Richard Barley

If you use TweetDeck then you may have heard of or met Richard Barley (@richardbarley), TweetDeck’s Community Manager. I first “met” Richard last year when he provided some thoughtful comments to a pair of posts I wrote about TweetDeck, 10 Features I Want to See in TweetDeck and 9 More Features I Want to See in TweetDeck.

I had planned to ask Richard for an interview, but it got put on hold on my end. Finally, after long delay, that interview is here (you can also listen to an extended version of this interview on my podcast, Addicted to Social Media).

Tell us about yourself. What did you do prior to working with TweetDeck?

Prior to joining TweetDeck I had been involved in IT support for my local council, then Help Desk manager for a local telecoms company, before eventually becoming a consultant for Cap Gemini working on CRM projects. From there I moved on to a similar position with BT, before ending up at RightNow Technologies.

Being on the road gave me lots of time in the evenings to get addicted to Twitter and start using TweetDeck. I eventually started supporting TweetDeck users in my spare time and wrote several blog articles about it, including a hugely popular series of FAQs, something that, at that time, Iain (Dodsworth, TweetDeck founder) was unable to produce as he was working entirely on his own. It wasn’t long before Iain noticed my work and offered me a job as Community Manager. This coincided very nicely with me leaving my previous position, so I joined the “team.” The rest, as they say, is history…

In your own works, why is TweetDeck so special?

I could go on for hours about the great features that make TweetDeck “special”, but that’s not really important. What IS important is *how* TweetDeck has become special. We are a small team working in a shared office in East London, working our socks off for this project that we are all hugely passionate about. We don’t have an office in Silicon Valley. We don’t hold big press conferences or feel the need to show our faces at every hipster event that goes on. We just quietly get on with building a great suite of products that people love to use. This attitude was the case when I first joined in July 2009 and remains the case now. This is what makes TweetDeck so special – fantastic products from a dedicated team who enjoy building amazing things with no fuss.

How many users are now using TweetDeck in its various versions?

We have several million active users and our desktop app has been downloaded over 15 Million times. Around 6 million tweets are sent from our apps each day, which we think is really rather cool.

What’s it like working with Iain Dodsworth?

TweetDeck Founder Iain Dodsworth

Working with Iain has often not been like working at all. Certainly, in the early days it was more like just getting together with a friend to hang out and chat to people online. Basically, he’s just a down-to-earth guy who has priorities very firmly set on his family, employees and his company rather than trying to be a celebrity in the tech “scene”. This is why he has so much respect from those that know him.

What was the genesis of the idea for Deck.ly?

Deck.ly came about for several reasons, the main one being that ever since I can remember, TweetDeck users have been clamoring for TwitLonger support in the app. It was our biggest, longest-running feature request and I was fielding tweets literally every day asking for it. Now, we were not keen at first, mainly, I guess, due to the fact that none of the team used TwitLonger and thus didn’t really think it a priority. Ultimately, I brought to the team the undeniable evidence of the huge support for the feature, so we looked into it.

We could, of course, have just implemented TwitLonger, but really, that’s not what we’re about now. We haven’t integrated new third party services for a long time because we’re now in a position to be able to build our own. By offering a “long update” service, we realized that we could grow and expand into other areas, lifting us away from some of the shackles of individual networks and offering more of a TweetDeck layer on top, thus adding value and bringing integrated services that would have previously been impossible.

Deck.ly is pretty controversial. Why the controversy?

There was some controversy when we launched “Deck.ly” long updates. It certainly divided the user base with some offering their hand in marriage in thanks for finally bringing long updates and others cursing us to eternal damnation for destroying everything that is good about Twitter. We admitted that our very first release had some flaws. With no way to disable the long update feature, accidental long posts were far too easy to send. But we moved quickly and issued several updates to the app based on feedback from the users and we now think that we have a good flow in place with the option to disable long updates if you wish.

So, as for the controversy… well I’m not going to fan the flames, but it is interesting to note that both UberTwitter and Twitter for iPhone had TwitLonger support over a year ago. Lots of other very popular apps have the same or similar functionality. We are, in some ways, flattered that so much has been said about our implementation of what is, on the face of it, pretty much the same thing.

Is Deck.ly going to compete with Twitter?

No, Deck.ly is not a competitor to Twitter any more than TwitLonger is, or Tumblr, or Posterous or any of the multitudes of other apps out there that post tweets with a link to see more detail.

Any plans to buy out Loic Le Meur and Seesmic?

We won’t comment on acquisition rumors. Sorry.

I recently set up a search to follow tweets about the Space Shuttle Discovery’s launch on STS-133 and noticed that there was a promoted tweet at the top of the column that remained in a fixed position even when I scrolled through the column. Is this a deal directly with TweetDeck or did it get pulled in via Twitter? Is it part of TweetDeck’s monetization strategy?

