Twitter Programs: Review of Pluggio

This is a guest post written by @tommytrc

Pluggio is the brain child of Justin Vincent, @justinvincent on Twitter, who started coding Pluggio (first known as TweetMiner) to solve a personal problem he had with other Twitter programs. No Twitter tools offered RSS feed integration or user experience like Pluggio. He saw the way other Twitter clients handled scheduling and thought it was too tedious and said “there has to be a better way!” Justin is coding this all by himself, while many other twitter programs have had millions in venture capital, not here! Justin codes Pluggio in his spare time.

Back in October 2009, I was one of the first 200 people to try the tool and fell head over heels in love immediately. I contacted Justin and asked about the tool and we have been a fan ever since.

SPEED AND USER INTERFACE

Signing up was a 10 minute process. After receiving my email confirmation, I associated my Twitter account using OAuth with Pluggio and I was off! One of the core strengths of Pluggio is its user interface. Justin has worked hard on making the user flow correct. From the screen shot above you can see how your eye starts in the top left and flows to the right.

Click on the button and then you see your Twitter account. Click on your account and then you can see your streams. Clicking the “+” in Twitter streams allows you to add a Twitter users to follow, search terms or the new Twitter lists to follow. You can also tell Pluggio how often you want each stream to refresh. A notification, in the form of a pop up window, and update count (in parenthesis) next to the stream will show you when new tweets have arrived.

Mouse over the avatar of an incoming tweet and you are given a host of options.

These options include:  Reply, Reply All, View Profile, Direct Message, Instant Retweet, Edit and Schedule or Favorite that tweet. You can even add this friend to your favorite list. The pencil tool is where the power of Pluggio lies.  With the pencil tool, you can edit a tweet and then either tweet it immediately, schedule it to send in the future or add it to your rolling schedule.

RSS FEEDS & ROLLING SCHEDULES

RSS feed integration and scheduling in Pluggio is like no other tool. RSS Feeds fit seamlessly into the workflow where you can monitor your own Twitter and friends streams, then move over to RSS to content for your followers. You can add RSS feeds from any source, edit, instant retweet, schedule or add to your rolling schedule. Rolling schedules is a feature found in only one other Twitter client (to my knowledge). Many Twitter desktop apps allow you to schedule your tweets, but rolling schedules are different. You tell Pluggio what hours of the day you would like to tweet, then add tweets, RSS feeds, news searches, Retweets…whatever you like – to your rolling schedule or pile of tweets and Pluggio will just take the next off the pile and tweet it. PR types and brand managers will love the ability to have all their information funneled into one place and schedule content for their brands in minutes, instead of hours.

BE THE SIGNAL NOT THE NOISE

Pluggio is all about usability and flow. The strength of Pluggio is in speed of the interface and the ability for you to control the content that is sent to your followers. But Pluggio isn’t just about Twitter, it’s your social media hub with Ping.fm integration. Post from Pluggio to any social network Ping.fm supports.

But let’s not forget, Pluggio isn’t just for power users or brand managers, new twitter users can find ease of use over the main Twitter web page (web interface). The speed of the UI will win you over.

Pluggio comes as a web based client, ready when and wherever you are. Pluggio has a free version that allows you to try and paid versions that unlocks additional API calls and allows you to use your own bit.ly key.

PLUGGIO FEATURES RECAP

• Web based
• Import your existing Twitter lists
• Keyword searches
• Manage multiple accounts
• Free Trial (paid plans starting at $9.95/month)

So while other Twitter clients just do the same old thing, Pluggio injects many new features that make it stand out in the crowd. Why not give Pluggio a try! (Affiliate link)

Do you use Pluggio? What features do you like best? Any areas you think could be improved?

About Tommy Clifford

Thomas Clifford, or @tommytrc as his followers know him as, has been dabbling with Twitter since the fall of 2008. Tommytrc regularly ranks as one of the top Twitterers in Wisconsin and  top 100 in the world. Tommytrc’s presence on Twitter skyrocketed after tweeting throughout the birth of his son. He is a Self proclaimed Tech Geek, Prepress and Marketing Guy, Mac Head, and PC Guy Too. Tommy has spend over 20 years in the printing industry from his days setting type at Kinko’s to sitting in a management potions running the North American prepress operations for RR Donnelley’s Book Group. Tommytrc describes himself as an overall Troublemaker. Tommytrc’s motto to live by – Find out what sucks and don’t do that!

PS: I’m honored to know Tommy in real life and happy to be his friend. If you aren’t already following him on Twitter – be sure to get over there now and follow him – he’s an incredible person.