Just in time for the “Year of the Tablet”, Seesmic has launched atouch-optimised graphically rich version of Twitter for those who like to watch trending topics but not necessarily tweet.
Seesmic is best known in the Twitter ecosystem for its client software that lets users organise their tweets and “follows” better. Seesmic Look, its new product , would look good on a tablet or a big-screen TV and could change the way many people view Twitter.
I installed it on my PC at launch today and it works well filling the screen of my second monitor. The scroll wheel on my mouse can race through tweets, which are easier to read than in other Twitter interfaces as the latest ones are zoomed into view.
A playback option fades recent tweets in and out if you want to sit back and relax with a cup of coffee to catch up.
Although lists are increasingly useful on Twitter.com, I found the “interests” option in the left-hand menu a good way of catching up on the latest in topics such as news, music, sports, business and, of course, tech.
A “channels” option links to specific topics from providers such as Time and the Huffington Post and seems like a revenue opportunity for Seesmic.
The company says it is reaching out to the untapped mainstream audience unfamiliar with Twitter and Look succeeds in simplifying the experience to the extent that not even a Twitter account is needed.
The program is only available for Windows at present and is optimised for touch-enabled Windows 7 devices.
But if Apple unveils its tablet as expected next week, you can imagine fast-moving Seesmic to soon have an app for that.