We introduced support for Twitter’s promoted tweets several months ago and this is a good example. They only appear in search columns where the search terms match a keyword that has been purchased. Twitter has a page about promoted tweets here

What do you think of Klout scores being introduced to Twitter (via chrome plug-in)?

To be honest, having tried many “influence ranking” systems, I have yet to find any one that is more than vaguely helpful to me. I’m sure such services are great and a lot of people put a lot of importance on such “scores”, but for me I find the whole idea rather “meh”…

What’s next for TD?

First priority for us now is to launch our brand new iPhone app. We’ve been building a totally new iOS app from scratch for the last few months and we’re just about ready to unleash that on the world. It’s such a great app, taking the best bits from our hugely successful Android app, blending in some of the great features from our Chrome app, along with some seriously cool new magic specifically for iOS. So that’s coming up in the next few weeks. We’re also looking to take our Chrome app and build versions that will run on the other major browsers out there. So soon, you’ll be running TweetDeck in the likes of Firefox & Safari. We also have a bunch of new services to launch, including cross-platform column sync amongst other things. There’s so much going on!

If I ask nicely, can I get a feature built into TD?

Ha-ha! Well that depends how nicely you ask and if you send donuts  Seriously, though, it’s my job to listen to the users and make sure that their requirements are being met by TweetDeck as much as possible. We can’t always promise to do everything people ask for, but if it’s important enough for our users to be demanding it, I will always fight in their corner to have it considered.

~

I like to add a personal thanks to Richard for both his time and for being such a great interview subject. Remember, you can listen to an extended version of this interview on my podcast, Addicted to Social Media.

Do you have a question for Richard? Add your question to the comments and we’ll see if we can him to answer a few.

Neal Wiser is Vice President of Digital Strategy and Operations at The ODM Group where he leads teams in the creation and execution of digital marketing campaigns. You can follow Neal on Twitter (his handle is @NealWiser). Neal is also the Cofounder and Co-host of the Addicted to Social Media podcast.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



An Interview with TweetDeck’s Richard Barley

I’ve previously written about Twitter’s behavior towards its third-party developers and the risks they’re taking if they focus only on developing Twitter-based tools (See Twitter Commits Suicide and Twipocalypse Now). The bottom line is that building a business that is entirely dependent on a single partner isn’t a safe model to follow.

Surprise, Surprise?

So, should Twitter’s actions come as any surprise?

Yes! And, No.

Yes, because Twitter was built on the backs of tens of thousands of third-party developers who added much need functionality and played a key role making Twitter what it is today. These third-party developers, along with the broader Twitter community, were the ones who implemented hash tags, RTs, @ replies and many of the features that Twitter now takes for granted. Even Evan Williams, one of Twitter’s co-Founders, admitted as much at the 2009 TED Conference. See the embedded video below (thanks to Tac Anderson reminding me about this in his post Twitter Grows Up Figures Out Its Business Model And Doesn’t Need You Anymore).

And, No, because there has been ample warning about the risk of developing for Twitter – just read my posts mentioned above, and I certainly was not alone. Also, in their announcement, Twitter stated that enterprise tools such as Seesmic and HootSuite and special-purpose apps are welcome.

So, why is Twitter doing this?

For some insight, consider the following:

• Usage: While Twitter claims that 90% of users are using official Twitter apps, the blog Mashable disagrees claiming that only 58% of Twitter users access the service through official Twitter apps. That leaves a whopping 42% who never see the Twitter home page or those Twitter apps. This means that 42% of Twitter’s users may never see any of the various advertising features that Twitter has been counting on to actually justify its valuation.
• Money: Investors have poured $360 Million into the company over the past 5 years and it’s easy to understand why they might want an out. While these investors certainly could find eager buyers for their shares, they want to maximize their returns. That means pumping up the valuation of the company and finding an appropriate buyer who can afford it.

Buyer Beware

Unfortunately, there aren’t too many adequate suitors for the company, especially when it has a rumored price tag of $8-10 Billion. In order to justify that valuation Twitter needs to do the following:

• Work the kinks out of its advertising model so it can maximize ad revenue. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Increase the number of people who use Twitter properties, thus maximizing exposure to those ads. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Get those users to stop using third-party apps and “come home.” To do this it needs to…
• Kick those third-party apps out of the loop. This ultimately means putting an end to the Twitter ecosystem. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Prevent third-party app developers from getting into the game and making conditions for those who are already there too difficult for them to operate, thus they’ll be forced to close down. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Add more features to its properties. Something it’s already been doing.

