Category Archives: Twitter

Wave Of The Future: Pizzeria Marketing Itself With Social Media

I was recently at a launch party for Blellow , chatting with Robert Scoble about his joining Rackspace and working with small business on more ways to use social media.  One of the ways he mentioned was having a restaurant employee at the entrance, Twittering about what the restaurant was serving up today, what the specials were, who was passing through the door.

And so I was happy to see the following story to know that this was already being done successfully.

According to Teresa Garcia in South Bay pizzeria marketing itself with social media :
A South Bay business has now found an innovative way to use the hottest trend in social networking to help keep the business growing.

The Pizza Party parlor in Santa Clara has been spinning pizza pies in one shape or another since 1962.

“We have so many different varieties,” said co-owner Bear Silber, who joined the restaurant in the last six months, but is already diving head in to modernize this nearly half century old business.

“You can find us on Facebook; we’re on Twitter,” said Silber.

This is a sign of the next generation of marketing.

“I’m young. I’m only 26, and I use the Internet everyday anyways,” said Silber.

Silber swears by using online social networking tools, like Twitter and Facebook, as a fresh, free, and fast way to market his small business.

“Immediately when I have an idea, I can tweet it,” said Silber.

Pizza Party already has more than 1,000 followers on Twitter and Silber sends them instant messages about different meal deals and other incentives to come in.

“On Super Bowl Sunday, whoever came in wearing their team’s jersey got free pizza,” said Silber. “Sharks games, same thing,. I’ll do the same thing. I’ll put those out on my Twitter.”.

It has become a marketing and advertising tool that is beginning to help increase business, especially critical during this rocky economy.

Silber says social media can be useful for many types of businesses. The challenge is to think, and act, outside-the-box.

“Especially within the traditional mom and pop pizza parlor, they’re so used to Yellow Page ads, doorbell hangers. These old, old marketing things that in my mind aren’t successful,” said Silber.

But it’s not just Twitter and Facebook that has catapulted Pizza Party into the 21st century. Silber has even developed a way for customers to connect by iPhone.

“We actually have an icon here. It’s its own app. It’s an iPhone app,” said Silber.

And if you really want to feel connected with your pizza, visit www.pizzapartyonline.comfrom a computer or a mobile phone, and you can watch your pizza being made live on three different cameras. Now that is one modern way to get your customers drooling.

For more information:

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From The Mouth Of A Guru: How to Get Retweeted

Guy Kawasaki, American venture capitalist and ...
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Just about no one on the Net is more of a guru than Guy Kawasaki of How to Change the World and very few are retweeted more.  Does he have a “secret sauce” for getting retweeted?  Well, yes, he says to write better shitake, but he also has some very specific advice and, once you read it, you’ll probably have a Eureka! moment like I did beause it all sounds so simple and self evident when Guy spells it out for you:

Forget imitation as the sincerest form of flattery—it’s as twentieth century as ripping off interfaces, songs, photos, and books. Today, the sincerest form of flattery is retweeting—the process of forwarding someone else’s tweet to your followers on Twitter. (I assume that you know about Twitter. If you don’t, take a minute and read this description at Answers.com.)

The reason that retweeting is so flattering is that every time people do it, they are putting their reputation on the line. If their followers don’t like the retweet, their reputation is reduced. So whenever someone retweets your tweet, they are expressing confidence that what you’ve tweeted is interesting and good. Thus, the best measure of someone’s quality as a Twitter user is not the number of followers but the amount of retweets.

Luckily, there are several sites that measure retweeting: Retweetist and Dan Zarrella’s Most Retweeted. (On both lists, ignore Garymccafrey because that’s a scheme to increase followers and nothing to do with quality retweeting.) These two lists provide a very good proxy for who’s worth following on Twitter. Do notice the Grand-Canyon size difference between these lists of people who are most retweeted and the people who have the most followers at TwitterCounter.

Hopefully I’ve convinced you that frequent retweets is a salient goal. The question becomes, “What do I need to do to get retweeted?” Allow me to digress. I was once asked at a blogging conference what my SEO strategy was (search engine optimization—that is, how to get Google to put your stuff higher in search results). I must have been “on” that day because I said, “Write good shiitake.” (Actually, I used a shorter word than “shiitake,” but I can’t post it here.) The answer to getting retweeted is just about the same: tweet good shiitake, and here’s how:

