Now that you are on Twitter, there are a couple of tools that you may find helpful.
Tweetdeck
TweetDeck is a desktop application that helps you organize the people you follow on Twitter. This may be helpful if you are going to be following different groups of people on Twitter (e.g., fellow students from class, friends, co-workers). I have created groups for Edelman colleagues, friends, social media folk and brands on Twitter, just to name a few.
It’s easy to use: simply download the tool and follow the instructions provided. Tweetdeck is in beta, which means the developers are still working to improve the product, but it is operating quite well these days.
Let me know if you have any questions about it:
BrightKit (now called Hoot Suite – better service than name)
BrightKit recently won the Shorty Award for best Twitter Application. It is a handy tool that allows you to manage multiple profiles and schedule your tweets. You may be thinking, why would I want to have multiple Twitter accounts? Isn’t one enough?
For the casual user, yes, but businesses may want to have multiple accounts to address different issues. For example, Comcast has a very popular Twitter account for @comcastcares, where people can submit customer service requests. But what if they also wanted to talk about cable technology. This might make sense bundled as part of @comcastcares, or it could be something like @comcasttech.
I use BrightKit primarily to schedule when tweets will be sent. Occasionally I come across an article that I know my social media colleagues will like but I happen to have found it at midnight, when very few people are online. I may schedule the tweet to be sent at 10 am the next day, when more people are likely to read it.
Twitbacks and Twitterbacks
If you are tired of the generic background that Twitter gives you, you can also add a free, custom Twitter background using a couple different services, including Twitbacks and Twitterbacks (yes, these are two different services).
Hundreds more to choose from
There are literally hundreds of Twitter tools to use. The sheer number is testimony to how widespread its adoption has become.
Paul Matson has a good running list of the best Twitter applications, sorted by use. I encourage you to explore.