My Prediction

I could go on, but to me the path is clear; within the next 12-24 months, as Twitter slowly improves its mobile apps and website, it will eventually cut off ALL third-party apps including TweetDeck and Seesmic. Then, once its numbers (traffic and review) demonstrate clear upward momentum, it will be sold to the highest bidder. Perhaps after that, Twitter’s new owners will remember the goldmine of innovation that Twitter’s third-party developers provided the company and invite them to return

One can only hope.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Neal Wiser is Vice President of Digital Strategy and Operations at The ODM Group where he leads teams in the creation and execution of digital marketing campaigns. You can follow Neal on Twitter (his handle is @NealWiser). Neal is also the Cofounder and Co-host of the Addicted to Social Media podcast.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter’s Black Friday Signals an Exit Strategy

To add to that my twitter account eventually got banned and I had to start all over again. Before I get into the rest of the concepts in this post, I want to recommend that you read Malcom Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point.

Quality trumps Quantity: The idea that 150 followers is all you need probably sounds crazy to people, especially if you are just starting out. In an interview I conducted with Scott Stratten (this year’s keynote speaker for Blogworld), he mentioned that he tweeted over 10,000 times before he shared any of his own content. 75% of those were not even retweets, but @replies. He was engaged in real conversations with real people. So I decided to experiment with the concept for a month. The byproduct was incredible. The traffic I got from twitter increased exponentially. To top it off I met a bunch of new, really interesting people. Before long I found them on my blog commenting and sharing my posts with their followers.

The Rule of 150: In The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell talks about a concept called Dunbar’s number, named for anthropologist Robin Dunbar. After studying numerous groups the number 150 kept coming up over and over again. The conclusion that Robin Dunbar came to was that the maximum number of social relationships a person can effectively manage is 150. Gladwell went on to say that 150 people is what you need to make an idea spread. What’s even more interesting to is that after you get past 150 something happens that makes it harder for an idea to spread. Hopefully you see where I’m going with this concept. I want to share one concrete example from my own twitter presence. On my @skooloflife account I have 2000 followers. I get an average of 10 tweets per post. On my @blogcastfm account (the one for the podcast I host), I have about 500 followers and most interviews I get close to 20 tweets. There’s no way you are realistically going to engage with effectively with thousands of followers unless you absolutely have no life. Think about the power of 150 people who love you and everything you do when compared to the thousands of people where you are just trying to stand out from the noise.

Creating Your 150
Creating your 150 is actually quite easy and if you follow the steps below you’ll have discovered your 150 in no time. I’ve written my process out below of how I do this using tweetdeck.

• Track Mentions: The major thing you should be tracking is mentions of your twitter name. Anytime somebody mentions your name, it’s an opportunity to start a conversation and acquire a new high quality follower.
• Track Retweets: You should also pay close attention to the people who are retweeting the posts you have written. It’s obvious that they like your content, otherwise they wouldn’t be sharing it.
• Create a List: I have a list called my inner circle. Anytime somebody mentions me or retweets me, I make a point to to add them to that list. If they are a spammer, they get blocked.
• Engage with the People on that List: Simply creating the list is not going to be enough. Once you have created your inner circle list, you need to start engaging with them.
  • Daily Conversations: I talk to the people on my inner circle list almost daily. I don’t talk to all 150 of them every single day. But I talk to at least a few of them and that’s all that you really need to do to start getting true value out of twitter.
  • Retweet their Stuff: I make a point to promote the stuff of the people in my inner circle, especially if they are newer than I am to the blogosphere. It’s much easier to form relationships with people who are at your same level or slightly below. People have a tendency to only try to form relationships with people who are more established. Don’t discredit the value of your peer group because they won’t be small forever.

Where to Start When You Are at Zero: If you are starting at zero, some of the above might seem more challenging, but it’s not. Just start with bloggers who you have been reading. This is why it’s important to read more than just the a-list blogs. Find people you think are interesting and just reach out to them. They’ll be happy to hear from you. That will be the start of creating your 150.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Why 150 Followers Is All You Really Need

Tweetdeck had a whopping 36,000 beta testers prior to this launch in an effort to make sure the app worked without fail.

What is interesting about the release, is that this particular version of Tweetdeck happens to be the most recent version of the app that has not even been tested for iPad’s or iPhone’s yet. Usually, it comes to the iPad and iPhone first.

Here is a great video on YouTube showing off the new Tweetdeck 1.0 for Android:

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Tweetdeck Officially Launches for Android

Twitter only allows 140 characters. There is an infinite amount of things you can say, but only so many ideas to pull from. It’s hard to keep people entertained with your tweets.

The best way to keep from burning out and giving up is to have a brilliant plan that will allow you to reach your goals and meet amazing people.

