What Are Your Favorite Twitter Applications?

Once I learned that Twitter had created a customer survey (now closed, unfortunately) through which they were seeking information about the third-party tools customers used to access their service, it didn’t take me long to fill it out.

Unlike most people I know, I love surveys. And since I hate using Twitter.com to post tweets and manage my twitter stream, I was clearly in the social media demographic they wanted to reach.

Among other things, the survey wanted to know which third-party clients you’ve used, which ones you would currently recommend,  and your primary (and secondary) reason for using the service.

Here are my answers to the questions that I cared the most about (keep in mind that all the answers for this question were multiple-choice):
Q: On a scale of zero to ten, how likely is it that you would recommend Twitter to a friend or coworker?

A: 10. But only to those who are already experimenting with social media to some extent.

Q:  Which of these Twitter apps have you used?

A: Of the tools listed (and there were many), I’ve used the following at one time or another: Echofon for iPhone, HootSuite, Seesmic Desktop, Seesmic Web, SMS, TweetDeck for Desktop, TweetDeck for iPhone, Tweetie for iPhone, Twitter.com, and Twitterific for iPhone.

Q: Of the Twitter apps you’ve tried, which would you recommend to a friend or coworker?

A: My core group of recommended Twitter applications includes HootSuite, Seesmic Desktop, TweetDeck for Desktop, and Tweetie for iPhone.

Q: What is your primary motivation for using Twitter?

A: Connecting with other people.

Q: What is your secondary motivation for using Twitter?

A: Sharing information.

Q: Interested in helping us test new features?

A: Absolutely.

How would (or did) you answer these questions? Why do you think that Twitter wants to know this information?

About the Author

David Swinney helps businesses implement social media strategies and plans in order to identify customers and their influencers, engage them in conversation, and leverage those connections to improve the bottom line. As a technologist with a background in social media, corporate communications, technical and customer support, vendor relationship and project management, he is able to comfortably discuss various social media topics with managers, individual contributors, and just plain folks. Contact David if you're looking for someone to create, build, and enhance your customer relationships using social media tools and technologies.