Is your Twitter Stream out of control?
Is your Twitter Stream starting to get too crowded? Do you have 15 – 20 columns on your Twitter client to keep track of all your info?
Twitter provide an abundance of quality information. You just have to start use your Twitter clients more efficient to take advantage of this great tool.
In my efforts to create Social Media Experience I developed various “toolboxes” for my Social Networks. One toolbox is my Tweet Client Toolbox.
Here are the principles behind the Tweet Client toolbox:
Take back control of your Tweets
There is no reason to lose control of your Twitter stream, even if you start to get a fair amount of followers. Start from the beginning to develop good habits that will allow you to stay on top of the great information that’s out there.
With so many great Twitter clients that you can use either on your desktop, online or your phone, why limit yourself to using just one of them?
You might have a favorite client that you prefer to use, I know I do. But several clients have multiple functions that you can take advantage of.
Here are examples of some tools that will help you take back control of your tweets:
Desktop
TweetDeck allows you to;
- add and manage several Twitter accounts
- update your Twitter stream
- update LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace
- edit Retweet
- preview short url
- see local trends with TwitScoop
- filter columns
- TweetDecks iPhone app utilize add columns/several Twitter accounts
- Access to TweetDecks List Directory
HootSuite allows you to;
- add and manage several Twitter accounts
- manage multiple Social Networks; Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ping.fm, Wordpress(Beta), MySpace(Beta), Foursquare(Beta)
- manage followers
- customize urls for link tracking
- schedule tweets
iPhone
Most of the iPhone application has a lot of the same functionality as the desktop and online applications, but there are some limitations.
TweetDeck
Echofon
Twitterrific
Most of the tools I have listed here provide traditional Twitter functionality.
How to manage your Tweets
I now have started to use two Twitter accounts. My main account (@TwtrCoach) – I use to assist all my friends and followers with creating a Social Media experience. My new account that I established (@AreMorch), is what I use for business relationships.
I use TweetDeck to manage tweets from Social Media experts. Here I have created search columns where I primarily use from:username => like from:problogger etc. I also access all my Tweets that I have marked as favorite from here.
Very often when I am out traveling and see a Tweet I want to do some more follow up on I favorite this Tweet.
I use Seesmic to keep track of all my niche searches. Here I create search columns like “new to twitter” or “Social Media”.
I use HootSuite to keep track of my Twitter Lists.
On my iPhone I prefer to use TweetDeck – and here I have divided all my columns into Lists. I use Authority List – Niche List – Business List. And I favorite Tweets that I want to follow up on. The great thing with TweetDeck is that I can view current trends, and then add specific columns related to the trends.
On all Twitter clients I have my all friends and mentions columns set up. This way I can respond quickly when my username or brand is mentioned. Of course, I have this in combination with Google Alert and TweeBeep. Alerts will be sent to me when my name, brand, username, niche etc is mentioned. I can access my emails both through my computer and phone.
And with two Twitter accounts I have made the flow of information more manageable for my self by following these simple principles.
Now it’s your turn
Is your Twitter Stream out of control? What have you done to manage your Tweets better?
@amyseybrown
One oft forgotten, yet highly usable Twitter client is Yoono. I’ve used others and none are as useful and smooth as this one. The newest version has columns as well. There is the option to hide/show updates from individuals, plus most of the features from the other clients you profiled. The only thing it can’t do (yet) is favorite tweets within the client, but I’m sure that’s on the list.
@rfwilkins
Of course I use myVBO to manage my tweets plus a whole lot more business data stuff.
myVBO lets me handle the following Twitter areas.
Manage multiple twitter accounts.
Creation of smart boxes. This is a lot like Twitter list, but there private.
Filter Timelines.
Schedule Tweets over time.
Manage Followers.
Update your twitter stream.
Edit re-Tweet
See twitter profiles and latest posts.
See all of your accounts at one time or just focus in on one.
Instant tweeting of RSS feeds form over 30K news feeds.
Auto News Headline clipping and URL shorting.
Get stats on your tweeting (beta).
@mmatthewlyle
Hootsuite is good. My favourite client is actually the browser, though, so to manage my two profiles (@mmatthewlyle and @themethesis) I use seperate browsers. Safari for my main one and Firefox for my other. It works quite well and there’s a very low chance of tweeting to the wrong account, which I had to keep an eye on when I used hootsuite.