1. Stay Creative

Tweeting looks so easy, but we all know it’s not. There is a lot of thought that goes into each tweet. Penelope Trunk of Brazen Careerist (@penelopetrunk) has each tweet reviewed by an editor before she sends it out. Well that’s what she told us.

You need to find new ways to get onto other tweeters’ radars. Don’t be afraid to switch around words. Tweeting is an art and sometimes you need to stand out by being different. Don’t be afraid to disagree. Don’t do this too often, but every now and again you can spur on an exciting conversation.

It’s the routine that kills the most tweeters. All they do is link back to their blog and they wonder why they aren’t meeting cool people and having fun connecting with other tweeters.

2. Find a Brilliant Quote to Share

I love finding really cool quotes and posting them on Twitter. It’s amazing how many people will retweet a good quote.

I posted a quote from Gandhi that said, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

The CEO of Zappos (@zappos) liked it and retweeted it to his billion + subscribers. I gained over 200 subscribers in one weekend. I was lucky, but any of you can get lucky too; you just have to keep tweeting stuff you believe in and people will want to follow.

3. Just Listen

When I first got on Twitter I wasn’t very active. I just read and listened to others. I began to see what I liked and what I thought would work well for me. After a little while, I jumped in and began tweeting.

I learned the value of just listening to other tweeters. Instead of just getting on there and posting my tweet and leaving, I hang around. I notice when some people are jerks or humble or fun. It’s during these ten or fifteen minutes that I become more attached to the people I’m interacting with.

You’ll burn out quickly if all you do is broadcast your stuff and you don’t listen to the other brilliant people out there. Believe me, there are some smart people using Twitter.

4. Ask a Question

You may want to know what it feels like to stand at the top of the Eiffel Tower, or if anyone has a long commute to work and how they pass the time. The questions you can ask can be crazy, fun, or serious.

I would suggest that your question stay in the theme of the tweets. People like routines and expect to receive a certain type of tweet from you. If you shake it up too much, they may not stick around.

I’ve put out plenty of questions that were never answered. Don’t sweat it. Just post it again in a few hours. If you still don’t get a response, move on and try a different question in a few days.

5. Top 5 Tweeters to Follow

Darren wrote an excellent post about creating niche lists of tweeters that you should follow. For example, “top 5 marketers on Twitter” or “top 5 most interesting people on Twitter.”

When you send out some tweet love you might get a follow from a really cool person. I know that I would love to be included in the top 5 tweeters in the business category.

Don’t be afraid to give other people attention because it’s all about Twitter Karma. The more you give the more you will eventually be given back. The more people who love your style of tweeting, the more motivated you will be to connect with other tweeters.

6. Take a Break and Recharge

There will be some days when you just don’t feel like typing even a tweet. Then take a break and just let everyone else tweet their hearts out.

Stress occurs when we push too hard to accomplish something we aren’t ready for. If you don’t feel like tweeting then don’t. It’s better than sending some big sour puss of a tweet out there and everyone reading it and thinking “Man he is having a bad day.”

That’s when people decide to unfollow you.

7. People Will Unfollow You

Some people aren’t going to like your tweets. Just like every guy or girl doesn’t think you are hot stuff, there will be tweeters that just don’t like your personality.

Don’t take it personally. Your thoughts are not everybody’s cup of wisdom. Even Kevin Rose (@kevinrose) has people who stop following his tweets. He is in a position to add way more people than he loses, so his numbers keep growing anyway.

8. Be Yourself

Don’t try to be like @problogger because you’ll fall flat. I fell into this trap when I first started blogging. I tried to be like @stevepavlina. I only started succeeding when I let go of trying to be someone else and let my true personality come out.

I’ve taken a lot of great ideas from fellow tweeters, but always incorporated them into my own style.

You have to trust that your interests will excite other people. As long as you are authentic, people will catch on. I promise.

9. Copy a Leader

To step on my own advice, I’m going to tell you to copy a leader and his/her style for a day. See what happens. Are you getting more attention?

There is nothing wrong with learning form the masters of Twitter, such as @guykawasaki, and trying to incorporate their style into yours. Be very careful of taking this too far though, because in order to get people who want to follow you and stick with you, you have to be you.

10. Retweet Great Tweets

Retweeting other people’s thoughts is a great way to connect and share with your readers. I retweeted a @lizstrauss tweet and she sent me a thank you note. The more that you connect with talented people, the more likely they will be able to help you in the future.

If you’re not sure exactly what you are trying to accomplish then you must ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” When you figure out the answer, avoiding burn out will be much easier.

11. Know Your Goals

When you know what you want to accomplish with Twitter it’s much easier to justify using your time and energy on it. If you have a blog, static website, or an offline business you can define your goals and start to make your dreams a reality.

