Product Review : Threadsy-Pull yourself together

Do you have an email account.? The question probably is silly. A more meaningful one would be how many. Most of us, if not all, own multiple email accounts, a Facebook profile and a Twitter account. Of course there is a lot more that we own. But Communication/socializing today is pretty much encapsulated in these 4 things : mails/FB/Twitter/IM. And we do invariably open 4 tabs as soon as we start the browser. Would it be any good if we could access them all and access seamlessly on a single tab.? We presume the answer would be ‘yes’. And if you have answered yes, go open Threadsy in that single tab.!!

So what is Threadsy : In bold terms, its an effort at something, Google failed at. Remember Wave – Google’s much hyped (and failed) integrated real time online communication game changer.!! Google tried integrating various elements of online communication in Google Wave, which probably got too much for an average user to handle. The interface was creepy, with functionalities only quarter developed in the beta-launch.!! So is threadsy better.? Well if not better, at least far more organized with a much cleaner user interface and not half developed/integrated features. Threadsy for beginners combines your multiple email accounts, twitter, Facebook and IM at one place. You dont have to sign in differently for them and switch tabs. You just have to have a Threadsy private beta-invite [can be found at the bottom of the post], sign up at Threadsy, enable IMAP option in your mail settings and you are good to go.!!

How well does it give a feel of the actual accounts :

Well, you can pretty much do all that you do in your mailbox or from your Facebook/Twitter profiles. All messages directed at you (in mail or @replies in Twitter) are put together in one stream called the ‘Inbound’ column at the left. And pretty much all that you follow on FB/Twitter are streamed into the column on the right called ‘Outbound’. You can access all your IM accounts too at the bottom bar (all you need is a Mebo account). Every single operation that you do from your inbox has been smoothly integrated, majority of what you do on Twitter : post/RT/favourite/@replies have been integrated as well. Similarly for Facebook pretty much everything has been integrated too : like/comment/post/inbox/profile viewing. One very good feature that comes across is the bio page of a particular user that comes up in the unbound section when you click on one of his messages in the inbound section.

Verdict : Threadsy shows promise. No wonder then that it broke into the Techcrunch50 finalists.

Where does it lack, or can improve :

Our personal/professional communication and networking doesnot exactly end at emails, FB and Twitter. All professionals today own a professional networking profile (say on LinkedIn), are a part of many other social networks like Orkut, Myspace, even a youtube channel. And even amongst what Threadsy has to offer (emails/FB/Twitter), improvements can totally be made.

Emails :  From a personal experience I found out that sometimes some messages simply do not show up on  your email inbox in threadsy (to be truthful this has happened just one single time.!!). Also there is a little delay that can be observed in the timings between say a message arriving in your mail inbox and your Threadsy inbox.

Twitter : No complaints here.!! All messages (tweets/@replies/DM) are captured and without delay. A good feature is that you can see the tweetpics inline. Just one little thing – older tweets of  the day are a little difficult to see. I didnt see a straightforward way to read the older tweets at least.

Facebook : Again updates/inbox are well captured. Older updates are a little difficult to see.

Overall, Threadsy has offered a good consolidated amalgamation of your regular and major communication clients at one point. The interface is well organized and clean. With time as it comes out of private beta and goes for a real launch the User will have much more at his disposal and probably in a better coordinated and feature laden way.

TEAM Microreviews wishes Team threadsy all the very best in  their efforts.

Note : 10 Private beta invites available : http://bit.ly/4APKQk

Similar upcoming products in line are Silentale and Zood. Keep tuned in for them.

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