  1. Answer the right question.. There are pockets of Twitter users who want to bond with small group of people and learn the answer to the original Twitter question: “What are you doing?” These are the the folks that enjoy tweets that say, “My cat just rolled over” and “The line at Starbucks is long.” The question you should answer if you want retweets is “What’s interesting?” for your group of followers. For example, the story that Taiwanese scientists bred glow-in-the-dark pigs is a lot more interesting than what your cat is doing and therefore a lot more likely to get retweeted.
  2. Tweet about Twitter. Twitter users love to read about Twitter—anything about Twitter: how to use it better, lists of companies on Twitter, lists of CEOs on Twitter, what some analyst thinks of Twitter, what’s wrong with Twitter, list of Firefox plugins for Twitter, the top ten ugliest avatars—you name it. If you find a blog post or new item about Twitter, tweet it, and it will probably get retweeted.
  3. Explain how to do something. Whether it’s roast a turkey, hot wire a car, take away an assailant’s gun, kiss a woman, polish silverware, or hack a road sign, the words “How to” and “The art of” are magical terms on Twitter and bound to get any tweet starting with them retweeted. This is because anything starting with these terms is likely to be educational. Power tip: use Lifehacks.alltop and GTD.alltop.
  4. Break news. Ironically, you shouldn’t assume that everyone instantly knows that a plane landed in the Hudson just because you do. You could probably follow the Twitter newsbot of CNN (@cnnbrk), retweet its tweets, and get retweeted. Still, what’s the challenge in that? It would be better to find news from niche topics that you are passionate about whether is science (first frozen water found on Mars), fashion, psychology, pets, or politics. If in doubt, tweet it. Most tweets are noise, so yours will probably stand out.
  5. Provide the bizarre. Sometimes it scares me, but tweets about bizarre stuff works. For example, could you resist reading and then retweeting a story about robbers who were caught after using women’s thong underwear to cover their faces? Believe it or not, stuff like this gets retweeted.
  6. Provide links. There mere existence of a link in your tweet enhances its credibility. Essentially, it’s saying: “This isn’t something I made up or wish; I actually have a verifiable, outside source.” I realize that this is stretching the point, but links are pretty irresistible and get more so as you increase your credibility. The goal is that the link takes people to something that’s enlightening or entertaining, and they thank you by retweeting it. For example, the neuroscience of social conformity.

Finally, there are two tips from Dan Zarrella in “The Science of ReTweets” (this posting inspired me to write this in the first place). First, don’t hesitate to ask people to retweet your tweet. “Please” is a powerful word no matter who you are. Second, tweet from approximately 9:00 am to 2:00 pm Pacific time. My interpretation of Dan’s recommendation is that the West Coast is now up and at work and the East Coast is eating lunch at their desks so that they are checking Twitter.

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Need A Job? Social Media To The Rescue!

You've Got the Job
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Twitter your way into a job!  Yes, you can.

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Have You Updated Your Social Media Toolkit?

Dave Fleet has spent some time thinking about this and has developed a What's your social media toolkit?helpful way to organize your relationship management online.

In What’s In Your Social Media Toolkit? Dave says:

You can think of social media as a set of tools that organizations can use for a variety of purposes – customer service, branding, promotion, relationship-management, etc. Just as with any toolkit, you’re not going to use every tool every time.

Sometimes the hammer fits, but if you’re trying to measure something the hammer is pretty much useless. Similarly, sometimes a blog will fit perfectly, while other times YouTube might be a more suitable tool. Sometimes (say it ain’t so!) social media outreach won’t fit at all.

If social media represents a set of tools – what’s in your toolkit?

Over the last two years my online toolkit has shifted back and forth as tools have come and gone. Recently, however, I’ve noticed a bit more stability in the services I use. Is this a reflection of a slightly maturing marketplace? Or just of a tough economy?

Here’s my current toolkit. I use these tools pretty much every day:

What’s in your toolkit? What’s changed from a year ago?

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From The Mouth Of A Guru- How #FollowFriday and Hashtags Work

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Pete Cashmore, CEO at Mashable, a social media company, and one of the most followed Tweeters on the Net at 319,528
Followers explains #followfriday at Mashable on Tumblr – How #FollowFriday and Hashtags Work. :

Since a lot of people are asking me about hashtags, and a Tweet isn’t enough space to explain, a few quick lines on how hashtags and #followfriday work:

1. Hashtags are used to identify a topic on Twitter. Add # to the front of a word to make it a topic. Example: #followfriday

2. #followfriday is a game in which people suggest who to follow on Twitter. It helps everyone find interesting Tweeps. You list the users you recommend following and add “#followfriday” so people can find your tweet. My suggestions: #followfriday @adamostrow @sharonfeder @jbruin @adamhirsch

3. You can find everyone’s #followfriday suggestions here: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23followfriday

Hope that helps.

PS. Pete had nothing to do with the invention of #followfriday. You can thank @micah for that!

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27 More Great Twitter Applications

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We’re all learning to Twitter and it seems everyday there are more tools to help us.

Want to make your website or blog more interactive?

Twit This – Allow visitors to your blog or website to easily post Twitter messages about you or your business.  Post the TwitThis button to your website or blog pages with the instructions and coding provided on their site.

Want the powerful Twitter phenomenon to help you market?

TwitterHawk – This marketing app helps you connect with consumers in your area and related to the keywords you choose.  TwitterHawk will send Twitter users your custom response when they tweet your keyword in locations that you specify.  Say you sell shoes and you want your response to reach anyone within a 20 mile radius of your business.  When someone 7 miles away tweets about shoes, your response will automatically be sent to that person.

