People’s desire to stay connected is one reason why sites such as Twitter and Facebook are so popular. One common characteristic people share is they want that connectivity to be as simple as possible. This is where Brizzly comes in. Brizzly is a Twitter and Facebook client that provides “a simple way to experience the social web”.
A web-based social reader, Brizzly is laid out in a way that just makes sense; it has a very simple interface and the site itself runs smoothly and seamlessly. Once you create an account, it’s easy to find your way around the site. There’s even a “Getting Started” video and help section to answer most of your questions. Brizzly’s usability is not an accident. Brizzly was created by some of the same people who built Google Reader.
Here are some of Brizzly’s great features:
Twitter: Send and receive direct messages. Your direct messages are presented in a threaded conversation like format right on your main page. You can even have multiple message threads going at once. When you receive a message, you can view it or choose the “shh” option to ignore it and pull it up later.
- Twitter: View images in tweets as opposed to links.
- Twitter: Monitor up to five Twitter accounts.
- Twitter: Create groups from your Twitter followers. Right now, you can only have 5, but Brizzly promises more in the future.
- Twitter: Support for newly introduced Twitter “Lists”.
- Twitter: The Mute feature allows you to hide a user’s updates until you decide you want to see them again.
- Twitter: The “Trends and News” feature provides an explanation as to why terms are trending on Twitter.
- Twitter: Follow and unfollow Tweeters, reply to a Tweet, repost a Tweet and save drafts.
- Twitter: Search Twitter or find people to follow. You can also save your searches.
- Facebook: Update your status, wall posts and comments.
- Short URLs are shown in their full form on Brizzly.
Currently in closed beta, Brizzly is open to users by invitation only. You can request an invite on the Brizzly homepage or ask a friend who already has an account. Another way to “get in” is to do a Twitter search for “Brizzly invitation”.
The addition of Facebook support is a huge step forward in Brizzly’s development. No longer simply just a Twitter Reader, Brizzly is now a Social Media Reader providing a simple, more streamlined way to monitor these two leading sites. I highly suggest you check it out. Brizzly’s fantastic features will greatly enhance your social media experience.
What are some of your favorite social media applications?