I want to be the one person everyone thinks about when they think about work happiness. Twitter is just another tool that I can use to leverage my expertise.

The best part is that it’s easy to see what is working and what isn’t. If you are sending out the tweets and no one is following then you have to change strategy.

If you are only on Twitter to pass the time and only want to make friends then that’s your goal. Understanding your needs is the most important way to avoid burning out and giving up.

12. Start a 30 Day Challenge

The more compelling the story you tell, the more likely people will want to follow you. One of the best ways to get people involved in who you are and what you have to say is to challenge yourself to become a better person.

I created a “No Complaining” challenge that lasted for the whole month. I blogged and tweeted about it. Fellow tweeters gave me advice and empathy. This is when my tweeting became more personal and more compelling.

People want to know how the situation makes you feel. The Twitter society on the whole is very caring and supportive. So let them know what you are trying to accomplish and let them help you succeed.

13. Remember Twitter is Supposed to be Fun

Twitter should never feel like work and when it does then you know you need to change your habits. I’ve seen some tweeters adding new friends by the hundreds, just trying to get as many friends as possible. They burn out quickly because it stops being fun. They are more worried about how many people are following them instead of the value they are giving and receiving through Twitter.

Let your personality come out because that’s the person people want to see.

At first Twitter can be daunting and confusing, so find the right tools that fit your needs. Darren has plenty of them on this blog. I would suggest Tweetdeck to anyone who hasn’t tried it. It organizes all the tweets making the experience much more enjoyable and less overwhelming.

14. (What would be your number 14? How have you avoided burn-out or overcome it and came back better than ever?)

I’ve posted over 1,500 tweets and I feel like I’m just grasping the art of tweeting. The more that I tweet the better I get and the more fun it becomes. I felt close to burn out a few months ago, but I realigned my goals and I’m back to tweeting up a storm.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



14 Ways To Fight Twitter Burnout

As I’ve been following people on Twitter, I’ve noticed an interesting trend. More and more people are starting to use a validation service to create a gateway between themselves and new followers. On the surface, this looks like a great idea, but I’ve come to realize that it might not be – here’s why:

• It takes a lot of time to validate every single message you receive – Although I don’t mind filling out a captcha every now and then, filling them out by the dozens negates what could be a positive experience. I’ve grown accustomed to ignoring these messages and as a result, I never get to communicate with the people on the other side.
• It can be confusing – Some people, particularly those new to Twitter, might not understand what Twit validation is or why it exists. Placing barriers in the way of communication is essentially the same thing as locking your Tweets, which is another behavior that I find troubling. What is the point of joining a network if you don’t want to communicate?
• Rather than taking your time to filter your feed, you are placing the onus on those interested in following you. Sure, I can ignore the request for validation, but in the end I’ll end up talking to myself. Although there are a select few I follow without a follow back, I don’t like to make a habit of it. Not because I’m a jerk, but because it shows good faith. If you aren’t interested in what I have to say, then we are going to have a hard time communicating.

We can blame the spammers for this, but they don’t care if they ruin the experience. Still, why should we let them change the way that we communicate online? Eventually, Twitter will find a way to weed out messages in the same way that Gmail does, but in the meantime, consider removing the validation from your account and taking the time to filter on your own. If you don’t want to communicate with the masses, then maybe a valdiation service will work for you. However, if your business or brand relies on open communication, then you should think twice about placing roadblocks in between you and your customer.

If you are truly concerned about a cluttered or spam filled Twitterfeed, then consider using groups via TweetDeck or Seesmic. If there are only certain Tweeters that you pay attention to, you can also import their stream via RSS to be sure you don’t miss a thing. Lastly, it only takes 5 seconds to block or unfollow someone, but it takes nearly 20-30 for me to validate my profile for you. Multiply that by a dozen or two and you’ll see why most people don’t have the time to make it worthwhile.

The concept is noteworthy, but the execution leaves something to be desired for. One of the reasons that I love Twitter is that it opens the doors to communication. The problem with validation is that it closes them. What do you think?

[image: Unhindered by Talent]

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Validation – My Take

• Don’t tweet & drink- it is worse than drunk dialing. @recruitnik
• Engage people around you. @ reply them, FollowFriday them, talk with them. You get a lot more out of Twitter when you engage. @jbwagner
• Don’t be one of those obnoxious “auto thank you” people. @jessicawaters
• Don’t answer Twitter’s question of what are you doing? Unless you’re mega-famous, nobody care’s what you’re doing. @robneville73
• Forget “monetizing” (other things are more important – and that’s not a real word, anyway). @SpikeTheLobster
  [Though I disagree that it's not a "real word" - I do agree that it's best kept off Twitter. - Lara]
• Don’t make it all about you and your company and don’t post the same type of update over and over. @timeontaskva
• Use TweetDeck to filter your followers. @pereca

If you have more Top 3 Twitter Tips to add, please feel free to do so here or on the original post.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Top Twitter Tips From TwiTip Readers

Finding your community in Twitter can sometimes be a challenge, especially for Twitter beginners. Social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and NING have flourishing and established communities that are easy to find. Twitter has some growing and thriving communities too but it’s often a best-kept Twitter secret.

