TweetDeck (Tweet Deck) Review
I had been hearing some great things abut of TweetDeck but I hadn’t tried it yet. So I asked my friend Teresa Hall @TeresaWrites4U for help and before I could blink my eyes she had written up a great review!
I encourage you to Follow Teresa and inquire about her writing services
Have You Checked out TweetDeck Yet? Here’s Why You Should!
By Teresa Hall
Hey Twitter Fans- Have you jumped on TweetDeck yet? This sweet Twitter client makes tweeting with your friends and fans a whole new ball game!
Here’s a quick rundown of some of the great features of TweetDeck to help you decide if you should give this desktop Twitter client a whirl.
- TweetDeck, which is supported by Adobe Air, is a great way to break down your Twits Tweets and Twonversations down into manageable bites that you can keep on eye on. You can split your TweetDeck screen into several different columns to separate your Tweets into categories.
- Your categories will separate your regular Tweetline- with all of your followers, @replies you have received, your DM’s-both sent and received, and your groups- if you want to create them. You can also have a column that covers the current Twitter buzz in a word cloud and you can add search columns.
- The beauty of the columns is you never miss @replies and you can keep a better handle on the conversations you follow the closest, while still searching for keyword phrases, topics of interest or any other specific thing you want to keep updated on.
- You can keep TweetDeck minimized in your taskbar and a little window will pop up and notify you if you’ve received tweets. Oh- and it chirps by default. (I must say, I was one happy Twit when I found that little button in the settings!)
- You can’t beat TweetDeck for searching Twitter. You can set up a column to search any keywords or topics you like and TweetDeck keeps a running global search, powered my Summize, of your search terms. This is a must-have way to maximize the information and networking potential of Twitter.
- TweetDeck provides a column for your Direct Messages and the newest upgrade keeps track of both the DMs you send and the DMs you receive. This little feature is perfect for staying on track in an ongoing private conversation you’re having with an individual Twit, uh, follower. This feature alone makes TweetDeck a handy way to Twitter. I don’t know about you, but I get tired of switching back and forth between my Home and my DM pages on Twitter. TweetDeck lets me follow both without waiting on load time. You can also DM another Twit with the click of your mouse when you hover over their picture.
- Another cool feature allows you to hover over the avatar of any tweet and reply, mark it as a favorite, DM or Retweet with the click of a button. When I’m on Twitter on the web and start seeing @replies that I would like to Retweet, I’ll open TweetDeck in a heartbeat to save the hassle of cutting and pasting and shortening a message.
- TweetDeck just put out its latest upgrade- and it’s definitely headed in the right direction. One of the best new features is you can now shorten your Tweets if you run over 140 characters, right from the TweetDeck tweet panel. They’ve also added a spellchecker and you can now have narrower columns.
There is really only one feature about TweetDeck that I can live without, however. It’s really big. It makes sense, because it can handle a massive amount of information in a very user-friendly manner, but it will take a chunk out of your screen space. You can take TweetDeck down to a single column if you like and you can also grab the corner of the window and resize the entire application. It would be great if you could resize the individual columns easily, though, so when you resize you can still see each column. From what I see on the comments blog for TweetDeck, that feature will likely be coming soon.
Another feature that a lot of TweetDeck users are asking for is a better interface with some other social media programs like Growl, FriendFeed, Ping.fm and the like. Hang tight, though. You can already access 12seconds.tv and TwitScoop through direct buttons on the top of your TweetDeck and more are sure to follow.
TweetDeck is fascinating. It really is one of the best desktop clients you can use to narrow your Twitterverse- and focus in on the things you want the most from Twitter.
Here’s the URL: http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/ Give TweetDeck a try- you’re going to love it!
Teresa Hall (@TeresaWrites4U) is a freelance writer who works from home in Minnesota and loves every minute of it. You can find her at www.TeresaWrites4U.com and www.72HourBrainstorm.com/ if you’re in the market for a writer or on her blog at www.forwriteabouteverything.com if you are a freelance writer.
Love Tweet Deck or Hate it? Please leave a Comment!
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Comments
I haven’t found a better way to Twitter than TweetDeck. Much better than the other tools I have used. Twitter just wouldn’t be the same without it.
I use it exclusively and love it. I tried the other tools and they just didn’t compare.
I also add another window to see what TwitScoop is tracking as the hot conversations. Nice feature!
Jack,
Glad to see you like TweetDeck too. I love it, as it really comes in handy trying to stay organized with Twitter and not miss anything important.
@JohnHaydon did a great tutorial on TweetDeck here: http://www.corporatedollar.org/2008/12/tutorial-latest-version-tweetdeck-twitter/
This is a video tutorial on version 0.21b (the latest) with a link to his origninal tutorial as well. Great stuff. Hope this helps you and your readers.
Thanks Teresa for the great review!
Bradley – @OutsideMyBrain
I tried it, didn’t like the white type on black, any graphic designer will tell you – it is too hard to read, very tiring.
What I want to know? Is there any way to change the color settings so that it’s not white text on black?
@Chris, you can change the type color and background colors to your preferences under settings in the upper right corner. Looks like a wrench! Hope it work out for you.
Bradley – @OutsideMyBrain
Thanks for the review of Tweetdeck. I am newish to Twitter so haven’t experimented with many of the apps. This sounds like it could really help organize and keep track of conversations. On my way to download..
Tweetdeck really is the most usable desktop Twitter client I’ve seen. It’s what I like to use when I’m not tweeting from the iPhone. Goes great with my Black GelX WinXP theme.
What a great, thorough writeup! You made me want to download it all over again! 
Here’s a tip for people with multiple Twitter accounts: get Twhirl, too! Since it also runs on Adobe Air, the overhead is only about 1MB in disk space.
With Twhirl, you can open multiple instances, logging in to each of your auxiliary accounts. Use TweetDeck for your main Twitter account.
Cheers,
Mitch
Tweetdeck has been fabulous for me. I do wish there was a web platform for it so that it could be accessed from multiple computers/locations. Maybe one day!
Teresa,
Great write-up on TweetDeck. It is the only application I use for Twitter when I am at home. It looks good and doesn’t distract or flash when it is minimized so I actually get some work done. My favorite feature is the auto-refresh, it is so nice not to have to press F5 or click home each time you need to update. Good Job!
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Excellent coverage of the features of Tweetdeck-you covered all the bases. Tweetdeck is my favorite Twitter app-I especially love how you can divide those you follow into groups, and it gives you freedom to actually manage your tweets.