It’s Called Social for a Reason

I have been using TweetDeck, a Twitter organizer, almost since I started tweeting.  TweetDeck is built on Adobe Air and therefore can be used on a number of platforms.

There are many features that I like about TweetDeck and one big problem: it’s a resource hog.  This may not be such a problem when my laptop returns from repairs but on the older desktop that I am typing on right now, it occasionally becomes a pain.  TweetDeck recently patched a memory leak which definitely improved the problem but my CPU cycles still run too high for my liking.

Looking for an alternative to TweetDeck, I started using TwitZap, a web-based Twitter organizer.  There is a lot to like about TwitZap, and I definitely intend to continue using it, but it won’t replace TweetDeck yet.

What both applications have in common is the ability to follow multiple Twitter timelines, starting with your replies and direct messages.  You can also follow the timelines of specific search terms, such as a Twitter name or a hash tag.  Both applications frequently poll Twitter for updates which makes it far easier to stay on top of Twitter.

One way they diverge is how they organize these different timelines.  TweetDeck groups the information into columns that you can move  into different positions depending on what you are focusing 0n.  However, if you follow a number of timelines, as I do, many of the columns are off screen, requiring you to scroll to view them. You can resize the columns to get a couple more columns on the screen.

TwitZap organizes the groups by sidebar tabs.  You can only view one group at a time but updates to the other groups are indicated by a number on a group’s tab indicating new posts.  Both applications make it very easy to add or delete groups.

The primary feature that makes TweetDeck the winner for me is that you can create groups that aggregate selected people that you are following.  That means that I can separate the people that I follow for their social marketing expertise from those that I follow for their web development expertise from those that I follow as personal friends.  Given the volume of tweets that are posted by the people that I am following (and which only grows as I follow additional people), this feature is essential for making Twitter a powerful businesss tool.  Twitter further enhances this functionality by allowing you to filter a column by entering a search term.

I definitely plan to continue using TwitZap to monitor the most current posts when my computer is resource challenged, but TweetDeck remains my Twitter organizer of choice.

Update: Since I wrote this entry I have discovered a big plus for TwitZap.  Quite obvious, really.  Since it is a web-based app I can access it from any computer.  That way I can view Twitter with my preferred settings no matter where I am.

Tags: social networking, Twitter

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 am and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.