Features:

• straightforward UI
• real-time Twitter feed
• Twitter search capability
• trend monitoring via tag cloud

The Good:

Twitscoop is a good Twitter client. It has all the functionality of Twitter.com with a very good search feature. The tag cloud for trend monitoring updates in real-time as well.

The Not-so-Good:

While Twitscoop is a serviceable Twitter client, it lacks multiple Twitter account support, something that is becoming more and more useful as users operate more than one Twitter account. It does boast link shortening but does not have the ability to display videos or photos “in-line”. These are not huge issues, but would be nice to have.

Tweetwave.com Rates It: ★★★★

Features:

• simplistic web UI
• search terms displayed as dB meters
• links to search terms via Twitter or Twoquick

The Good:

Trendmetr is a simplistic graphical representation of the frequency of various terms or trend in Twitter. Below each ‘meter’ are a couple of links that allow users to search the term on Twitter or Twoquick.

The Bad:

While the idea of a graphical representation of trending topics on Twitter is a good one, the execution of that idea by Trendmetr is woefully inadequate. Try as we might, we could find no way of selecting our own search terms. When we added ‘meters’ we were presented with terms like ‘hate my job’, ‘dinner’ and ‘insomnia’. Trendmetr has the potential to become a useful trend tracker, but in its present form it is nothing more than a diversion.

Tweetwave.com Rates it: ★

Features:

• UI similar to Twitter.com
• all Twitter operations supported
• multiple Twitter accounts supported
• advanced search feature
• keyword and trending topic features

The Good:

TwitIQ is a good Twitter client, some say it it Twitter.com “plus”. It has all the functionality of Twitter with the added benefit of multiple account support. The advanced search and keyword features are pretty handy as well.

The Not-so-Good:

While TwitIQ is certainly a very serviceable Twitter client, complete with URL shortening and saved searches, there are a few things that would be nice to see added at some point in the future. There is no support for photo posting and TwitIQ is unable to display inline videos and photos like PowerTwitter does. These aren’t huge issues, but rather bell and whistles we would like to see.

Tweetwave.com Rates It: ★★★

Features:

• easy to use web UI
• trending topics displayed
• save searches
• search results (tweets) displayed in real time
• popular related links displayed

The Good:

Twazzup is a very good search tool for Twitter. The ability to display resulting tweets in a real-time stream is a fantastic feature. We liked the related links feature, and the ability to sort results by retweets and tweets is also a powerful feature.

The Not-so-Good:

Twazzup is a very good tool. Our only complaint, and it isn’t a big one, is that sometimes it almost seems like there is too much information crammed into the display page. It’s all good information, but there’s a lot of it.

Tweetwave.com Rates It: ★★★★

Features:

• simple web UI
• colorful, cascading display of tweets
• search on any term(s)

The Good:

Visible Tweets is an interesting way to display a stream of tweets on any given topic. Tweets are displayed one at a time on a colorful background, with one tweet cascading/rolling into the next.

The Not-so-Good:

The visual display of Visible Tweets is rather appealing, and we liked it a lot. While Visible Tweets can search on any term or trend, it is not a hard-core search tool. It doesn’t pretend to be, which works out just fine.

Tweetwave.com Rates It: ★★★

Features:

• easy-to-use web UI
• displays Twitter trends
• refine searches with up to six parameters

The Good:

tweetzi  is a very easy-to-use and capable Twitter search tool. We liked the ability to refine searches using parameters such as “links related to” the search term or “asking about” the search term. Daily Twitter trends are displayed so you can hit those as well, if you wish. One other good feature of tweetzi is the ability to turn on a real-time results stream. This is great for keeping up to date on important trends or topics.

The Not-so-Good:

There wasn’t much we didn’t like about tweetzi. The Help feature is very “helpful”. If we have to choose something to find fault with (and we do), all we can really say is that the appearance of tweetzi is a little bit on the “industrial” side. That is merely a superficial complaint about style. The functionality is very good indeed.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ★★★

Features:

• sign in using Twitter credentials
• post questions with optional reward, deadline and topic category
• ability to mark questions as favorite
• RSS feed for all questions posted
• “hotlist” feature showing top topics, questions and rewards as well as top questioners and “answerers”
• user configurable settings for auto-following and visibility
• search feature

The Good:

TweetBrain is a great crowdsourcing tool for Twitter. You could post your questions directly to Twitter, but with TweetBrain your question will almost certainly be looked at by more people than already follow you (unless you are @cnn). The tool is easy to use and generates some interesting feedback. Every question you ask is posted as a tweet. It is also possible that TweetBrain could help you get more followers, given its “viral” potential.

The Not-so-Good:

So far, we like TweetBrain quite a bit. Some may have concerns about the sign-in procedure with full Twitter credentials, but that issue is addressed in the FAQ: OAuth will be used when it is ready. We’re not too sure about the reward feature. TweetBrain uses PayPal to facilitate payment of the (often nominal) reward that any user can assign to their question. That feature may not appeal to some users, but the good news is that it isn’t mandatory.

Tweetwave.com Rates it: ★★★★

Features:

• login from web or mobile phone
• option to login using OAuth
• all Twitter operations supported
• avatars supported
• TwitPic supported

The Good:

dabr is a solid Twitter client, especially when used on a mobile phone (this is really where its strengths are). As a PC/web Twitter client it functions perfectly fine too. dabr sports a capable search feature as well as integration with TwitPic. We liked that from a mobile, dabr does not insert advertising into the tweet stream, like some other applications do.

The Not-so-Good:

Functionally, dabr is a good, tight little Twitter client. If you want a flashy appearance for your Twitter client, then this isn’t it. The overall appearance is a little bit “industrial”, but that’s just a style complaint. It would have been nice to see a URL shrinking capability and we would love to have the ability to manage multiple Twitter accounts from within the application. It also appears that refreshes have to be done manually.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ★★★

Features:

• simple web page displays a stream of random tweets, one at a time
• tweeter’s avatar displayed (including link to twitter.com/username page)

The Good:

Everytweet isn’t so much an application as a diversion. It has a somewhat hypnotic effect to it, as completely random tweets scroll past. There are no other uses for it, no configurations, no other displays. It is simply there to provoke thought or reflection, and that’s not a bad thing. You can visit the Twitter.com page for each tweeter if you want to follow things further.

The Not-so-Good:

The mesmerizing quality of Everytweet can suck you in, running the risk of minutes, if not hours, of “wasted” time, unless you like that sort of thing.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ★★★

Features:

• simple web UI requires only entry of a #hashtag to search for definition
• definitions displayed are user-driven
• ability to comment or add definitions
• displays relevant Flickr and YouTube hits for the selected #hashtag

The Good:

Tagalus is a great tool to find out what all those #hashtags mean. It is easy to use and allows users to comment on existing definitions or add their own. You can create #hashtags and submit a definition too. Tweets using the selected #hashtag are displayed, and it is interesting to see any Flickr photos or YouTube videos that are related to the tag as well. Tagalus also offers a bookmarklet which allows users to search text selected from any web page they happen to be visiting.

The Not-so-Good:

We found nothing to complain about regarding the functionality of Tagalus. The only thing we could find to complain about is the appearance of the site, which is perhaps a little drab or ordinary (mostly a white field with few blue accents). As we said, none of that impacts on functionality, so who cares? It’s just a style thing, nothing more.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ★★★