For as much hype and press Twitter got all this week with the games celebrities play, you would think the service had single-handedly solved the economic recession and cured malaria besides. But even as the microblogging service managed to not fail under what had to have been a heavy load, it's remarkable how Twitter continues to be defined by its limitations, and how the core aspects of the service have changed very little over the last two years.If you use the product, you know the limits I'm talking about. 140 characters only. No pictures. No video. Direct messages can only be sent to a single person. No grouping. No lists. I could go on.
Sending a Direct Message In Twitter
Previously Sent Direct Messages In Twitter
But after taking a look at a ton of different third-party applications out there, I finally found a solution that lets you send direct messages to multiple people at once, attach photos, and even collect all the comments from the recipients in one place.
It's called FriendFeed.
The new FriendFeed beta lets you send direct messages to as many people you like who are friends with you, and you can add up to four photos per message. Like with Twitter, if they respond to your DM, you can get notified within the service, and just recently, you also gained the ability to get notifications by e-mail.
Sending a Direct Message In FriendFeed With a Photo
A Conversation On a DM With Multiple People In FriendFeed
While Twitter may have all the daytime television viewers reaching for their mobile phones and Windows XP Home powered PCs (just after they log on using AOL), FriendFeed keeps its head down and is innovating. So while they're still figuring out how to send a limited number of characters to a single person using only text, I'll be sending photos and links and long messages to as many people as I like on FriendFeed.
You can join us here: http://beta.friendfeed.com/louisgray.