TWiDdLa!!

Twiddla is an online association tool, which enables people to browse websites in a shared whiteboard, while marking them up, sharing files, and chatting along. There is no need for no plug-ins or downloads and firewalls. Twiddla has its positives, but it also has it negatives. For instance, it’s not free, no web video chatting, and voice audio is not clear.

When you first go on Twiddla’s meetings you see a canvas and you immediately want to start painting. Twiddla’s features on its sandbox or meetings are painting, chatting, voice audio, insert text, grids, shapes, documents, and emails. One great concept about Twiddla is that you can web browse at the same time. If you have five people in your meeting and you all need to go and see a particular website for example, pbs kids then you will all be able to see the website and browse through it together. Same goes with documents, if you insert it you are able to edit the documents together. Another great feature about Twiddla is the saving of files. You can upload as many images such as, .jpg, .gif, .png, etc. and documents like .doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf, .txt. These file can be shared within the meetings. Twiddla allows you to chat up to 11 people at the same time. When setting up a meeting you can invite people that do not have a Twiddla account by inviting them to be guest through email.

Twiddla may have many features but it only comes with its downfalls. First of all, Twiddla is not free for everyone. It has a free 30 day trial, but after that you have the option of upgrading into the professional for $14 a month, enterprise for $49 a month, or universal plan for $189 a month. The more you upgrade the more features you will receive. My group and I thought the guest account was not able to give us certain features. Twiddla offers a free upgrade to their professional account if members send an email from an .edu address. My group upgraded but the only difference we saw was that it included meeting history and the unlimited storage. I was disappointed that there was no web video chatting. I was interesting in trying it out because I wanted to compare it to Skype. I believe if you upgrade into the other plans you may receive video chatting. When my group tried using the voice audio we were having difficulty hearing each other. I could hear what sounds like drums in the background and my echo every time I talk. There were moments when I could hear them but other than that it was all different sounds coming out.

Overall, I thought Twiddla was interesting and it opened my mind into possibilities of technology I did not know. I am not a person who chats although I use to be in high school but that trend faded away for me as I attended college. Now as I am taking this class, I find myself interested in it again. It’s not just chatting, simple typing in some words, it’s more than that. It’s actually having conversations with people at the comfort of your home while sharing ideas, documents, images, and websites with many people at the same time. Twiddla has enabled me to explore all the other capabilities’ chatting has to offer. I hope to continue using Twiddla to communicate and express my ideas.