How and why I use Tweetdeck
This is another lesson in my TECH category that I think might be helpful to some of you. As you all may or may not know, I use Tweetdeck for all my Twitter needs. There are very specific reasons why I use Tweetdeck and I will spell them out for you here:
- Tweetdeck gives me a view of what is going on on Twitter AT A GLANCE. As you can see in the pic above, I can see what the people I follow are up to, I can see whenever “hotforwords” is mentioned (more on that below), I can see my direct messages, and more importantly, I can see what conversations are hot right now and what is trending. All of this is available at a glance. The what’s hot/trending allows me to get news faster than when it appears on the various news outlets.
- I am able to follow whenever my name is mentioned, not just replies to me. That is important as it gives me the ability to see conversations about me and help out.. for example someone might say “We should ask hotforwords about that word”, I can then chime in with the origin for them!
- I can run Tweetdeck on my iPhone with the same columns (except for the TweetScoop and trending stuff, but I’m sure there is a way to add them. I will let you know as soon as I find out.)
I use Tweetdeck pretty close to how it comes out of the box except for two or three minor changes, which I list below:
Tweetdeck allows you to rearrange columns and add or kill them. I kill the second column, the @mentions column (click the x in the upper right of the column) and replace it with a Search “hotforwords” column (click the magnifying icon on the top row of buttons to create the search). I then move the search column to the second spot with the arrow at the bottom. I think doing this cuts down on your API calls which helps. Twitter limits the accessing of your Twitter account through another application to 150 reloads per hour. I *think* making the second column a search column eliminates API calls for that column.- I turn on the TweetScoop column by clicking the Owl button along the top row.
- I turn off sound notifications. Click the Wrench icon in the upper right to access the preferences.
Anyway, that’s how I use Tweetdeck. If you use Tweetdeck or any other app in a unique way, let me know in the comments blow.
If you want to give Tweetdeck a spin, click this image: 
Byte
I tried tweet-deck. It’s way too complicated for me, too many buttons, to easy to get lost. I am not the smartest person on the block, but I do like a clean, straight forward user interface. This certainly isn’t one of them. It also is a little buggy in my opinion, not doing things I want it to do, difficult to navigate and update information (mostly due to my own incompetence probably). Perhaps down the road they will clean it up a little bit and make it more user friendly.
I love having all the columns available at a glance, but I guess that presents clutter for those that don’t want it all! People seem to like Tweetie as well I think for the Mac.
Captain Jack says:” I’ve even saved a person from committing suicide while chatting on twitter.”
All we’re doing is protecting people from posts that no one wants to read
I better break down & try tweetdeck or something. I’m too set in my ways, but getting exhausted trying to keep up with everyone I want to. What’s the expresion for twi-overload?
avatar test
Huh?
I don’t use tweetdeck. Adobe Air apps are not compatible on my system. I also have heard reports that favorites button doesn’t work properly. Secondly people have mention that my tweets are not showing up on tweetdeck but view just fine on Seesmic Desktop and the default twitter app. I don’t know why this is for both applications access the same API. Also on some computers like Library systems, hotel computers, your non twittering friends computer, etc, that do not allow you do download apps. So if you use other computer systems you might want to keep a note of other web-based apps that don’t require a download.
I use web-based apps like iTweet.net. Colby Palmer is a really great guy and personally responds to problems and listed to ideas when he has the time. He also has come out with an iPhone app that works similarly.
I also use tweetgrid.com which does a great job of managing tweets. I use the 1X10 cell grid which works best for me. There are 3 other web-based apps I’m experimenting with to see if they preform better than tweetgrid.
For many of us that do not have an iPhone for still stuck in contract with competing company or just don’t care for the iPhone, etc. Twitter can be a pain in the arse to use. I don’t even twitter on my phone anymore. I just text my close friends like normal. Anyone here use a smart phone on twitter? What apps do you use?
