platform and Adobe Air, Le Meur says that his new client will be much more stable than competitor Tweetdeck. Shorten Urls Also like Twhirl, you will be able to shorten URLs to share via Twitter Search Search queries of messages opens in different columns and are saved. This new client is like an upgraded, stronger Twhirl with even more powerful capabilities. According to LeMeur, Twhirl has been downloaded 1.2 million times and is the leading Twitter client on the web. Twitstat says that Twhirl is the 4th most popular Twitter client, behind rival Tweetdeck, which ranks as #2 on the list. But this new app could overtake Tweetdeck with its new functionality. Its actually similar in some ways to AlertThingy. Le Meur wants this client to be the Bloomberg of social software, aggregating all content into one (free) desktop app, perhaps becoming the desktop app version of FriendFeed along the way. Disclaimer: TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington is an investor in Seesmic, although I am not. Crunch Network : CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

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Seesmic Unveils A Formidable New Twitter Client To Rival Tweetdeck: Seesmic Desktop