Come Again

Mobile phones have resulted in more and more people using social media on the move. And, there are now hundreds of apps that cater to this group. Apart from the official Twitter, Facebook and Four Square apps, there are several unofficial ones that claim to offer better features than the originals.

There are apps that combine two or more social media. Seesmic's app integrates both Twitter and Facebook. Seesmic has another app - Seesmic Ping - that can help you post on multiple networks, but does not have the timeline feature.

The latest entrant to this list is Social Scope. The beta version of the app (available for Android and BlackBerry), brings Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Instagram and Tumblr together. Through Scope you can post to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Foursquare in a single shot. You cannot post to Instagram as it does not allow third party apps to post on its network. Scope says it “would love to add Google Plus , but they don't have a public API.”

Though you cannot post to Instagram, you can see your friends' Instagram posts. Scope organises your photos, videos, and more into custom streams that also support high resolution images.

The first thing that strikes you in Social Scope is the clean interface. It is somewhat similar to Path's (the ‘+’ sign for new posts and the little menu that pops up when you click it You have to register your social networks and then select the network to which you want to post. You also have the option of posting to all of them simultaneously (except of course, to Instagram).

Apps like Seesmic and Tweetcaster also allow you to post simultaneously to Twitter and Facebook, but not to Foursquare and Instagram. Hootsuite also includes Foursquare. But where Social Scope scores is in the neat interface and big pics in the timeline.

dinakaran@thehindu.co.in

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