Twitter User? Use Tweetdeck or Else

December 24, 2008 · Comments

tweetdeckI’ve already written about Tweetdeck before in my post about using Twitter at volume. And to be honest, you should just skip my post and go read Louis Gray’s piece. Just stop reading this.

Still with me?

TweetDeck

Tweetdeck is a desktop Twitter application. It requires Adobe Air installed on your desktop to run. The cool thing is that you can run the same applications in Windows, Mac, and most times, Linux. I’m a fan of Air as a platform in and of itself, but let’s not talk about that right now.

What’s great about Tweetdeck is the multi-pane view. If you notice in the picture above, I have four columns. One is for general tweets. Another is for replies to me. A third is for searches on the word “Brogan” because sometimes people don’t form a proper/clean @chrisbrogan reply to me. The fourth allows me to see direct messages.

That’s all in one view, and it updates frequently, meaning that I have the perfect dashboard for working Twitter.

Another decent Air client is Twhirl, owned now by Loic Lemeur’s Seesmic. I like that one, too, but I’m using Tweetdeck.

Why? Because Tweetdeck gives me a huge dashboard view of Twitter, and I can configure it to do many things, including search for topics of interest, group users into bunches, and more.

If you’re looking for a powerful communications dashboard, my vote’s with Tweetdeck. Since these upgrades, it’s better than ever.

How are you using Twitter?

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  • TweetDeck is great. Used it a few days last week on my office PC. Although, it doesn't win-out on the Mac for me just yet b/c it's not using Growl. Not 100% sure if Growl functionality is something that AIR can even support but feeling the need to click on every single batch of notifications, switching to TweetDeck, etc. doesn't work very well for me yet.
  • Jane Quigley
    Tweetdeck is my Twitter tool of choice. The "groups" function is the one that makes this my must-use. It flows into my day - allowing me to work without distraction and then catch up on what conversations I want to and people I check in with daily.

    What a great Holiday gift to get this upgraded version - the new features are great. but I'm already seeing a reduction in CPU usage, which was my one issue before.

    Happy Holidays!
  • I've always thought Tweetdeck was really good, but took off for Twhirl due to speed issues. I've just recently returned to Tweetdeck because they've made a lot of improvements on that front.

    Those guys and girls are working hard even on Christmas Eve. Thanks Tweetdeck!
  • Thanks! I've been needing to get away from the simple web browser version of twitter and needed a little direction! Will definately give tweetdeck a shot!
  • Courtney
    Installed Tweetdeck on my PC at work (shh, don't tell the IT dept.) and I love it! I'll have to check out the latest upgrades. I also use Twitterberry on my blackberry.
  • Chris,
    I agree with your thoughts on Tweetdeck. I discovered it a few weeks ago and already is has greatly improved my Twitter use.
  • The only two things missing from Tweetdeck that would make it perfect:

    1) The ability to jump to the first unread tweet. (Granted, you can click on "clear seen tweets" and scroll to the bottom on any given column, but a one-click solution would be nice.)

    2) The ability to adjust how many tweets are scrolled through when you use the mouse wheel. By default, at least on my system, it's three tweets per scroll, which makes it tricky to browse. I'd like to set it to one tweet per scroll and I'm sure other people have their own preference.

    Otherwise, it's a great little app!
  • Tweetdeck is the best tool to use by far. I am liking the new version they have just released, they have help improve many areas that needed to be improved. I'm sure the next release will be even better. Why doesn't Twitter just buy them out already.
  • This is by far one of the best tools I have seen for twitter. There are a lot of things you can do with this that you cannot do with other tools. This is definitely a must have. Unless you want to not get the most out of twitter.
  • TweetDeck rocks... the new 'narrow' column is a good improvement... although adjustable font sizes would be very helpful too..

    How my Tweeting changed: http://www.aadjemonkeyrock.com/2008/12/evolutio...
  • I love tweetdeck but it has ruined my life. It's true. It's also very sad. It's Christmas eve and I can't break away from it. Is there a Tweetdeck help or support group that I may be able to join.

