Remember when most Twitter clients are free? The official one still is, and "lite" versions are still easy to come by -- so why would you want to pay $13.99 for a Twitter client that doesn't even support multiple accounts? Simple: because it lets you be choosy about not only whom you follow, but also which of their tweets get through.
Hibari for Twitter has a clean, simple interface, with buttons along the top for your timeline, mentions, direct messages, and searches, as well as a Search box. Your auto-updating timeline is in the middle, and the New Tweet box hangs out at the bottom. The preferences have handy tweaks like when to display timestamps (always or only if the tweet is selected), Growl messages for mentions and DMs, and auto-scrolling behavior.
Blocking multiple keywords only nukes tweets with all of them, and blocking "RT" stops any and all retweets from showing up in your timeline.
But the real power is in the Timeline portion of the preferences, where you can block keywords, mute users, and save searches that can even be added to your main timeline.
Blocking keywords is a great way to filter out stuff you just don't care about -- any mention of Charlie Sheen, jealousy-inducing tweets from SXSW, anything with a Foursquare link, and so on. If you have a friend who posts good stuff all day but then signs off every evening with a grating, "Nighty night, tweeps!" you never have to see that tweet again.
Muting works the same way, letting you block tweets from one user without having to unfollow them, which might be awkward if you know them in real life. It sorely needs a time limit option, but the devs promise this is coming. Right now you can just Mute someone and then manually un-mute them later. Another huge oversight is the lack of support for multiple Twitter accounts, another promised update. But what's here now works great, and grew on us quickly.
The bottom line. Well-designed Hibari is perfect for the curmudgeonly Twitter user who wants to get picky about what tweets they see. It needs a few updates, but you can get a free 14-day trial at the developer's website and see for yourself.
Hibari for Twitter 1.1.3
Mac OS 10.6 or later
Clean interface. Clever filters. Mute feature lets you silence someone without unfollowing. Saved searches can be part of your main timeline. Supports Instapaper, Growl, Bit.ly, Twitpic, Yfrog, and more. Easy to use.
Mute feature is currently indefinite (customizable time frame coming soon). Doesn't support multiple accounts (also "coming soon"). On the expensive side.
Blackmist
May 21, 2011 at 6:39pm
"Well-designed Hibari is perfect for the curmudgeonly Twitter user who wants to get picky about what tweets they see."
Don't you get to choose who you follow on Twitter? And what RTs can you see? I see no point in paying 14$ for this thing if Twitter for Mac does it for free and has a sexier UI.
