Dan Perry

I really enjoy posting pictures to Twitter from my mobile phone. I think it adds a lot of value to the program, and I also like seeing pictures from other users. So what product is (currently) better; Twitxr.com or Twitpic.com? There are some differentiating factors that, in my opinion, makes one better than the other. Let’s dig a little deeper.

Both programs allow you to upload images directly from your phone to your Twitter account, and once you sign-up, both give you a specific email account to upload pictures to, so nobody else can. The difference is in the details.

When adding pictures, Twitxr.com has you add the location of the picture as the Subject Line of the email (for instance: Chicago, Illinois), and then has you add the actual tweet to the body of the message. Then, when posted, the Twitxr message displays as:

Twitpic uses a slightly different approach. The subject line is used for the tweet itself, and the body of the email is inconsequential. Here’s how it looks:

Visually, the only real difference is that Twitpic puts the link first, where Twitxr puts it second. It seems the culture of Twitter has adopted the latter (putting the link after the text), and I personally prefer this method as well: Explain the link, then link to it.

So why does Twitxr require a location? Here’s why, and it’s the reason why I prefer it over Twitpic.

Visit the homepage of Twitxr.com, and under the sign-up button, click on the link that reads “See it in Action”. You’ll see a number of Twitxr tweets on the right with images attached). On the left, you’ll see a few “Featured” users. Under the Featured Users, you’ll see a form that reads “What’s going on in…”, and then a text box. By typing in a location (I chose Chicago) and hitting enter, I see a Google Map page of fellow Twitxr’s in my area.

By clicking on one of the images, I can see the most recent Tweet.

Isn’t that cool? This is how I met fellow Twitterer @kpishdadi. She even rides the same train I do into the city!

In my opinion, this feature makes Twitxr.com much more valuable; it adds an additional layer of social interaction, by allowing you to find others near you.

Any other programs out there I’m missing? Any that offer the local-social interaction like Twitxr? Also, what would you like to see next?

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 10:56 pm and is filed under twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.