Ever wished you could clean up your Twitter timeline without pruning back on who you follow? Notice too many uninteresting or automated tweets cluttering up your feed?

If you answered ‘yes’ to either of the above questions then it’s time to take control of your account with Proxlet, an extension that puts Twitter on steroids for Google Chrome.

By the time you’re set-up and ready to go, you’ll wonder why Twitter didn’t come up with it themselves.

Twitter Twaddle

With the growing number of Twitter-enabled applications, clients and third-party websites it’s not unsurprising to find a large amount of automated (and quite frankly dull) updates in your feed.

I’m talking about Xbox Live achievements and PSN trophies (who cares?), Foursquare updates from thousands of miles away (can’t do lunch, sorry) ““ that sort of thing. Problem is, I often still want to follow these people, and that’s where Proxlet comes in.

The extension (which currently only works in Chrome) integrates with a select number of clients, and then allows you to set up rules and filters in order to hide Tweets you don’t want to see. You can choose to mute any applications you’ve noticed causing a nuisance of themselves ““ whilst still receiving the user’s other updates.

If you’re not interested in personal updates and simply use Twitter for news then why not set a twitter noise filter to block all Tweets without links? You can even completely mute a user for a pre-determined amount of time, without unfollowing his or her profile.

Proxlet is essentially a Twitter API proxy. It sits between your client and Twitter’s servers, removing the bits that you don’t want to see. Sound good? Let’s have a look.

Installing & Configuring Proxlet

Proxlet works with Twitter’s main website, TweetDeck Desktop, Twitter for iPhone, Seesmic for Android, and Twidroyd. Unfortunately there is no support for the TweetDeck Chrome Web App at the moment, though it’s bound to be on the way.

I’ll be focusing simply on the main Twitter homepage here, as it’s easily accessible and works a treat. Instructions for configuring other clients can be found here.

Visit the Proxlet homepage in Chrome and click on the big Install extension now button in the top right corner of the screen. Your browser will warn you that you’re downloading potentially dangerous files, click Continue and ignore the warning.

Once the application has downloaded, it’ll take mere seconds for you to be redirected to Twitter’s authentication page, where you’ll need to allow Proxlet access to your account.

Once you’ve clicked Allow you’ll be redirected to Twitter.com where a new, small “P” button awaits you near the search box.

Click it and you’ll be presented with a menu, from which you can establish some rules for a tidier Twitter.

There are two main commands for use with Proxlet ““ mute and blockapp. You can actually input any of these commands directly into your Proxlet-enabled client using the “d proxlet” prefix.

So, if you wanted to mute me for a week from a Proxlet-enabled client (or site) you’d type: “d proxlet mute @timbrookes 1 week”. Alternatively you can put “mute @timbrookes 1 week” straight into the Proxlet filter box.

To block TweetDeck (not that you’d want to) the command would be “blockapp TweetDeck”. You’ll then notice a distinct lack of updates sent from TweetDeck (or any application you block).

Also keep your eyes peeled for the “Proxlet” label underneath individual Tweets. Clicking this link will bring up a small window, with different options available depending on the contents of the update.

Proxlet Commands

Visting the Proxlet homepage after installing will list the other commands available to you. At the time of writing, the full list of commands are as follows:

caps – Usage: d proxlet caps

Capitalises the content of all Tweets, exists as a test to see if Proxlet is working. Don’t leave it on too long as it ruins some shortlinks.

block4sq ““ Usage: d proxlet block4sq

Seeks out and removes all automated Foursquare tweets from the timeline. Probably the best Proxlet command yet.

blockscvngr ““ Usage: d proxlet blockscvngr

Removes all automated SCVNGR updates from the timeline.

justlinks ““ Usage: d proxlet justlinks @username

Displays only updates containing links from @username. Updates without links are disregarded.

blockapp ““ Usage d proxlet blockapp appname

As mentioned, this command blocks individual Twitter clients.

rssmode ““ Usage: d proxlet rssmode

Only displays Tweets with links, essentially turning Twitter into an RSS reader.

mute ““ Usage: d proxlet mute @username <time>

Mutes a selected user or hashtag (use: mute #hashtag <time>) for a chosen period of time. Use “forever” to mute for good.

Conclusion

If you’ve been searching for a way to clean up Twitter, something to make your time spent Tweeting a little more pleasant or you’re a power user who demands the ability to tinker, tweak and customize then Proxlet is for you.

Restore some order, sanity and personality to Twitter by installing this right now. Finally a way to block all Foursquare updates! Happy days.

Is your timeline full of automated Twitter noise? Any particular Tweets that annoy you? Have you tried Proxlet? Let us know in the comments!