As a long time Twitter user, there are admittedly a variety of flaws in the system and culture, one of which is the ability to control who sees what you tweet publicly. Many (like me) have a private account which gives one measure of control, but others feel awkward about denying some people the ability to see their tweets. Imagine your broker, your ex wife’s best friend or your weird neighbor follows you on Twitter- sometimes it’s easier to accept than ignore.
Given that, as Android users, we’ve been on the lookout for ways to manage our Twitter accounts better, one of which is a free Android app called Twitsper which looks to be created by a University of California at Riverside grad student in the Computer Science and Engineering program. Twitter + whisper = Twitsper which allows you to limit the audience for your tweets based on groups of followers you select and you have control over each individual tweet’s destination be it fully public or to a select group.
You can create lists that have subsets of followers and the tweets are only received by other members of the list who follow you back. When no lists are selected, tweets made through Twitsper go to all followers in the normal broadcast fashion.
Scan in the QR code below to download:
So far, I’m experimenting with the app and because I have a high number of followers, not much is loading and I can’t quite make a list yet but the theory of Twitsper is sound and I plan on making it work for me because there are times that I need to message just a select number of people messages without bombarding all of my network. Benn and I host a monthly party in Austin and I plan on grouping attendees so I can message them about #BASHH without all of you in real estate around the globe being inundated with messages that don’t pertain to you or your interests.
What will you use Twitsper for?
Harsha Madhyastha
December 6, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I am one of the developers of Twitsper. Thanks for writing about it.
I would like to clarify that you can create lists even online at twitter.com. You don’t necessarily need to create lists within Twitsper; especially for users with a large number of followers like you. When you come back to Twitsper, you will see the list you created online, and you can then send private messages to those on the list.
Lani Rosales
December 6, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Ah very good to know, thanks for sharing, Hasha! We dig the app!! 🙂
Kelsey Teel
December 6, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Hooray! I’ve been wondering when someone would come up with a way to organize and sensor who sees your tweets. Facebook has done a good job with this through their use of privacy controls and groups.
Then again, I’ve always thought that maybe that was Twitter’s prerogative from the get go. They have gone in a different direction than Facebook in many ways. While Facebook has been updated multiple times, Twitter has remained notoriously simple with the one recent update being the only one. Why hasn’t Twitter already done this?
The main advantages would be privacy and cutting down on useless tweets. Too bad it can’t magically stop spam, excessive quotes, and auto DMs asking me to become a fan of a Facebook page. 😉
Agent for Movoto
December 6, 2010 at 6:07 pm
this should prove to be really useful to agents who want to get specific with targeting certain clients with particular listings or tips!
Lani Rosales
December 7, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Exactly! Agents could have a hyperlocal neighborhood news list even!
Ann Cummings
December 7, 2010 at 6:28 am
Love this idea! I don’t have my new phone yet, which will be a Droid, however I’ve been saving the great suggestions for when I do get it, hopefully in next week or so. I need to get much better about lists and how to use them – love what you’ve written about here Lani. Thanks for sharing!
Lani Rosales
December 7, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Let us know when you get your phone, we love swapping app tips!!
Sara Bonert
December 7, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Just last week I switched from a blackberry (loonng time user) over to the droid. It has been a huge adjustment, but every day I am amazed by how much more I can do on it. I am just getting into tweeting mobilely on it, and still trying to use tweetdeck because that is what I am used to on my pc – but no such feature exists in their system. So I’ll have to add this to the 1000 other new things I have yet to learn on the new phone!
Lani Rosales
December 7, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Ha ha, when we got our new phones we were obsessed for the first two weeks. It gets easier, I promise! 🙂