Tweetdeck to the Rescue!

The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what make it so powerful. --Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard Law Professor and internet expert

Blogs and tweets. Tweets and blogs. Strange that these little words have become regular terms in our lexicon, and stranger still that we need some skills to manage the sheer volume of tweets and blogs coming our way. What Google Reader is to blogs, Tweetdeck is to Twitter.

What I like about Tweetdeck is the way it simplifies the Twitterverse and shows you want you want to see all at once. It comes with three designated columns (All Friends, Mentions and Direct Messages), but then the rest is up to you. I have set up one column to follow #EDES501, one to follow #edchat, and one that I alternate between #tldl, #edtech and #engchat. But hey, with the blink of an eye, I could sacrifice my quest for higher knowledge and dedicate a column to yoga or chocolate.

As far as jumping into the Twitter stream, I also like the way Tweetdeck manages your tweets by shortening URLs, shrinking your tweets if the need arises, and providing you with a list of recent hashtags. It's like having a personal assistant at your side.

It took me awhile to get comfortable with the icons and I'm still trying to figure out how to use Tweetdeck to see who is following me and who I'm following (help, anyone?), but as far as keeping up with goings-on in Twitterland, I highly recommend this tool.

In case you happen to be searching for a 'how-to' for Tweetdeck, I found this great post on Learn It In 5.

References

Barnes, M. (n.d.). Tweetdeck. Learn it in 5: how-to videos for the technology classroom. Retrieved from http://learnitin5.com/Tweetdeck