Filed under: Internet, Features, Windows, Open Source, How-Tos, Social Software
How to add Twitter and Facebook IM support to Pidgin for Windows
by Lee Mathews Jan 18th 2009 at 5:00PM
Thanks to the developers of two plugins, a couple quick downloads and some simple instructions can remedy the situation with minimal effort. To top it off, the finished product only uses about 20mb of memory - under half what Digsby consumed on my machine.
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Clarification: Ping.fm does not do this. Yes, it will update multiple statuses for you via IM, but it won't let you chat with Facebook friends or send you Twitter updates for people you follow.
Let's start with Twitter.
If you don't have a Gmail account, go sign up for one so you can add a gtalk buddy later on. You'll also need to go to Twitter and follow twitter@twitter.com.
Step 1: Download the pidgin-twitter plugin from the developers. It's about half way down the page, but if you have a hard time finding the link for the files you'll need this one. There's another plugin that is easier to install, called microblog-purple, but I prefer the way pidgin-twitter works.
Step 2: If you're on XP or newer, just double click the archive to open it - or extract the contents using your favorite application.
Step 3: Drop the .dll into your plugins folder - probably c:\program files\pidgin\plugins.
Step 4: Right click the Pidgin system tray icon and choose plugins. Scroll down to Pidgin-twitter and place a check next to it.
Step 5: Press the configure plugin button.
Step 6: Enter your twitter login information and check the box marked "enable get/post status updates via API."
Step 7: Add twitter@twitter.com as a new buddy to Pidgin using gtalk as the protocol.
Step 8: Click the buddies menu, choose show and click offline buddies if there isn't already a check next to it. If everything worked, you'll see Twitter in your buddy list.
Step 9: Double click Twitter to open a conversation window. You should see a pile of updates almost instantly.
That's it! To post a status update, just type it like you would any other Pidgin message. @username works just fine, too.
Facebook is a little easier to add. Just grab the .exe from the pidgin-facebookchat project page and run it. Click next, I Agree, and Finish. Unlike twitter-pidgin, you'll need to close and relaunch Pidgin (assuming you had it running) to activate the Facebook plugin.
Right click the Pidgin tray icon and choose accounts, then click the add button. Select Facebook from the menu, input your account details, and you're done!
Enjoy your new Pidgin functionality!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ascagnel said 5:14PM on 1-18-2009
are there plugins available for adium? adium is the equivalent of pidgin for mac, since it uses libpurple as its backend.
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bachya said 5:48PM on 1-18-2009
Great additions. I would like to know about a Twitter plugin for Adium, as well - that would be super useful.
Good work DS!
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Daniel said 5:51PM on 1-18-2009
Something seems to be missing between steps 7 and 8.
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Klink258 said 7:24PM on 1-18-2009
I prefer Digsby because it has great stuff like this enabled by default.
And it's one of the only proper GMail notifiers for 64 bit VIsta.
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VitaminCM said 3:55PM on 1-19-2009
This is cool, but I just can't go back from Digsby. It just seems so much more polished and working.
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jojoyohan said 8:24PM on 1-18-2009
Step 7.5 is adding twitter@twitter.com to your buddy list.
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Lee Mathews said 8:25PM on 1-18-2009
Thanks for catching that one....fixed!
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nightmarekirbyX said 3:51AM on 1-19-2009
Or you could use trillian astra like me, beacause it's cool:
http://www.trillian.im/
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blaszta said 4:01AM on 1-19-2009
I use http://ping.fm/ service. One message to ping.fm will update my twitter, facebook status, and so on...
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Joao Almeida said 7:07AM on 1-19-2009
Easier way: join Ping.fm and add Ping.fm's GTalk user to update Facebook, Twitter and all the others
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Julian Bond said 7:39AM on 1-19-2009
And Skype? What of Skype?
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WL said 8:03AM on 1-19-2009
There's also an installer available on the google code website which makes this a little easier. Last time i used digsby they didn't have MySpace IM and there was no plugin to add it which is one reason why I went back to Pidgin
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wireless.nemo said 8:36AM on 1-19-2009
So wait... to use this, I have to show my offline buddies all the time? that's kind of ridiculous.
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Lee Mathews said 8:36AM on 1-19-2009
No, you only need to do it once to see if Twitter shows up. After that, you can turn it off.
wireless.nemo said 8:47AM on 1-19-2009
Then either I am doing something wrong or it isn't working properly, cause I see my updates when I open a conversation with it -- but it doesn't show on my buddy list. For now, I've set my twitter buddy to show as offline though. No biggie, I guess.
Lee Mathews said 8:48AM on 1-19-2009
Twitter will never show online, it just needs to be in the list. That's all. If you're getting updates, you did it right!
codyhatesspam said 5:08PM on 4-02-2009
After clicking show offline buddies in the buddy list, and opening the IM window, simply right click on the Twitter tab in the IM window and click 'show when offline' then you can switch your buddy list back to normal.
tony said 5:11PM on 1-19-2009
The twitter appears to work, but I get a STOP sign and it says Twitter not authorized. but it did show my twitter stream (Did as in the last few times, but I can't see it now).
Did I miss something on either the twitter end or on the pidgin end?
thx for any help.
Tony
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Lee Mathews said 5:16PM on 1-19-2009
Nope, that's how it should look when you're done. Just turn off "offline buddies" and you won't have to look at it any more!
Phaoloo said 10:36PM on 1-19-2009
ping.fm does this task easier.
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