Filed under: Software, Internet Tools
Twitter integration for Adium in process
In a recent blog entry, Adium developer Zac West discusses the progress of integrating Twitter into the multi-service instant messaging client's already abundant offerings. "The current base of Twitter clients often leave something to be desired, behave in a weird way, or just add an additional application you need to keep open," West explains before detailing how Matt Gemmell's MGTwitterEngine is being used to provide Twitter for Adium.
The concept is quite different from existing clients, but makes perfect sense for Adium. Twitter feeds can be followed or unfollowed by adding and removing them from your contact list. If you IM them, it'll send them a direct message. Your Twitter feed comes displayed in a group chat that you can keep open or closed as you need it. It's also very easy to reply to random Twitter links that you can find online.
West hopes to build in additional features such as autouploading an image to TwitPic when it's dragged into an IM window. I would love for some of the additional features that are found in TweetDeck, such as TweetShrink and translation at the click of a button, to be added as well.
Read the full details, complete with screenshots, on the official Adium blog.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mark said 12:19PM on 3-12-2009
Sounds awesome. I keep Adium and TweetDeck open at all times so I'd be nice to have the processor and system resources back if I only have to use one.
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Kit said 12:29PM on 3-12-2009
When this rolls out, I might start actually using my twitter account. Go Team Adium!
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Dano said 12:42PM on 3-12-2009
when is Team Adium going to develop/release a webcam/iSight functionality? Please????????
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sam said 1:13PM on 3-12-2009
Although I would love to have Twitter in Adium, the implementation as described sounds like it would be pretty annoying. Do you really want 100 people you follow to show up in your contacts list, with a new window popping up every time they update?
A better implementation would be to mimic the way the twitter IM bot used to work - everything comes up under a single contact and you have shortcuts to do direct messages and everything.
I'm currently using TwitterIM to get this functionality through Adium: http://itsfrosty.appspot.com/twitter
It's hosted on a windows box and comes through just like any other gtalk buddy. Given the choice between this and the implementation described above, I think I'd rather stick with this.
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Levi Figueira said 1:25PM on 3-12-2009
I replied while I was writing my comment... Glad I'm not alone in thinking that adding my Twitter friends to my Contact List is probably one of the worst ideas I've heard since... Vista or something! :p
Levi Figueira said 1:26PM on 3-12-2009
Gah... I feel like a spammer (no edit feature.. grrr)
I meant "You replied while I was writing my comment...", obviously! :)
zacwest said 2:08PM on 3-12-2009
Hi Sam, you seem to be misunderstanding.
From the blog post: "A group chat named “Timeline (username)” (you can rename it like I have above) will appear alongside your Twitter contacts."
Tweets arrive in the group chat window. Direct messages appear in a one-on-one chat with a contact. You can hide all Twitter contacts except the group chat via "Hide Social Networking Contacts" (a new View option).
sam said 2:41PM on 3-12-2009
@zacwest: Nice, that actually sounds perfect!
Levi Figueira said 1:24PM on 3-12-2009
Oh nice, now I can have 300 more "friends" on my Adium... Lovely!
When will people understand that the nature of Twitter is VERY different from IM?
My approach to include it in IM: IRC channel-like, with /ignore and stuff (and IRC2Twitter engine already exists... use that) and DMs being handled like pvt chats; ONE WINDOW/TAB!
Seriously: pollute my IM friends list (which I've been slimming and cleaning through time) with a bunch of people I have no personal relationship with other than reading their tweets? The idea of IM has always been BI-DIRECTIONAL! Twitter IS NOT!
Just my 2¢ on this...
If they only focused on fixing file transfers and improving/adding other features... I'd even pay $20-$30 for Adium if it meant they'd be a bit more focused (facebook? myspace? now twitter?).
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ODWGOOG said 1:45PM on 3-12-2009
that's a great news. i'm waiting for this for a long time.
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daily dwayne said 1:38PM on 3-12-2009
personally i like the idea if it's kept separate enough from impeding my IM usability
...why bash vista in an adium/twitter post, don't get it.
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Levi Figueira said 2:54PM on 3-12-2009
Because it's TUAW... I thought you all had some sense of humor, that's all! :)
bla said 1:56PM on 3-12-2009
This is quite easy using Jabbers MUC. I've built an experimental gateway, which represents a Twitter/Identi.ca account as Multi-User-Chat. See http://gonzo.teamidiot.de/repos/ombmuc/
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jody said 4:47PM on 3-12-2009
This is the best news story ever.
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JKT said 6:30PM on 3-12-2009
Am I the only one yearning to see Adium ported to the iPhone? I'd ditch the AOL IM client in a second.
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balls said 3:12AM on 3-13-2009
Nice, but I can't wait for digsby to hit MacOSX.
It's twitter integration is perfect.
Adium is nice, but the updates are few and far between, while digsby is constantly refining and adding new features.
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Khurram said 7:03AM on 3-13-2009
Been on twitter for about 3 weeks. I have seen a moderate boost in traffic. Mostly traffic from people just browsing for more followers, but traffic none the less. Next step: learning how to build a stronger network and convert these additional eyeballs in to fans and sales. come check me out.
http://twitter.com/spryka
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f055 said 11:46AM on 3-13-2009
In fact, you CAN easily manage Twitter with Aidium - using http://tweet.im !
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