    Thanks but no thanks @tweetdeck.
  • I used Twhirl before I tried TweetDeck. Once you switch, there is no way back. The dashboard view is just phenomenal.
  • I love Tweetdeck, and have used it at conferences when I am focusing on Twitter. But I don;t use it at other times.

    Why?

    Te big reason is it uses up so much damn real estate. I have lots of other things to do that don;t involve Twitter (believe it or not), and I would like to have Twitter rolling visibly while doing these other things. If I could "chickletize" the different Tweetdeck columns, I would consider using it every day.

    The other thing? I like to monitor Friendfeed as well-- I don't see support for that on Tweetdeck, unless I am mistaken.

    Until I can do those, I am sticking with Twhirl for daily use, and switching to Tweetdeck only when concentrating on Twitter.
  • I'm all over the place when it comes to twitter. My laptop is primarily twhirl, but I will experiment with alert thingy, peoplebrowsr, and digsby. My desktop is tweetdeck, since the screen is bigger. I really like tweetdeck, especially with the trending topics feature, but I can't commit to it on all my machines. I have some weird loyalty thing with twhirl.
  • Mark Cahill
    I love Tweetdeck, but I do find that when I get a lot of searches going, it uses up my tweet allotment and I'm generally off the air for 10-15 minutes an hour. Two bad Twitter couldn't offer a premium upgrade that would allow us to increase the usage.

    Wow, a possible profit model!

    Have a great holiday Chris, and best wishes for the coming year!
  • Can you be on more than one twitter account at once?
  • DaveMurr
    Thank you Chris and everyone for your reviews on Tweetdeck - I tried it out half a yea ago and didn't like it. I agree it takes up a lot of real estate. However, after hearing about the upgrades - I'm thinking about giving it another shot!

    Right now I primarily use Twhirl and Rss feeds.
  • Gee
    I am a twitter apps hoarder. I have Toro, Twhirl and Tweetdeck. I like Thwirl because I can check multiple accounts for recent tweets. But I don't know why I can only get limited tweets. My preference is using it on the web; that way I can browse all tweets within the day since I am not on twitter all day.
    Also, I love Twittelator iPhone app. I actually check my tweets via iPhone more often than via desktop or web.
  • Not very useful to me if I can't use multiple accounts with it. I just installed it on Linux and it appears to work fine. But I will put it on the back burner until multiple accounts functionality is added.
  • I used twitter.com (and sms from my mobile) for a long time. When they added search.twitter it just locked me in more. I tried Twhirl, but found the updates to0 distracting. I agree with Doug that Tweetdeck is an absolute must when you really want to follow Twitter (like at an event). Unlike Doug, I run Tweetdeck as my main Twitter app and just keep it minimized most of the time, checking in and out as my time allows.

    One nit/challenge I have with Tweetdeck. I have not yet been able to "re-train" my eyes to scan the down to the bottom to see who is tweeting (I grew up with the left-to-right orientation of twitter.com). I find this has impacted how often I jump into conversations (less often than before). But that's an old dog/new tricks issue I just probably need to deal with on my own.

    Jim | @jstorerj
  • I actually don't use Tweetdeck. Don't hate me! It's because on a mac I can't tab through the options to do different stuff, maybe because it's an Adobe Air app. Or am I wrong on that?
  • I would love to try TD problem with all of these services sans Twhirl is the (glaring omission imho) lack of multi account support which is a must for me, until then I'll have to pass.
  • aartha
    nice post and a new application of twitter where we can tag our friends,rate our friends and create groups to our friends.

    regards
    aarthabenn
    "TRUEHOTDEALS.COM"
    DEALS YOU CANT RESIST
  • Thanks, Chris. I just upgraded this morning and I love the new DM feature. Haven't tried the narrow columns yet. Thanks for the link to Louis' post. Very helpful.
  • Thank you for all you do to help others out! Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
  • Rob
    I used the Twitter Toolbar for Firefox, http://www.bestwebimage.com/?page_id=1112 but I guess that is expected since I made it.
  • I love TweetDeck too. Liked it when it first came out but still preferred Twhirl (simple interface & different cowbell for tweets/replies/directs).