My twitter tip: I’m a big user of the ‘Favorites’ button. I don’t use it for favorite tweets. I think a better use of it is to use it as an address book. If you look at my twitter account http://twitter.com/captainjack63 you will see I follow everyone back. That makes it very hard to find your closer friends. So what I do is I favor the people I want to watch. If I want to see their tweets all I do is go to my favorites tab and scroll down to find the friend I want to see. I just click on their name and I see all there tweets. What’s really cool about this technique is that it works on just about any twitter app (I heard it doesn’t work on tweetdeck)
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O’ good, good! And how’s the work on the magazine cover progressing?
What the heck are you talking about?
Click on screen shot above, then look down the 3rd column.
Oh My God.
I wanted to keep that low down until it was completed. That’s if M wanted to do it. She didn’t show any interest to the idea last year when I proposed it to her.
Btw, my little twitter/hfw trick on how to talk about M behind her back in public view without her knowing works rather well.
In the words of Robin Williams said, ” Just turn sideways and it over runs their vision and they can’t see you… ” Something like that I guess what he said in one of his stand up comedy routines.
good work
I like the filter function which enables me to assign excessive tweeters to a group and give them a column of their own, so I can see what less noisy folk have to say.
As Marina said, “The less you say, the more you are listened to.”
I didn’t know about that, I need to use my Tweetdeck more often.
Man I’m slow: What magazine cover?
Nice article, Marina. I started using Tweetdeck the last time you referenced it (maybe a year ago?). I’m hooked. I like the fact that when I HIDE (Command-H) Tweetdeck, it pops in when I have a new Tweet. Sometimes a pain, but breaks up monotony. Thanks for your suggestions!
“I think doing this cuts down on your API calls which helps”
Program optimization… wow Marina, that’s hot!
After two months I just now realized there are six columns on tweetdeck. Now I know were those damn search results went!!!
…What a dope I am. 
Here I thought a search only produced a little pop-up widow that said, “Yeah, we found something, heres how many…now go to hell!” Little did I know the results were all lined up in a nice neat row just to the right of the viewable screen.
I guess that nifty little roller ball on my apple mouse goes left and right as well.
Hehe, a program that would tell you to go to hell, would totally rock!
Try tweetgrid. I use 10 columns spread or sometime 1X13 spread. You can even do more if you have a large screen. It now has a few features found on the big adobe air apps. Even including showing photos and use of a url shortener. I like the built in twitter tag window. i.e. ‘#iphone, #followfriday, #hotforwords’
Additional features:
1) Possible to create groups. For example, one group of real people one follows, and another group of bots (such as @CAQuake) that one follows.
2) Can adjust columns to be wide or narrow.
3) “Show preview information for short URL” — can actually see tweetpic without leaving tweetdeck. Off by default.
4) “Use autocomplete for usernames” that I have not yet tried. Off by default.
5) Can specify bit.ly or some other service to shorten url.
6) Support for multiple twitter accounts.
7) Can set up account at tweetdeck to help synchronize tweetdeck running on different machines (laptop, workstation, iPhone etc.)
-8) It is not possible to specify which browser to open links with — the system’s default browser is used.
-9) If it is possible to use your account with the URL shortening service, I do not know how.
-10) Just investigated this: TweetDeck’s integration with TwitPic only makes it easy to upload a picture; it lacks the ability to add a title to the TwitPic (ideally, the title would be the message with which one would tweet the link to the uploaded picture).
11) A search column can contain logical combiners (e.g., OR, AND).
+-12) Only initial portion of the search string shows up in the column’s title. To see the whole string, hit the [X] button to kill the column — a message will pop-up asking if you really want to kill the column; this message will have the full (or at least a longer) version of the search string. Once you have read the string, you can cancel the killing of the column.
13) Via a clickable icon at the bottom of each column, the tweets in a column can be filtered.
linky
Very enlightening, Dear Teach. Appreciate it.
[ambulance] or amped up knives
Thanks for the lesson.
Hi Marina!
I love TweetDeck! I set up a new column that I call “top” and when someone I am following is consistently interesting or provides lots of great information or links, I add them to my “top” group.
This helps me a lot because it’s hard following what everyone is saying all the time in one column. I’ve already got more than 50 people in that group now.
And of course, @hotforwords is in that group
what magazine cover?
My sentiments precisely.
Dinner
Fools of fooled….fowl of tweeter [SLOP]
First – happened to see this post just after I submitted a comment!