How Twheel became one of my favorite Twitter clients



Contributing Writer
Photo: Windmill Credit: Ulf Bierkämper


Twitter clients are a dime a dozen.  I’ve gone through a fair amount of them before finding my current favorite: TweetList (on the recommendation from Hillel Fuld on Appboy).  So when I read Jolie O’Dell’s piece on a new, quirky Twitter client called “Twheel” I wanted to give it a try.  I didn’t expect that I would love it as much as I do, but more on that later…..

The Twheel concept

Rather than displaying Twitter feeds in a linear form, Twheel displays a wheel.  Each cog in the wheel represents a tweet in your Twitter feed.  As you move your finger around the wheel, the app displays one tweet at a time with an accompanying bar describing how many times the post has been retweeted.

Here’s how its creators describe Twheel:

“We based the look and feel of twheel on our understanding of how human brains work, which derives from cognitive research conducted by our team’s members,” – Fluid Interactions CEO Kalle Määttä (from IT Wire).

“Twheel is designed to help our brains process information.  Twheel does not curate or filter information, but reshapes the way data is displayed based on our understanding of human cognition.” - Fluid Interaction Chairman, Kristian Lukander (from Wired U.K.)

What’s great about Twheel

I alluded to the fact that I’ve become a big fan of Twheel and here’s why:  it’s simple and uncluttered.

Its greatest utility is in focusing your attention to individual tweets in your feed.   I love the simplicity and lack of an overwhelming barrage of tweets.  Twheel has a very elegant design and brings a zen presence to an otherwise frenetic Twitter environment.  I can’t speak to its proclivity to help our brains process information, but I find it a much more useful way to filter and consume other people’s content than any other mobile app that I’ve used.

The fine print

Despite my enthusiasm there are some drawbacks with Twheel.  Most notably, the interface takes some time to get accustomed to.  The middle button acts as a back button.  When you dig into a tweet the cogs become action buttons allowing you to favorite, retweet, reply, search referenced hashtags or follow a link.

Also, you can use Twheel to see mentions and messages, but I find navigating these more efficient in an app like Tweetlist.  And Twheel uses up a lot of memory causing a error and shut down after extended use (it starts up effectively afterwards).

Jolie O’Dell (in the article referenced about) posits that Twheel is going to be a prime candidate to lose access to the Twitter API.  So if you’re into long-term commitment, Twheel may not be for you.

Bring it home

Because it’s so radically different from the norm, I imagine that Twheel won’t achieve the popularity that other mobile Twitter apps do.  It’s a fantastic app and I highly recommend trying it (did I mention that it’s free?).

You may find that you love it as much as I do.

Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

Writer and chief of miscellany at leaderswest.com

I aspire to give people something to think about rather than tell them what to do. My favorite Google Alert is “social media research,” I am increasingly compelled by Gen Z, and I appreciate good writers agnostic of where they write. At one time I was Kred’s 12th most influential social media blogger and Klout’s most influential person on the topic of David Hasselhoff. Transplant from Seattle living in Cincinnati. Haven’t entirely adopted the local sports teams yet.

Jim Dougherty

@jimdougherty

Writer about social media and tech at Leaders West, I also tweet as @leaderswest.

4 Tips For Building A Website That Google Will Love http://t.co/YA73Hq4QAd via @ShellyKramer – 3 hours ago

Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

  • http://twitter.com/virne Jani Lainesalo

    Thanks for this post!

    Twheel is a constantly evolving app. Since it’s so different and just in the beginning of its journey, there are features that are still searching for their final form. For example mentions and messages. Now that we can hear from people what they think, we can improve twheel beyond what our small team can do on our own. Of course we have ideas (and implementations) just waiting to get out. 

    Keep an eye on updates!

    Jani / Fluid Interaction

  • jimdougherty

    Thanks, Jani!  I had this revelation when I was using Twheel of how useful it would be to manage Facebook in a similar way!  I look forward to your future updates and thank you and your team for a really innovative social experience!

  • http://twitter.com/TedRubin Ted Rubin

    Don’t love it. Actually don’t even like it. Seems more a novelty than anything else at this point. Just my two cents. There are a lot of things I don’t like that become very successful :-)

  • jimdougherty

    Ha!  I love your candor, Ted!  I on the other hand can’t stay off of it.  If I could see my Facebook news feed like this I would be delirious.  Thanks for reading and giving it a test drive!

  • Jim Theo

    Looks pretty dang spiffy. Now, if I only had an iPhone. Definitely will put it on my boss’ Iphone and let them have a whirl at it, I think it would be nice for them, since they are less ‘nerdly’. I personally enjoy using ‘Hootsuite’, works great as a browser-based twitter client on my 7 year old winXP laptop, most other twitter clients I have tried crash my poor old puter, the browser version of tweetdeck is nice, but not as swift or full featured as the hootsuite. Metro Twit seemed interesting, seems better suited for Win7. Peace to you, fellow ‘Jim’, thanks for the post!   ~Jimmy, Top Dog Coffee Bar

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