TweetDeck’s posterous

Twitter can seem like a lonely place when you’re first starting out.  Fear not, help is at hand in the new version of TweetDeck with the new ‘TweetDeck Recommends’ column.  TweetDeck Recommends makes it easier for Twitter newbies or veterans of the Twitterverse alike to find new and interesting people to follow. 

We’ve hand picked people we find interesting, thought provoking, or even laugh out loud funny.  If you’re a new user this column will show up by default.  Don’t worry though it’s not a ‘new user only’ feature, if you’ve been using TweetDeck for a while but you’d still like inspiration on who to follow simply click the thumbs up icon and the TweetDeck Recommends column will be added.  When you find someone you’d like to follow simply click on Follow.  Job done!

If you’d like to suggest someone fascinating to include in TweetDeck Recommends in future please email us at recommend@tweetdeck.com with their Twitter username, what they tweet about and why you think we should include them.  Don’t bother getting your Mom to recommend you though, we’ll see straight through that.

Choice is good and that’s why we’re happy to give you another choice of photo sharing service with the addition of YFrog in the new version of TweetDeck. 

To change your settings and use YFrog to share your photos, simply click on ‘Settings’, then ‘Services’, then ‘YFrog’ to enable it. Plus you can watch our quick demo video to see with your own eyes exactly how to use YFrog.

It’s also easy to change your photo sharing service to YFrog on TweetDeck for iPhone by clicking on ‘Columns’ at the bottom of the screen, then ‘Settings’, choosing ‘Settings’ again and toggling to select YFrog as your picture sharing service of choice.

Sync has been one of the most popular feature requests among TweetDeck users for quite some time.  We’re a friendly bunch here in TweetDeck and we like to keep you guys happy.  That’s why the new version of TweetDeck lets you automatically sync all your columns and groups across any computer or iPhone. 

You’ll be able to access all your TweetDeck information no matter where you are and get up and running on any computer, Windows, Mac, Linux, or even iPhone in a matter of minutes without creating everything all over again. We’ll also safely store your information so you’ll never lose your settings if your computer crashes or you delete a group by mistake.

Plus TweetDeck keeps working in the background so whenever you change a group or add a new column it’s updated and available on all your computers and your iPhone. Just like magic.

So how do you do it?  First things first, you need to download the new version of TweetDeck and register for a TweetDeck account.  All your existing columns and groups will then be imported and safely stored in the TweetDeck cloud.

Next, download the new version to all of the other computers you use TweetDeck on and link these computers to your existing TweetDeck account by clicking on 'Settings', 'Sync' and then entering your TweetDeck account information and clicking on 'Verify Account'. 

If you’d like more help with syncing your TweetDeck information read our FAQs here.

So here’s the real deal, I’ve been dying to get multiple accounts on TweetDeck just as much as you all.  Switching between the TweetDeck account and my personal account got tired a long time ago. But we didn’t want to do it any old way, we wanted to make sure it worked brilliantly for you and allowed you to manage and tweet from all of your accounts at the same time without switching between them.

You can add another Twitter account easily in the settings window. Tweeting from any of your accounts is really easy and doesn’t require any switching, you can even cross post tweets. And managing all of your Twitter accounts couldn’t be easier, simply create columns for your various accounts so you can keep track of everything, all at once in TweetDeck. 

Plus with TweetDeck for iPhone managing multiple Twitter accounts is simple even when you’re on the move.

Now that multiple accounts is available in the new version of TweetDeck we hope you’ll agree it’s been worth the wait.

Thanks for all the amazing feedback about TweetDeck for iPhone we’re just as excited to be able to use TweetDeck on the move as you are. 

If you already use TweetDeck on the desktop the easiest way to get started is to download the new desktop version and register for a TweetDeck account.  This will sync all your existing information including columns and groups to the TweetDeck server.  Then all you need do is download TweetDeck for iPhone for free from the Apple App Store and enter your TweetDeck account details and you’ll be presented with a list of columns you can import and view on your iPhone. Magic, all your columns are synced and ready to go.  

You can use all your favourite TweetDeck features on the iPhone: tweet, create groups, save searches, shorten URLs, share photos, follow and unfollow people and much more.  There’s also a few new features we think you’re going to love:
•    Manage multiple Twitter accounts with no need to switch between accounts.
•    Notifications make it simple to see what’s new as it arrives so you never miss an important @reply or direct message again.  Click the notification message to be taken directly to the column you want to see.
•    Tweet your location or add your location to your Twitter profile. 
•    And when you need to refresh the content simply shake your iPhone to update. 
Visit our iPhone FAQs to find out more about how to use these features and more on your iPhone.

This is our debut on iPhone so watch this space as we’ll be continually improving going forward.  And if you don’t have an iPhone you can still watch the video to see what all the fuss is about.

