There are many clients and plug-ins available to get you onto Twitter but my own personal favourite is TweetDeck (TD), an Adobe Air application. I’ve been using it for a couple of months, amongst others but I found it to be the most flexible having both single and multi-column formats.

For those of you that haven’t seen it before; you can see some snapshots in both single and multi-column styles below;

{single column} and {multi-column} format

The great thing about TD I have to admit are the panels, working from a single column/panel makes it tricky to follow particular topics or tweeters. I’ll tell you how I’ve set mine up, it may give you some ideas or highlight some features you may not have discovered yet.

From the snapshot you can see the 5 panels I have setup;

{5 panel shot}

From left to right;

• All Tweets – this displays all the messages from the people I follow
• Replies – obviously all the messages sent with my name it…
• Group – this panel shows only tweets from the people I have chosen
• Global Search – panels 4 & 5 are the same only the search criteria is different

WORKING THE TWEETS

GROUPS

When you click on the “Group” button (3rd from top/left) you’ll be asked for a name for the group, and then all you have to do is check all the people you want to be included.

{create group}

Once you press “Save Group” only the tweets from the people you’ve selected will show in that panel. You can of course create any number of groups with many different members. This type of group doesn’t impact your Twitter refresh rate as it only uses Twitters own search facility and doesn’t make any additional API calls to Twitter.

SEARCHES

Click on the “Search” button – it’s the small magnifying glass. You will be given the opportunity to type something to search for; you could for example use “iPhone” or “Heroes”. Of course you could also include a Twitter’s ID here as I have for “imjustcreative” and “styletime“. I’ve known Graham and Roger from almost day one of my Twittering experience, and from following these guys I’ve been introduced to many more designers simply because the search will include people you currently aren’t following – if you see a interesting conversation or individual it’s easy to follow them from within TD.

Tip: You all know that you have a set amount of usage time per hour for your login account; this includes *ALL* clients you use – such as TD, Twirl and any other applications either local or on the web that uses your Twitter account to *READ’s* info on your behalf – posting info is free. It’s therefore important that you never have more than a single client application (TD, Twirl etc) running at once otherwise you’ll use up all you time and won’t be able to receive any new updates.

@johnhaydon also made a great How to use Tweetdeck video check it out!

You can see how I’ve tailored my TD usage using Groups and Searches; if you’ve used other features or tricks then please add them to the comments below, or if you use other clients let the world know…

This was a guest post bought to you by ‘Ski Mask Boy’otherwise known as Martin Newham. Martin work’s for a blue chip I.T. company as well as running his own freelance web company. Follow Martin on twitter!