Make Twitter work for you with TweetDeck

Twitter is becoming a very important and useful tool for journalists. However, through a browser it can be a little confusing and disorganised.

In steps TweetDeck! It's a downloadable application for both Windows and Mac which helps to organise your twitter feeds. Tweetdeck displays tweets in three columns, 'All Friends', '@replies' and 'Direct Messages'. You can see these all at once instead of having to navigate to different pages.

TweetDeck also allows you to make your own groups. So you could split your incoming tweets for example into 'Friends', 'Colleagues' and 'News'. This helps you to quickly find the information you want.

The application runs in the background and automatically updates every minute (although you can change this). When tweets are received, a box appears in the top right corner of your screen to notify you. It also tells you which categories the tweet(s) are listed under. This is very helpful as it keeps you connected to events without disrupting what you're doing.

TweetDeck also makes it easy to post messages. Just type in a box at the bottom of the screen and hit return. There are also simple buttons allowing you to @reply, retweet, Direct Message, send pictures and shorten URL's. There's also the ability to search tweets (either friends or worldwide) for any term you wish. This could be invaluable when chasing facts on a story.

There are some drawbacks. It's more difficult to find and follow people through TweetDeck than using the online interface. Also, the information delivered through the app is only as good as your contacts!

TweetDeck is a huge leap forward for Twitter. It's wonderfully customisable and a great asset for any journalist.

FACTFILE

Is it free? Yes
Where do I get it? Download for Mac and PC from www.tweetdeck.com
Easy to use? 5/5
Useful to Journalists? 4/5

by Chris Heath