Enter #hashtags and Twitter chats.

Twitter chats offer an effective way to meet people with similar interests and share insights into specific topic. Currently there are more than 35 weekly scheduled Twitter chats on certain days and times with like-minded professionals discussing a variety of questions. Here’s how you can find your Twitter community and participate in a Twitter Chat.

Step 1: Find And Use The Hashtag

Using a hashtag, a symbol – # – followed by a name or abbreviation, people broadcast their tweets to a specific group and follow others tweeting with the same hashtag. The hashtag is one of the keys needed to engage successfully in a Twitter chat. Use the list below to find the Twitter chat and subsequent hashtag that interests you.

Step 2: Use A Twitter Chat Tool To Monitor The Conversation

Twitter veterans know that the second key to successful twitter chat participation is to fine-tune their Twitterstation to remove all the Twitter noise. Like dialing into your favorite radio station and removing all the unnecessary static and chatter, these tools help you follow the conversation without being bombarded by other unrelated tweets. A list of ten Twitter chat tools is listed below. Following a conversation with Twitter’s main Web page is difficult and by the time you hit refresh and find tweets with the hashtag, you’ve missed most of the conversation.

Step 3: Tweet Using These Twitter Chat Basics

Once you’ve identified the hashtag for your community and the Twitter chat tool that works best for you, it’s time to get involved. Login to Twitter and your Twitter chat tool at the appropriate date and time, and watch for the moderator to announce the start of the chat. Now that you know the hashtag, remember to include it in your tweets so others can see your comments and questions.

Most Twitter chats, like #journchat, have some type of established ground rules and culture as people discuss specific topics or questions. Many chats have a moderator to help guide and facilitate the discussion. For example, #eventprofs has a moderator for each chat and established moderator instructions and guidelines. Some Twitter chats allow participants to post random questions and some suggest that the group stay on topic. I’ve seen some Twitter chats with guest experts leading a discussion and answering questions. Some groups archive their weekly chats on a wiki, in their Linkedin group, on a website or on wtHashtag.

Step 4: Now Go, Tweet And Participate

With some practice, hashtags and one of these third party Twitter applications listed below, even beginners can tune-in and participate in a robust Twitter discussion. Here’s to finding your Twitter community and I hope to tweet with you in a Twitter chat in the future!

Twitter Chat Tools

Tweetchat

Tweetchat, a web-based interface, recently made some upgrades and you can use the upgraded version or old one. Login to tweetchat with your Twitter username and password. Once your login has been authenticated with Twitter, enter the hashtag. This will take you to the tweetchat room with your custom Twitter background where you’ll be able to follow the conversation. Tweetchat settings allow you to pause the chat, set the refresh rate, and feature or block specific users. Each tweet you enter into the box will automatically be tagged with the official hashtag. Note: If your username is not showing up in Tweetchat, contact the developers and let them know. (Tweetchat is my personal favorite.)

Tweetgrid

Tweetgrid, a web-based dashboard that allows you to search and view up to nine different hashtags at once. Unlike other Twitter chat tools, you do not need a Twitter account to follow a conversation but you will not be able to tweet without a Twitter account. Open Tweetgrid, choose a grid layout, enter your username, password, hashtag, and enter your tweet in tweet box. Tweetgrid offers settings, photos and DM. If you’re following more than one conversation, you’ll have to enter the hashtag in the appropriate box each time each time you tweet.

Tweetdeck

You’ll have to download this free application to your desktop in order to use. Once downloaded, you’ll need to set one column to search the hashtag by clicking on the magnifying glass and entering the hashtag. You can move that column to the right or left in your Tweetdeck dashboard. You can also change the settings such as background color, font color, refresh rates, etc. Each time you tweet for the specific conversation, you’ll need to add the hashtag. (I use Tweetdeck as my normal Twitter interface and keep columns for following specific hashtags open always. That way I can connect with people in those communities outside of the scheduled Tweet chats.)

Twubs

A newer web-based interface that integrates a variety of media including photos and videos. Unlike tweetchat, tweetgrid and monitter, it also incorporates a URL shortening tool. Sign in to Twubs with your username and password, and enter the hashtag. Twubs automatically adds the hashtags to your tweets, allows you to filter users and has real time refreshing. Twubs also has a widget that you can embed on your website or blog.

