Blogging Fool

Moving forward from my last post about the importance of becoming familiar with Twitter, I want to talk about the significant update that happened to one of the best standalone applications for interfacing with the Twitterverse – namely Tweetdeck.

There was an awful lot of hubbub and user-backlash against the recent change to the ever-so-precious Facebook interface after the developers elected to streamline it into more of a crawl-wall wherein user updates display in a manner more akin to Twitter’s own ever-updating front page of 140 character data-Haikus.  I don’t see why anyone really should hate this – it’s more akin to IM, and RSS readers and status updates are already very Tweet-like.  Regardless (and perhaps I will get a backlash of my own for holding this opinion) the “fallout” is that third-party developers are taking advantage of this evolution to more easily cross-post between these powertools.

Is it any wonder that both Twitter and Facebook saw massive surges in traffic and new users in 2009?  We are talking growth in the thousands of points/percintiles.  MySpace is doing its best to keep up, but struggling due to its fingerpaint-on-a-wall origins.  The point is that MySpace is trying to keep pace in the very same way, which means that the methodology is working for those able to adapt, rather than destroying those who come over to the Twitter way of thinking.

In an update released this second week of April, 2009 – Tweetdeck now integrates cross posting between Twitter and Facebook right into its interface.  The option to post Tweets to Facebook in addition to Twitter or not is as simple as checking or unchecking a box.

Often the resistance or confusion surrounding the power of Twitter for new users is in its very simplicity.  Going to the Twitter.com page does not offer a lot of options.  Ok, Here We Are Now, Entertain Us, is the typical initial response.

It is only through the exploration of an interface like Tweetdeck that its real usefulness begins to become apparent: Tweetdeck, while still in beta – exploits some of the organizational possibilities of Twitter – like creating groups of types of users.  For example, I have organized a column to include all the Tweeters I know who are in the music industry so I can see only their posts in that column.  I can also see all the replies to my Tweets in a separate column and direct/private replies to me in a third column, effectively transforming both Twitter and Tweetdeck in an IM service in addition to the public timeline I am creating.

Another benefit of Tweetdeck is that it can pre-shorten your URLS so ensure you can make it fit in with your word count.  Power Tweeters recommend keeping your Tweets below the 140 character max to something more like 120 words so that you can be Re-Tweeted – that is – reposted by others to their followers, effectively increasing your exposure and even going viral.

With the integration of Facebook directly into the Tweetdeck interface, and the streamlined update to the Facebook interface, there is no time like the present to dive in a explore the enormous potential for networking, learning, promoting and socializing in a whole new way.

Download the latest version of Tweetdeck directly from: http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/