@brooklyn365
I utilize the toolset in the same manner. I have HootSuite setup for trickle releases of information utilizing their delayed deployment and TweetDeck for watching the traffic. Seesmic wasn’t on my radar but installing it as we speak. Cheers!
@rososusilo
Weak coneksi internet can not reach TweetDeck. so sad…………..
@TwtrCoach
Amy: Thanks for the tip on Yoono.
Robert: I loved myVBO really a great tool you had there.
Matt: Yeah I do the same. Use several different browser. FireFox is my personal preference due some of the great add ons there.
Brooklyn: You will enjoy Seesmic. Keep an eye up for some of their tools. They have some really great upcoming tools that is not released yet.
Rososusilo: Sorry to hear about your Internet connection. When you get a better connection you should download TweetDeck it is a really great tool.
Some of the thing I focus on when I build my Social Media Experience toolboxes is to make my principles adaptable. Social Networks and related tools change so fast these days.
I think the virtual access idea Matt introduce here is something that we will see more off. Really a interesting concept.
Cheers.. Are
@toocreative
I love Tweedeck for desktop monitoring of the various accounts I manage. From the perspective of managing several Twitter accounts, it’s great to keep an eye on pretty much anything you need to. In fact, Tweetdeck would be perfect if it allowed you to schedule updates.
I love Hootsuite mainly because it allows me to schedule tweets and status updates to my various Fan pages for clients and projects.
I really want to love CoTweet because I really like the layout and workflow, but you can’t schedule Facebook fan page status updates, only tweets, so I’m actually limited as to what I can do. I do prefer its workflow over Hootsuite’s though.
As far as on the iPhone, Tweetdeck is the only game in town as far as I’m concerned. Nothing else I’ve worked with allows the capability to manage multiple accounts nearly as well as Tweedeck.
Great post!
@TwtrCoach
Thanks Jason.
One thing about TweetDeck they are very good listening to their users. So I visit their forum at http://support.tweetdeck.com/forums – here you can make suggestions for features you would like to see on TweetDeck.
CoTweet I visit once in a while. They started out really well, but has not kept up to speed with other clients. Maybe they are working on something.
HootSuite has done a great job to meet the demand. And is the leader of the pack when it comes to online Twitter clients.
I agree TweetDecks iPhone app is great.
Cheers.. Are
@atulkarmarkar
I use TweetDeck when using my laptop and Gravity on my Nokia E72.
The Gravity interface is totally kickass. The sheer ease of usage + an impressive feature list make this one app I’d rate as a must have if you’re on Symbian.
@toocreative
Are, I totally hear you on Hootsuite, it seems like they are always finding ways to improve.
I’ve made the suggestion that they allow scheduled tweets, and the suggestion has been made by many others as well. I think, from what I’ve read, the general consensus is that they will implement this capability in a near future release. (*hopeful*)
Great article Are, thanks for sharing.
@dr_durbs
I use Twitbird for iPhone. With judicious use of lists, I extend all my timelines. It doesn’t display columns but rather shows you a “list of lists” and allowing you to display them as required – but the outstanding feature is the ability to jump to “first unread” which I find invaluable.
@TwtrCoach
Jason: I agree Hootsuite is really on top of their game. Most definitive one of the better online Twitter clients.
On Wedensday 04/14/2010 Hootsuite will host a webinar regarding Team Collaboration. Make sure you are on their mailing list to receive invitations. Here is the link for this webinar:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/914793536
Webinar is free.
There is a lot of exciting things coming up from the team at Hootsuite.
Des: Thanks for the Twitbird tip.
Cheers.. Are
@thepassiondiva
This was very helpful!
I was reluctant to set up more activity on my screens, but it is working out very well.
I have Seesmic for watching the stream
I have Tweetdeck for lists and mentions
I have Hootesuite for new and scheduled posting to multiple accounts
Seems to be working really well, I feel much more organized.
@sunilmnambiar
My business applications generates many announcements, events etc, and I use TweetTwain to integrate these applications with Twitter and Facebook fan page. I really like this feature which no others offers.