Twitter app Brizzly adds Facebook, too

A look at the Facebook news feed in Brizzly. Check out the buttons at the top to toggle back and forth between Facebook and Twitter.

(Credit: Brizzly)

Brizzly, a Twitter client that's still private beta, on Wednesday added the ability for members to follow their Facebook contacts as well through the Web-based service (unlike many of its competitors, Brizzly has opted to not take the form of a downloadable desktop app)--and to post Brizzly updates back to their Facebook profiles. For those of you who have Brizzly accounts, it should be live later on Wednesday if it isn't already.

It's a natural move: Most Twitter clients, like TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop, also support updates from Facebook to one degree or another. Brizzly, created by San Francisco-based Thing Labs and spearheaded by Blogger and Google veteran Jason Shellen, makes a Twitter feed look quite a bit like a Facebook news feed by expanding image and video links from services like TwitPic and YouTube.

Through Facebook Connect, Brizzly can pull in your news feed so that you can toggle back and forth between a Twitter view and a Facebook view. But it's a little bit limited for now: currently, it's just the revamped "top stories" news feed, not the live-streaming feed that had been Facebook's default until this week.

Of note: when you've clicked on Facebook view in Brizzly, the Brizzly bear mascot is wearing a Facebook-logo sweatshirt and waving a pennant. Now that's just plain cute.

UPDATE: We hear the bear's name is Phineas.

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Brizzly is getting a lot of acclaim, but is it because of the popularity of its founder or the true benefits of its service. Services like TwAitter and HootSuite offer much of Brizzly's features already.

While there's always room for more tools, Brizzly has yet to Wow me. Maybe after a little more time.

Links mentioned:

http://twaitter.com
http://hootsuite.com
http://brizzly.com

[cvaldes1831]

I don't find Brizzly all that exciting because I basically don't read Twitter from a computer: I use my iPod touch. Until Brizzly unveils a site that is designed for mobile devices, I think its uptake will be limited at best.

These companies have to move on from the paradigm of accessing the Internet via a desktop web browser. The Internet wars will be fought on mobile devices for the next ten years.