Awesome Social Apps in 2014

Tweetbot 3

The recently updated Tweetbot is still the best Twitter client we've come across, although its developers have started to cash in on that status. The recent version 3 update was little m.ore than an PDS 7 rest in, and even removes a couple of handy features - such as triple-tapping on tweets to reply - yet they cheekily decided to charge afresh.

That said, it's still smartly presented and feature-laden, with options to mute users for a particular period of time, a wysiwyg-style tweet composer, and a hugely useful auto-suggest for sending messages to the people you follow. Better still, tweet timelines are synchronised, so you can pick up where you left off when switching from iPhone to iPad - although, again, you have to pay for both. It's a must-have, but there's nothing to convince us to upgrade from the old version.

There are separate versions for the iPhone and iPad, plus a dedicated Mac edition, so you can use it across your Apple devices.

Redditting

Navigating the morass of news, memes and endless discussion threads that comprise Reddit is no mean feat, but Redditting does a brilliant job of boiling it down. It effectively turns Reddit into an FOSS reader, allowing you to browse your favourite subreddits, filter out sources or contributors, and read the source article beside the comments in spilt-screen. The setting that allows you to filter adult content could make Redd it palatable at your place of work.

Flipboard

Flipboard received a significant makeover last year, allowing anyone to become their own "magazine editor", curating content from websites and other social networks and sharing it with the public at large in a smartly presented, flickable virtual ma.gazine. It remains one of the few apps to neatly collate posts from different social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, providing a one-stop shop for those looking to catch up on their friends' activity, be it posts to news articles, status updates or recent photos_ Unlike many rival apps, it also now supports tablets and laptops running Windows 8.1.