    The November update brought enough features (like sound notification) to make it my primary crack pipe.

    Today's release sweetens the deal even more.

    One Twitter interface to keep an eye, though, is . It's alpha and only web-based but it's worth a test-drive. It may be overwhelming (and seizure-inducing). Remains to be seen where it goes. TweetDeck still has it beat as far as usability.

    TweetDeck seems to be the standard to beat for us TwitterCrackheads (although Twhirl was my first girl, so there's still some love left over there).
  • On my Mac I use Twitterrific, and on the PC at work I use Twhirl, though I'll occasionally fire up TweetDeck on both to see if I missed any replies or DMs.

    For me, I love TweetDeck, but it just takes up too much space to have it popping up all the time on the PC, and I don't like that I can't minimize it to the menu bar like I can with Twitterrific. (Small reason, I know, but still something that just irks the perfectionist part of me.)

    @CoryOBrien
  • Tweetdeck is definitely the best Twitter client I used 'til now, The best feature it has is that you can create groups, for example "designers", "local tweets", etc.
    I found that using Tweetdeck on two monitors is really cool 'cause you don't have to alt+Tab all the time :)
    @renesilva
  • TweetDeck is totally awesome, especially now that they released some pretty nifty upgrades just yesterday or today. Now it's checking spelling and adding people to groups is much easier.

    They've got some great things in store over there and I'm excited to see what's coming down the pipeline.
  • just try tweetdeck yesterday and tweet about it here: http://twitter.com/fullfilth/statuses/1076108157. i'm bact to use twhirl because:

    -tweetdeck use my screen a lot even if using only 1 main panel.
    -too many unused space in their application.
    -no multi account support.
    -no theme. (not really important)

    what i like about tweetdeck is they can show lots of activity when open it. not like twhirl (only 20). not sure if can customize this. if can please tell me!

    p/s: i wish i can login using facebook connect to comment and pull this activity to facebook :-)
  • I'm using Twhirl simply because I don't have that many twitter contacts - its easy enough to manage the dozen or so with a single pane. Tweetdeck looks pretty slick though!
  • I like Tweetdeck, but I prefer Peoplebrowsr as I can use it from anywhere.
  • I like Tweetdeck but agree about the realestate it takes up. It's great on a second monitor. Since I'm not always on 2 monitors, I run Twhirl on the far left and keep my browser sized so I see the icons and usernames on Twhirl. then I know if I should click over or not.

    What I've been experimenting with that is working fairly decently is to create a favorites group in FriendFeed then subscribe to that group's RSS. Now I'm getting my favorite peoples all stuff in RSS, yet watching the river of twitter in real time. If I miss something, RSS searches and FF pretty much take care of it.
  • May I offer a suggestion to clear up your real estate?

    Instead of running both the Replies column and a Global Search column for "Brogan," delete them.

    Then, create a custom search column for [@chrisbrogan OR brogan] which ought to solve both columns in one.
  • Yay tweetdeck. One thing I love is being able to filter a column (at the bottom of each column). I exclude all tweets with 'train'--I'm just not so interested in the public transport delay updates. :-)
  • Am I the only one who doesn't like TweetDeck? It's clunky and ugly and doesn't function properly. I DESPERATELY want an app that will allow me to easily group my contacts and scroll through their updates. TweetDeck supposedly gives you that functionality, but doesn't bother giving me my full list of people I follow so I can actually group them. Just waiting around for them to tweet is asinine. If I'm making a group, I want it to be complete when I create it.

    I tried TweetDeck when it first came out. I tried it a couple months later. I tried it a few days ago. Every time it's had very very minor improvements but is still just not a functioning app to me. I already deal with twitter being on the fritz with its functionality, why would I want to deal with that in the app I'm using to extend Twitter functionality?