When I started developing TweetDeck, almost a year ago, I was trying to solve a very specific problem. Twitter provided an amazing new source of information but was already becoming unwieldy. When I missed a tweet from one of my real world friends I realised there was no way to weight the importance of people I followed or easily digest the avalanche of information. Thinking about this I realized that this was an increasing problem across the entire Web – not just with Twitter. More and more, sites are serving consumers streams of information rather than static web pages. And today’s browsers aren’t set up to help us filter and digest this new format. So I started TweetDeck with a focus on Twitter but a bigger vision, to become a new browser for the real-time Web.

Today, we’re taking a step closer to that goal. From our humble beginnings just one year ago, we’ve had such an overwhelming response from you, our users.  Your support and ideas have helped get TweetDeck to where we are today – building a team in London, constantly improving the product, and trying to change the way people view streamed, real time data from the Web. And now, we are happy to announce big improvements to TweetDeck, both on and off the desktop.

First, we are announcing TweetDeck for the iPhone, which means that you can now take all your TweetDeck favourites, including columns, groups and saved searches, everywhere you go. Browse through columns with the flick of a fingertip, see what’s new as it arrives with notifications and simply shake your iPhone to refresh. And we’re giving you all of this goodness for free. TweetDeck for iPhone is now available to download free on the Apple App Store.

Second, we’re releasing a new version of TweetDeck for the desktop, with lots of new features that have been in high demand and things like sync that make the iPhone app possible. Here are the highlights: 

Sync – you can automatically synchronise TweetDeck between your desktop and iPhone, making it really simple to import your columns and groups so you can be up and running on iPhone in a matter of minutes – no reinventing the wheel. Sync works in the background so whenever you change a group or add a new search column it’s updated and available on all your computers and your iPhone. This also means that everything can be backed up in case your computer ever crashes.

Multiple account support – you can now have multiple accounts with no need to switch between them. Whether you’re on the desktop or iPhone we’ve made it simple to see all your columns, for all your accounts and tweet from any account or even cross-post tweets to numerous Twitter accounts at the same time. 

Unlimited columns – you’ll be happy to hear that you can now have as many columns as you’d like on TweetDeck. No more 10 columns limit, now the sky’s the limit.

Local trends – rather than only being able to see what’s trending on Twitter as a whole, with local trends, you can now see what’s hot among your own friends and colleagues. You’ll be able to run local trends on any of your columns in TweetDeck.

Here’s a quick list of everything else that you can expect to see in the new desktop version:

• Conversation window - View an entire dialogue all at once.
• Video playback - Watch Qik or 12seconds video clips from the comfort of TweetDeck. 
• New ‘Block & Report Spam’ button - Just one click will delete the message from view, block the user and report them to Twitter.
• TweetDeck Recommends column - Find new and interesting people to follow whether you’re a Twitter newbie or a veteran of the Twitterverse. 
• ‘Reply All’ - Tweet everyone mentioned in a tweet in just a couple of clicks.
• YFrog - Share and preview YFrog photos inside TweetDeck. 
• Smart filter – Start typing a username to find a person and add them to a group quickly and easily. 
• RE (In reference to) tweets – Easily comment on a discussion. 

Look out for some more in-depth blog posts on each of the key new features in the next few days on our blog and Twitter account. For now download it for yourself and try it out and download the new iPhone version from the Apple App Store. Please let us know what you think at hello@tweetdeck.com. And if you love TweetDeck please help us to spread the word about TweetDeck by tweeting and telling your friends about us. Thanks!!

Iain & The Team at TweetDeck

Cast your mind back to high school, even college. Remember staring blindly at the teacher as they parroted on for hours? Recall the painful silences when the teacher asked for people’s opinions? Or perhaps the monotony of that one student who always had something to say?

Well times have changed. Nowadays teachers and lecturers are using technologies like Wikipedia, Twitter and much more to get students, even the shy ones, more involved in their education. This video shows how a teacher at the University of Texas is using TweetDeck and Twitter to make history classes more interactive.

Professor Monica Rankin used TweetDeck to track the classes weekly discussions by creating a search column in TweetDeck for that week’s hashtag. She then projecting TweetDeck onto a large screen in the classroom so students could watch the stream of comments. Many of the students also downloaded TweetDeck onto their own computers so they could follow the discussion on their own desktops. Professor Rankin said “those using TweetDeck commented that it was a much friendlier user-interface”. High praise indeed Professor – Thanks!

It’s great to see TweetDeck being used to educate people.  If you have an unusual story of how you use TweetDeck please let us know, we’d love to hear it.

We’re big music fans here in TweetDeck and we love to see bands and musicians connecting with their fans on Twitter. So we were delighted when we saw Mark Hoppus and the rest of the guys in Blink182 using TweetDeck to talk to their fans on Twitter.

That got us thinking… Wouldn’t it be great if fans could get a special TweetDeck to stay connected with all the band’s news in real-time. So here you are, a custom-made Blink182 TweetDeck so you can keep up-to-date with news, tour dates and even get access to exclusive contests.

If you’re a die-hard fan you should be able to recognise the guitar riff from Dammit every time you get a new tweet. But don’t worry, if neighbouring desks start giving you the evil eye you can turn it off in the settings.

Download it now and let us know what you think. And keep watching, we’ve got some great new stuff coming your way very soon.