Monitter

A web-based interface that allows you to follow up to three hashtags at once. You can only tweet to @replies or send retweets, and you’ll have to enter your username, password and hashtag each time you send a tweet. (This is my least favorite of all the Twitter chat tools.)

WhatTheHashtag (wtHashtag)

A web-based user-editable encyclopedia for hashtags; wiki of registered hashtags. This interface includes a variety of information about specific Twitter chats including a description, schedule and moderator, planned topic queue, stats and top contributors, the ability to view and save a transcript of tweets within a certain date and view the Twitter chat via Monitter. You cannot tweet from wtHashtag. Tip: If you want to know what a specific hashtag stands for, follow wtHashtag. Once they are following you, DM them the hashtag and they’ll reply with the definition on file.

RSS Feeds

If you like reading feeds, you can grab a feed for your hashtag group in Twitter search. Enter the hashtag and then copy the link in “Feed for this query” into your feed reader. Using RSS feeds, you can’t participate in the discussion and send tweets, but you can follow the chat.

TweeTree

Web-based interface that monitors hashtags. Login with username, password and enter hashtag in search function. TweeTree pulls in some additional content like photos, videos, blog posts of some approved vendors so that you can see the link’s content in your stream without clicking the link. You’ll have to remember to add the hashtag to your tweets when participating in the discussion in TweeTree.

Roomatic

Web-based dashboard. Login with user name, password and enter hashtag. You’ll see the tweets in a horizontal grid format with a very small font. Roomatic does not have any settings that you can change to make the font size bigger or change the refresh rate. It does automatically include the hashtag of tweets. You cannot send a reply or DM through Roomatic.

Twemes

Web-based interface that lets you follow hashtag and conversation. You cannot tweet from Twemes.

List of Twitter Chats

Editable Google Doc list of Twitter chats created by Robert Swanwick @spkrinteractive.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Tweeting With Your Twitter Community: How To Participate In A Twitter Chat

I like to compare Twitter to a new relationship. At first, you are interested, but your guard is up. However, as time goes by, you find yourself spending more and more time together until the relationship blossoms and takes on a life of its own. Twitter has a great way of pulling you in like this in a way that no other social network can. Everyone seems warm and friendly and you quickly find that you can take your guard down and start talking with people from all over the world as if they were a guest in your home.

I love Twitter for this reason because it seems that it has never been easier to build so many relationships so quickly. This is really something most of us, unless we are celebrities, have never had to face before. That is, having to deal with thousands of friends at once. At first, a few hundred friends are easy to manage, but soon you have a list of thousands that you have to sort through. It can become a daunting task trying to keep up with everyone, much less interact with them. This is why I don’t think I’d be able to use Twitter without TweetDeck and why I think that the following advice just might save the Twitter interaction that you’ve come to love.

What we are going to do is turn a normal Twitter feed into something that is easy to use and makes interacting with people much easier. If you don’t have TweetDeck, then I highly recommend that you go and grab it now before you finish reading this post. Although Twhirl does come in handy for certain tasks, in my opinion, nothing works as seamlessly with Twitter as TweetDeck does.

Separate Your Follows

The first thing we are going to do is take a single Twitter feed and make it manageable by using groups to filter the people you follow. Since Tweet Deck only lets you have 10 panes open, I’d like to save a few for brand and personal searches. So in this instance, we are only going to add 3 groups. When you first install Tweet Deck, you’ll have a pane for friends, replies, DM’s, and a TwitScoop Window. This will leave you with 3 open panes for anything you wish down the road.

For now, I’d like to use the following strategy:

1. Create a group for friends that you either interact with often or who’s Tweets you don’t want to miss. You can call this group friends, associates, network, or any other name that you choose. We’ll use this group to highlight peers and associates so that you can reply and RT easily.

2. Create a group for new followers or people you would like to follow you. I like to use this group as a reminder to interact with people I haven’t really had a chance to meet yet. Sure, most people send auto-DM’s, but that isn’t really interacting. Although you will make an effort to monitor and interact with this group more than normal, the goal is to eventually move them to your friends group or the main “All Friends” pane.

3. Although it might sound corny, I also like to create a group for what I call “gurus” or “experts.” This group is usually relatively small, but this is the group where I place content experts. For instance, guys like @ChrisBrogan, @DarrenRowse, or @TonyRobbins will go here. Since I find it to be a good practice to keep up on what the experts are saying, this allows me to easily keep up with industry trends.