    I just use Twhirl, but mostly I use iTweet. Hopefully iTweet will give me multiple accounts and maybe even contact grouping at some point. I'll be a real happy camper then. iTweet looks nice, has fixed any functionality issues VERY quickly and has added tons of functionality to Twitter. I love it. To the guy who thought Twhirl's updates were too intrusive: turn the sounds and the pop ups off then. That's completely in your control.
  • Drew
    I haven't found a client that will manage two (or more) Twitter accounts, but one website that will do it is Splitweet.com Pretty cool service.
  • Drew - You must not have been looking very hard. Twhirl lets you manage multiple accounts as well as Friendfeed.
  • Drew
    Maybe I'm hung over from too much figgy pudding... but I didn't think either of those clients gave you simultaneous feeds on multiple accounts... my bad.
  • Wilford
    Twhirl I can see multiple accounts at once, but I have no clue how to set up TweetDeck to do that. Please explain.
  • Tweetdeck doesn't have that functionality.
  • Wilford
    That's what's keeping me from using TweetDeck. Would be nice to turn one or more of those columns into feeds from multiple accounts.
  • I love Tweetdeck too and I'm running it on Linux. That last update wasn't so smooth for me though but after I got it working I love the improvements - especially narrow columns and spell check.
  • jangeronimo
    I love TweetDeck because I don't have to open another browser tab to shorten the url of anything I'm twitting about, the multi-column interface is lovely, and if I am in a twitter rut I sure can retwit any of worthwhile post of my friends.
  • I'm pretty new to Twitter and I find that TweetDeck helps just with organizing things. I'll have to try other stuff at some point but at least this is better than just going to the site itself where everything is jumbled together.

    @Mark Stevens I believe the 3 scrolls per mouse wheel click is a function of the mouse software. It just sends 3 scroll messages to the software. You can change the mouse setting but that will affect all applications.
  • Hi Chris,

    Thanks for the wonderful blogpost. I use TweetDeck on my Laptop and Twhirl on my Desktop and I like both of them. But yes, TweetDeck does have an edge over Twhirl.

    Wishing everybody a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. :-)

    Best Wishes,

    Shinil.
    @shinils on Twitter - http://twitter.com/shinils
  • TweetDeck was pretty nice, but I compared it's footprint to twhirl and Twitterific and it was by far the most resource intensive. All Adobe Air apps were pretty high on memory usage, but TweetDeck was using 170 MB of RAM! That may not sound like a lot when you've got 2 or 4 GB but compared to a native application like Twitterific that uses 25-85 MB, it's a significant difference.

    I'd also get random crashes or problems... not sure if it was an Adobe Air platform issue or something specific with TweetDeck.

    I wish TweetDeck would take the application one step further and make a native OSX app.
  • I use my Web browser first for Twitter. I just like the way it looks and feels and have a rhythm to how I click Replies or DMs or back Home.

    But when I want to tweet on one of my other 6 Twitter accounts, I open Twhirl so I can be access all of my accounts at once.

    I didn't like Tweetdeck because I couldn't figure out how to add multiple accounts. The convenience to me isn't access to all the parts of Twitter but the access to the various accounts I set up to serve distinct purposes.

    When Twhirl is not open, I am woefully neglectful of those other accounts. When it is, I'm like a Twittermaniac with multiple personalities.
  • I just joined twitter, but I've been hesitant about following too many people because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up with them all. On top of that, I have several clients with different interests than mine, and want to be able to follow people in their niche. That's my verbose way of saying, tweetdeck sounds like a pretty good tool for me. Thanks for the info.
  • I would not say that one is necessarily "better" than the other. I think you'll pick one or the other depending on what you need.

    Even though I like Tweedeck and usually have it up & running for keyword searches, I **need** a Twitter app which can handle multiple Twitter accounts and multiple accounts for other social networks like Friend Feed, Seesmic, identi.ca, laconi.ca and Facebook.

    Tweetdeck can only handle one Twitter account.

    Twhirl can handle multiple social network accounts. So as you can see, I **must** go with Twhirl.
  • Just saw this post today. Last week I wondered which I should use --Tweedeck, Twhirl or Twitteriffic--after reading of “10 Tips on being a good Twitterer” from CNN.com. So, I asked via Twitter. No response. Then I went to LinkedIn Twitter group and heard back from 41 people around the globe. Fun experience. And the winner was Tweetdeck. http://pathwaypr.com/?p=162#comments Have you heard of CoTweet? That one sounds interesting.
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