I have tried a large number of social networking tools, and have remained unimpressed. Twitter’s desktop tools fail to astonish me, and selections for other tools are even more sparse. I have also tried a number of combined IM clients, such as Trillian, Pidgin, and Miranda, and have remained unimpressed. Although, Trillian Astra may be a whole other story. Now, I have found a new tool, called Digsby, and this one has impressed me.
So what is Digsby? Disgby is a instant messenger client that not only combines all other messenger clients into one (except a few), but also combines social networking, email, and the new Facebook chat. Currently, there is no combined email monitoring/social network monitoring tool apart from Digsby, but that will likely change soon. Most combined clients focus on the IM system, allowing one tool to connect to multiple networks. This is nice, because then you can view all your friends and such in one location.
Instead of segregating each service to its own area, like the other tools do, Digsby mixes them together, removing barriers. You can still tell who is on what network, by a symbol added to their picture, but they are all listed in one large contact group. You can easily start chats with people on multiple networks by double clicking their name, no need to change windows or panes. Furthermore, if your friend is on multiple networks, you can combine all their contacts into one. Clicking that will allow you to start messaging them on whatever networks of which they are online.
One thing that one client does (AIM) that is quite nice is that it pops up messages when you get a new message, and has an input box on those messages so you can reply to the message. Digsby does this as well, but for every network. In addition to IM, these popups work for social networks and email, so you can catch that message as it hits your inbox. Very cool. However, sometimes they can be annoying. When you have all the networks, email monitoring, and Facebook, the popups can be constant and fill your screen with updates. This can easily be changed though.
Many people have Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc accounts. Updating these can be a chore, usually involving cellphones or browsers. Digsby integrates with many of these, allowing you to update your status, see your friends’ status, and much more. This is one of the nicer features, and allows for quick status updates, so you can let your friends know exactly what you are doing. Something I really enjoy about Digsby is its email integration. AIM, Google Talk, and Yahoo Im offer alerts for when you get new emails, but unless you see the alert when you get it, you miss information about it. Digsby shows similar alerts with its popup, but also allows you to view the summaries of your unread messages, and perform various quick actions on them.
Digsby is also nice enough to include widgets, so if you have a website of Facbook account, you can install that widget to your pages, and people can come and chat with you, without having to use Digsby. The chat client is flash based, so it is speedy and easy to embed, as well as offering several color choices and customization options. If someone you do not wish to talk to starts annoying you, you can block their IP address. Simple as that!
Digsby is currently in open beta, and they are doing a phenomenal job. They are constantly pushing updates to make Digsby even more compelling. The latest update includes Facebook Chat and other fixes. Overall, Digsby is great, and some of the other multi-network messengers should take note. Trillian Astra has been in private beta for years and I am begging to think it will never be released, but when it does, Digsby may have something to fight for, but until then, look no further than Digsby.
As a dedicated Trillian user for several years now I was hesitant to give another client a shot, but I gritted my teeth and did it anyhow. Instantbird is a new multi-protocol, cross platform, open source instant messenging client that makes use of Mozilla and Pidgin technologies to connect you to fourteen different IM protocols.