How to Use these Groups

Now that we’ve created these three groups, I’d like to share my strategy for using them. The first group is fairly obvious…you will reply and RT with your friends, trying to keep up while also bringing others into the conversation. I like to build my network by meeting the people that my friends hang out with and this is a great way to do so. Just watch for common names and you’ll start to recognize the names rather easily. Tweet Deck makes it really simple to follow them too, just click the name and then hit the follow button.

Another reason that this group works well is that Twitter seems to lose replies and DM’s rather often. Having the people most likely to send a reply to you in their own pane makes it easy to check for missed Tweets on other feeds.

To be honest, the second group strategy is a new tactic that I started using only recently. However, I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and it has really made it easier to expand my interaction on Twitter. Most of the time when you add a new follower they get lost in the Twitter stream pretty quickly. Eventually, you forget who you just met and who you’ve had on your list for longer periods. Having a separate pane of new friends makes it much easier to build relationships with them. Some of my favorite people on Twitter started out as new fans. People will instantly appreciate the fact that you’ve reached out to them and once you’ve done that it becomes much easier to build trust.

The last group of “gurus” or “experts” comes in handy for finding posts to RT or read. I also learn who they interact with on a regular basis, at which point I make an attempt to reply to or follow them. Although many of these people have tens of thousands of followers and don’t really have time to reply to everyone, if you make an attempt to reply every now and then they might recognize your name. This is the first step to getting noticed, which can lead to networking, guest posting, or joint venture opportunities. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting you spam this list, just keep it handy for staying up to date on industry trends and other people that you might want to follow.

Additional Twitter Tips

No Twitter post would be complete without some additional networking tactics and some Twitter etiquette to follow, so I’d like to offer just a few more tips that might help you improve your Twitter experience.

The first rule of thumb is that if you want to get noticed, then you need to help others get noticed. I can’t tell you how annoying it is to constantly be bombarded with self-made experts telling you how great they are hoping that you’ll believe it. I also grow tired of watching people spam their own links. If you really want to get noticed on Twitter, then you should help others get noticed first. Spend some time recommending people to your followers, whether it be a blog post, website, or a general follow recommendation. Many of the people that do well on Twitter spend more time giving than getting, so do your part to lift others up if you expect them to do the same for you.

Next, if you send an auto-DM or a Tweet that says you’ll do something, then back it up. If you say you’ll read a blog post, then do it and comment back about it. Don’t try and pull a fast one hoping that people will read your links anyway. This just isn’t a good way to do business and eventually someone will ask for your opinion. It also really bugs me when people send an auto-DM that asks about you, but when you reply they ignore your response. Sure, sometimes replies get lost, but don’t let that be your excuse. If you want to build a network on Twitter, then you need to stand by your word and do what you say. No one likes a liar.

Overall, I think most people have good intentions with Twitter, but there are always a few bad apples that spoil the bunch. Reaching out to others is a great way to build a group of fans and filtering your Twitter feed is a great way to do this. The key to using any social tool effectively is being able to access as much information as you can in as little time as possible. Tweet Deck groups make this incredibly easy and I think once you try these three techniques, you’ll find all sorts of new ways to use Twitter. Just make sure you share them with me when you get the chance!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Streamlining Your Twitter Feed – Groups to the Rescue

What kind of name is that for a helper app? Hmm, let’s take a look at this new Adobe Air app for Twitter. Because it’s an Air app, it runs on multiple platforms and outside the browser, freeing up your browser for other work. The UI looks a lot like TweetDeck in layout. You can choose from three different “canvases” displayed in columns:

• Home, Replies and (Direct) Messages
• Search, Saved (Favorites), and Sent
• Preferences, Account, People

Each pane is pretty much self explanatory for most Twitter users, even though they’ve given them slightly different names.. The account pane shows your profile information and the people pane shows user information when you click on an avatar, similarly to Tweetdeck. Unlike Tweetdeck you can’t create custom columns for groups, probably the most important feature in TweetDeck in my book.

The preferences pane is where the best features are. You can fine-tune your preferences to open the app at start-up, manage the size of the workspace and how many tweets you want to show at once, or make the font size larger (essential for me, the font when it first launches is unbelievably small). In these days of limkited API calls to Twitter, you can set how often you want DestroyTwitter to ping Twitter for new Tweets and you can set different rates for search and messages, so you can ration your 100 calls to the API per hour based on how you use Twitter. Like the new release of TweetDeck, you can also see how many calls to the API you’ve made, and if you’ve gone over limit, when you’ll be able to call again.

All in all it’s a slick app with some thoughtful features and a very web two oh design. Will DestroyTwitter replace Tweetdeck on my desktop? Not yet. It won’t replace Twhirl either. At least not until it adds a multi-account feature anyway. That said, not bad for an app that was realeased with only “ten days of design and development”. Wow. Look for interesting things from this team.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



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