With the launch of the Mac App Store today, the first thing I did was to download Tweetie 2 which has been my favorite Mac twitter client since the day of its initial release. I loved how simple it was and now the new version named Twitter for Mac is finally here.

To get the new app, you'll first need to ensure that your Mac is updated to OS X 10.6.6. With the new Mac App Store installed, you can download the updated app for free on it.

Twitter for Mac features a brand new and clean user interface. It looks like a revamped fresh version of Tweetie, the most obvious change is the modified sidebar, a black translucent sidebar along with two new icons - offering access to your lists and profile info. Back to timeline, it looks like the iPhone/iPad one but you can't swipe to reveal an action menu. So what's new here? One of the biggest annoyances of the original Tweetie was that you can't get anything done with tweets unless you either selected one and hit a keyboard shortcut or invoked a contextual menu with right click. Now, you can just move your cursor over a tweet. From the overlay icons that appear on a status update, you can show a conversation view, reply, mark as favorite and native retweet (finally!).

Twitter for Mac is fast, really fast and snappy. The first thing you're gonna do after authorizing your account will likely be a quick tour of the timeline and sections, I'm sure you will notice the difference. Also, the app supports live streaming for tweets but only in the timeline.

The new tweet window is very simple. Remember in Tweetie when you wanted to tweet with a long URL? You had to click the 'Shorten URL' button. In Twitter for Mac you can just paste in any URL, no matter how long and it'll do that work for you. The displayed character count for your tweet will already acount for the URL being shortened. But there doesn't appear to be a way to turn auto-shortening off, this might be an issue.

There also are a bunch of new features like delete tweets and block users within the app, trending topics, drag and drop tweets and a bunch of new shortcuts. I think Twitter for Mac is an app that brings Twitter to the Mac in a way that most users won't need to open Twitter.com anymore.

I have to say that I'm really loving Twitter for mac and I hope you'll like it, too. If you've just installed the Mac App Store, make this your first download as well as I did.

If you're a Twitter user with iPad, maybe you've been waiting for this for a long time. Twitter just released the official Twitter for iPad app and it's remarkable.

The new app interface is a series of panes that can be expanded and retracted, opened easily without the need to click on any fiddly buttons. Simple navigation options down the left of the app allow you to flick between your timeline, mentions, DMs, lists or searches. and the brilliant "slide to refresh" feature you'll probably already know and love from Twitter for iPhone app (now it's universal, runs on both iPad and iPhone).

The size of the iPad screen means you can read articles, or view photos and videos while still keeping the rest of the app's functions in view, there're some neat touches that allow you to view information quickly. When you click on a link in a tweet, the internal browser slides in from the right to display the article, photo or video. Also, if a tweet uses a hashtag, then clicking on it will bring up that tweet and others underneath that use the same tag. Follower suggestions are another useful feature. If you select a user's profile it suggests similar users to follow further down the page, that is a good way to find interesting people to follow. Also, there are several ways you can follow tweeted conversations: using a two-fingered drag, you can take a peek at the chain of messages. If you just tap on a tweet and it's a response to another tweet, you'll see the chain of messages in a full pane.

Now let's start a new tweet. As shown in the screenshot below, you'd be surprised how much you'll appreciate large, readable text. The text entry field looks like a notepad, which is an apt metaphor for writing on the iPad. Also on the text entry field are buttons for attaching photos from your iPad photo library, tweeting your present location, or shrinking URLs.

The settings for the app are rather simple, which I also find to be refreshing. Other than adding or editing accounts, there are two other buttons: Services and Advanced. Services lets you set up your image service, video service and read later service (Instapaper or Read It Later). Advanced has buttons for setting image quality, show hashtags in trends, enabling TextExpander, and turning sound effects on and off. There's also a button for installing a Safari bookmarklet - tapping it directs you to Safari, where you're given directions on how to set up the bookmarklet.

This new Twitter app makes it much easier to read tweets, get at the content contained within, and to see user's details and the flow of conversations. However, there are a few minor glitches that need to be addressed. The internal browser is slow to open a linked article, although it’s smooth once opened. It can also be harder than it should be to close exposed panes when sliding them back to the right. Sometimes they get “stuck” midway, requiring an extra slide to get them off the screen. Anyway, it's really nice to see Twitter team and Loren Brichter have carried on Tweetie's legacy of UI innovation with Twitter for iPad. Great job guys!

The Internet is a tidal wave that you will not be able to keep out. Like in China, who knows how long those firewalls will hold up – but not forever. We’re just realizing the promise of the Internet. It’s about democratization of information.

At SXSW in Austin, Texas. Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams did a keynote Q&A with Umair Haque. He said that notorious censorship firewalls in countries such as China will give way to online innovations. He also has spoken about a new feature for Twitter. It's @anywhere platform and allows other websites to link to Twitter feeds.

Last month, I've mentioned that most Twitter users are passive. Now, Check this, some interesting stats about the much-trumpeted Twitter community. visualized.

• red people = dead accounts. dead.
• green people = lazy people, a lot of lazy people...
• blue people = with more than 100 followers.
• purple people = called "Active Users", they're loud, creating 75% of the tweets. (just loud, no followers?)
• grey people = mkandlez said: not dead, non-lazy, not many followers, softly spoken. (zombies?)

OK. Here's a question: Where are the Spammers...? :)

Never mind. I am one of the "blue & a little purple" people, just follow me. :)

Source: Influential Marketing Blog | originally uploaded by mkandlez

I don't know why. Twitter’s growth has suddenly stopped, the flatline with only a 1.47% increase in the month of May from Compete's number. Worse than this, a report from Harvard Business Review revealed that most Twitter users are passive, with 10% of all users accounting for 90% of the overall number of tweets. They’ve signed up and showed up, but a surprising number don’t do much more than that.

• 80% failed to provide a homepage URL
• 76% of users have not entered a bio in their profile
• 69% have not specified a location
• 55% are not following anyone
• 55% have never tweeted
• 53% have no followers

Data based on some 4.5 million Twitter accounts via Hubspot