In our last post, we discovered what Twitter is, how to get started using Twitter, and how to “follow” other people on the Twitter network. Now that you have your feet wet in the Twitter universe, it’s time to make sense out of the “controlled chaos,” by throwing a lasso around Twitter to get it to work the way we want it to – both from an online and offline perspective.

My personal account on Twitter shows that I’m following 1,182 people, and 837 followers. Since I launched my Twitter client (more in this down below) this morning, I’ve received 3,155 “tweets” as of 2pm. I’m sure the first question that comes to mind is, “How can anyone possibly keep up with that kind of activity?” Great question, and the simple answer is – I can’t.

If I were to use Twitter.com to read all of my Tweets, I wouldn’t get any work done (heck, I wouldn’t be employed!) – so I only use the actual Twitter web site to check the number of followers I have, and that’s it.

Out of the 1,182 people I follow, I actually keep up with about 100 people who tweet. By now, you’re probably asking yourself, “Why wouldn’t I only follow 100 people if that’s the only people I want to keep up with?” Another great question. And the answer is – because you never know what you will come across in the main Twitter “stream.” I tend to follow online marketers, social marketers, bloggers, developers, and people that share the same passions that I do. However, that doesn’t mean that I care to know every single thing they post. So, in order to keep things orderly, I use a tool called TweetDeck, a free program that runs on the Adobe Air platform.

TweetDeck Example 1

Once you download, install, and configure TweetDeck with your Twitter account settings, the program will automatically organize your content into columns. You’ll see columns for “All Tweets,” “Replies,” “Direct Messages,” and “Favorites” when information is pulled from the Twitter API. The default setup is already much more usable than Twitter.com as you have the equivalent of four web pages displayed as four columns within one interface – i.e. no clicking on links to view the content that you desire.

As I stated above, I’m following (i.e. receiving updates from) almost 1,200 Twitter users, but I need a way to put a filter on the “noise.” Within TweetDeck, you have the ability to create additional columns of content. In my case, I’ve created one called “Favorite Tweeps.” Once this column was created, all I had to do was click on the title of the column itself, and TweetDeck presents me with a menu in which to add users to that column only. Viola! Now I have an easy to use method of reading tweets from the people I prefer to keep closer track of – as I find increased value in their posts compared to others that I’m following.

Filtering the Twitter Stream via TweetDeck

As you can see in the image above, all you have to do is simply create a group, name the group, and add people to it. In my personal endeavor to manage Twitter effectively, my “Favorite Tweeps” group allows me to group people effectively and keep up with the conversation. Not that I actually make that many replies in the course of a day – I don’t by any means. People feeding me information all day long is what allows me to stay on top of my game.

Sometimes, mainly at night, I’ll launch TweetDeck and scroll through the LONG list of the rest of the tweets that the people I’m following produce. If I find someone that I have further similar interests with, or that consistently posts information I’m interested in, I simply click on my “Favorite Tweeps” column, and then check their name to add them to my filtered stream. Sometimes I actually have to do the reverse and remove someone from my “Favorite Tweeps” column if I feel as though their overall contributions to MY interests do not warrant that close of a following. I still follow that person, but not to the degree that I once did.

TweetDeck is currently the most popular software available today to organize and keep track of your Twitter activity. Other top installed solutions are as follows:

Twhirl – Many people love this application, and the current version that I’ve been beta testing has a lot of promise
Twitterific – A solid tool, a bit on the expensive side. (Mac only)
Spaz – Free, cross-platform, feature rich (but not to the extent of TweetDeck
Snitter – Great for entering the world of Twitter, but somewhat limited as the number of people you follow grows

As Twitter as a communications vehicle becomes more important in your daily life, you’ll probably desire to find a mobile application for your phone that allows you to easily keep in touch with your Twitter stream. I have an iPhone, and have settled on “Tweetie” after trying 3-5 other solutions in the past.

Mobile Twitter client example - Tweetie for the iPhone

Tweetie allows me access to Twitter anywhere that my phone has reception. I can read what others have posted (raw Twitter stream, non-filtered), post a tweet, or even upload a picture I just took through integration with TweetPic (we’ll cover that service and additional ones in a later blog).

There are MANY different mobile Twitter clients available for almost every type of phone on the marketplace today – you can even use SMS messages or email as a way to directly interface with Twitter on the go. Listed below are some of the top-rated mobile clients for Twitter:

Twobile – A Twitter client for Windows Mobile devices
Twitula – Another Windows Mobile Twitter application
jTwitter – A Java-based mobile Twitter solution that runs on many phones
Twibble – Another Java-based application with tons of features

You may end up testing a few different Twitter clients out before you settle on just one. TweetDeck fully satisfies my desktop needs, but I’ve been through many mobile solutions, and will probably continue to test them – until TweetDeck is ported to the iPhone.

Matthew Brown
@MarketNet
http://www.marketnet.com