Digbsy pushes out a major update to Twitter client, for better or worse

Digsby is a social networking and instant messaging tool for Windows that has does so many different things it's hard to describe them all. Arguably, it's not the best at any one thing. For instance in AOL Instant Messenger it doesn't support chat rooms, and the Twitter client is a bit simple compared to fuller featured applications like Twhirl or TweetDeck.

But you know what? That's part of what I like about Digsby. I can use it to chat with my friends and contacts, keep up with Twitter activity, and receive notifications when new email messages come in. But it doesn't absorb all of my attention the way fuller featured Twitter clients do. I don't have to pay attention to every single tweet from the 150 or so people that I follow. I can just glance at the last few messages when I have a free moment and move on. If I want to see @replies or direct messages, I can easily do that without missing any.

And that's why I'm a bit conflicted about the news that Digsby is amping up its Twitter client. The new client opens in a new window, unlike the current version which is integrated into Digsby. But that's one of the only things that the new Digsby will have in common with other Twitter clients. Here are a few things Digsby will do differently:

• Messages will be posted in chronological order, instead of reverse chronological order
• Digsby will keep track of unread message counts
• When you open the Twitter window Digsby will pick up where you left off reading
• Users will be able to filter users and groups
• You'll be able to reply and retweet directly from the notification pop up window
• Automatic URL shortening when you paste a URL into the message window

In other words, the new Digsby Twitter client will be designed to make it harder to miss messages, and let you treat Twitter almost like email. For Twitter junkies, it sounds awesome. For me, it sounds like information overload. I'll give it a try and see how I like the new client, but my guess is that I'll either start unfollowing Twitter users or I'll give up on Digsby and go back to using Pidgin and a desktop email notifier.

You can see a picture of Digsby's new Twitter timeline view after the break.

Tags: digsby, freeware, instant messaging, InstantMessaging, twitter