If you’re new to Twitter, or even if you’re a long time user, you may be wondering what the fuss is about over TweetDeck. After all, why use another software program when the Twitter webpage works just fine? While TweetDeck is yet another software program that you must download and install, it makes using Twitter easier than ever.
Yes, the Twitter website is easy to use. Simply enter your tweet and it is added to the stream. Simply scroll through the stream to view the tweets of the people you are following or click on the sidebar to view direct messages and favorites. What’s easier than that?
TweetDeck has several advantages over the standard Twitter web interface including the ability to group the people you are following, automatically shorten URLs, conduct detailed searches, view hot trends with TwitScoop, post short videos from your webcam, view stock picks, and integrate with Facebook.
TweetDeck’s Grouping Feature
The grouping feature is fabulous! If you follow a lot of people, you’ll find that it’s hard to keep up with your favorites as the stream of tweets can become quite large. Instead, create a group of those people whose tweets you value the most. Likewise, you might create a separate group for family members and close friends so that their tweets don’t get lost in the celebrity gossip and sports tweets.
Short URLs with TweetDeck
Anyone who has used Twitter for any length of time will soon realize the value of URL shortening services. Thanks to the 140 character tweet limit, posting links takes up valuable tweet real estate space. When using the standard Twitter.com page to tweet, in order to create a short URL, you must navigate to a separate Web site and then perform several cut and paste steps. With TweetDeck, URL shortening is built right in! Simply insert the URL and click the Shorten button.
TweetDeck’s Search Twitter Feature
Yes, Twitter has a search feature too, so why bother with TweetDeck for this? With TweetDeck, you can enter your search criteria and dedicate a column of the interface where a stream of related tweets will appear – and be constantly updated with the latest relevant search results. This is an excellent way to get the latest information on the topics that you care about.
Using TwitScoop with TweetDeck
TwitScoop reports the latest trending topics using both a tag cloud as well as a list of the top ten trending topics. View the TwitScoop trends directly from TweetDeck and see what the rest of the world is twittering about.
Using 12Seconds with TweetDeck
Another service that integrates with TweetDeck is 12Seconds. Use your webcam to create 12 second video clips and tweet them to your followers. Simply click the Record button on the 12Second column and begin your performance.
Using StockTwits with TweetDeck
Want to track how your portfolio is doing? Click the StockTwits icon and create a TweetDeck column dedicated to several different categories of stock-related tweets including portfolio and commentaries.
Integrate TweetDeck with FaceBook
If you also have a FaceBook account, use TweetDeck to send status updates to your FaceBook page. Rather than managing two social networks individually, TweetDeck gives you a single interface for keeping everyone posted about your latest adventures.
The basic Twitter webpage works well and is easy. However, TweetDeck sweetens the experience offering several features that you may not be able to live without once you try them.