TweetDeck: Enhanced Twitter Tool
The microblogging platform Twitter has continued to grow in popularity, but while users are attracted to Twitter’s simplicity, they can’t help but want a little more. Enter TweetDeck, an application built in Adobe AIR that helps manage the information flow of Twitter.
For Twitter users it’s more useful than it first appears - there are features worked into TweetDeck that are not in the native Twitter. Since experience is the best way to learn about it, let’s fly through it.
Following the quick download and install (you may need to install AIR too), TweetDeck prompts you sign into Twitter. Once you’ve signed in, a window will open showing your Tweets from Twitter. As a default it will open in its wide form, which shows you several empty panels aside your tweets. As you search and group in TweetDeck, these panels will fill with your results. Should you ever want a simple view, there is a button with a “1″ on it that will reduce it to a single panel.
Before moving on, let’s go over some of the tweaks you can make with TweetDeck. We’ve talked about the settings for panel size, but you can also change refresh rates, set API limits so Tweetdeck doesn’t get overloaded, and notifications (tweet alerts and sounds) through the settings tab. A slider bar at the bottom also allows you to select the range of Tweets, from all Tweets in one hour to Tweets from the last 48 hours. One of the more interesting ways to customize Tweetdeck is to form groups from who you are following, letting you see what’s being said in just that group. Since the list of people you are following tends to get long for most users, this is a great way to be selective. We use it to keep the feeds from the applications and the blogs separate, but however you name and select your group, it’s as simple as clicking the Groups tab and selecting the people you would like to be in that group.
Of course a Twitter enhancement would only be as effective as its primary function: communication. Click on “Tweet” and a dialog box opens with a space for you to post, shorten your links (you’ve only got 140 characters), and send pictures with another Twitter enhancement, TwitPic. Any time you like you can reply or give a direct message to other Twitterers, as well as see your replies and direct messages at a glance with the buttons on the top (Replies and Direct).
If that were the end of it, TweetDeck would not be that exciting, but TweetDeck adds enhancements to the basic Twitter functionality. First is the ability to search, either globally or locally (the people you’re following), which is accessible via the search button on top. Next is Twitscoop, which when pressed, brings up a keyword cloud of the biggest searches in Twitter at that moment. It’s another way of seeing what everyone’s talking about, and great for random searches.
TweetDeck has relatively few drawbacks, and some users may not find them a distraction at all. For us, the panels that opened one after another to the right were a bit awkward - the results were fast, yet we found the side scrolling counter-intuitive. The other disadvantage is there is no option for following inside Tweetdeck, users have to sign into Twitter’s page for that.
In the end, TweetDeck is a smooth, visually attractive Twitter enhancer, putting useful Twitter tools in the same window. To find Tweetdeck, and applications like it, there is the Listio search Twitter+desktop.
Previously in this series: Twitterific: Twitter Client For Mac
Next in this series: Twhirl: Twitter Tool All Boxed Up
Application: TweetdeckListio Profile: http://www.listio.com/web20/app/Tweetdeck/
Website: http://www.tweetdeck.com
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Tags: communicate, desktop, microblog, personal, social networking, tools, Twitter
Posted in: Twitter Tools | Respond
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November 19th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
You may have noticed and might want to add an update, but you CAN follow from inside TweetDeck: click on a name that someone you follow has replied or or tweeted about, or that you find in a search; a column will appear on the far right with their profile, stats, recent tweets, and–it has a ‘follow’ button at the bottom. It’s a great tool for meeting more interesting people.