Amanda in 27 Twitter Applications Your Small Business Can Use Today has gathered these and other tools to help you reach out and market yourself or your business:

Twitter Toolbar – Downloading this free toolbar gives you instant access to Twitter.  You can use the toolbar to access online Twitter tools, check your Twitter stats, post your updates and more.  Versions are available for both Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Twitoria – This simple application lets you quickly find out which of your followers has not been actively tweeting.  Easily sort through your network of followers and purge the inactive users.

Monitter – Get a live streaming view at what Twitter users in your location are saying about you or your small business.  Simply insert keywords you would like to search for and the surrounding area you would liked monitored.

Bubble Tweet – This unique application lets you post a short video message that pops up on your Twitter profile in a bubble shaped player.  You can personally introduce yourself and/or your business to anyone who visits your profile.

Twitter Gallery – A collection of free backround themes for your Twitter account.  You can use the one click installation or manually install them yourself.  Lots of nice designs and colors to choose from.

Tweepler – Simplify the way you manage your Twitter followers.  Tweepler enables you to easily sort through new followers and accept them or ignore them on one simple screen.  They have made accepting followers easier by giving the Tweepler user the followers stats and last 3 tweets in one screen view.  This will save you time by eliminating the need to visit each individual follower’s profiles.

StockTwits – Follow and join into conversations with traders and investors.  An active community of investors are sharing their views on current market conditions and recent news happenings. You can quickly see what others are saying about investments in your portfolio.

HelloTxt – Update your status to several social networking sites in one simple step.  You can choose from over 35 social sites to post to including Twitter.

TwitterFox – This Firefox extension is one of my personal favorites.  You can post Twitter updates without visiting the Twitter site each time.  A small icon is added to the bottom of your Firefox status bar.  The icon opens to reveal your friend’s most current updates.  You can add your updates from that dialog box, even for multiple Twitter accounts.

Future Tweets – Do you have something to promote on Twitter tomorrow but are afraid of forgetting to do it?  With FutureTweets, you can schedule your tweet ahead of time for a specific date and time.  Even schedule reoccuring tweets to post daily, monthly, even yearly.

TwitPic – Share your favorite pictures on Twitter.  This would be a good way to introduce your new product to your network of followers.

twtQpon – Create exclusive coupons for your business services or products and share them with your Twitter followers.

Tweetburner – This site is designed to help you track your tweets.  With Tweetburner you can shorten URLs and track the clicks your tweets accumulate.

Tweetbeep – Just like Google Alerts, Tweetbeep tracks Twitter conversations that mention you, your business or your products and services.  Alerts are sent to you via email.

Twitter Counter – Proudly display the number of Twitter followers on your business blog or website.  Add the badge to your site and invite customers to follow you on Twitter.

Group Tweet – This app enables all employees within your company to post updates which can be privately viewed only by your group of approved members.

Twitter Safe – This free service protects your years of hard work building your community of followers.  This one click backup will restore your network of followers in the event that your list is compromised.

Twitxr – Post product pictures and updates from your mobile phone directly to Twitter.

Track This – This app enables tracking of any UPS, USPS, FedEx or DHL shipment.  Updates are sent to your Twitter account direct messages whenever your package changes location.

CoTweet – CoTweet lets your company manage one Twitter account while allowing several employees to contribute.  Each person maintains their own identity and their activity can be monitored.

Tweet Later – This one application contains several Twitter productivity tools.  You can track keywords, track replies, schedule tweets, send welcome direct messages, and much more.

Splitweet – Managing and updating multiple Twitter accounts is easily done from one screen.  Choose to send updates to one or all accounts in one step.  You can also follow your brand with notification when your company is mentioned on Twitter.

Twimailer – Sign up to receive more extensive email notifications when your account obtains new followers.  Instead of the generic Twitter email notification; the email contains the followers location, followers stats and their most recent tweets.  At the bottom of the email, you can choose to follow the individual without even visiting Twitter.

Digsby – Keep track of everything your followers are doing at all times.  The Digsby box display gives you a real time view into your Twitter account right from your browser.

HootSuite – Easily manage multiple Twitter profiles, pre-schedule tweets and measure your progress.  You can even add multiple editors to your business profile.

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How Will The Facebook Vs. Twitter Competition Shake Out?

My social Network on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter...
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That’s a tough one.  Facebook and Twitter both have a lot of juice, a lot of followers and a ton of good reasons to use them.  I’ve already looked at the similarities and huge difference between them: Twitter or Facebook?  Why you need both for different reasons.

But guru Paul Scoble analyze’s these differences from a business point of view, and picks Facebook as a winner for forming a more intimate relationship with the Facebook user.

Why Rob Diana is right: Twitter gets the hype while Facebook will get the gold:.

“I’m going to skip right down to the meat of what Scoble’s thoughts are:

The “publicness” of Twitter makes a TON of sense for someone like Ronn Owens who wants to reach a world-wide audience with very little work. Facebook makes less sense because it’s not only more work (there’s a lot more to do on Facebook than just write simple text messages from a cell phone) but it isn’t as public so it’s harder to get new followers.

But this is exactly why people tell me they use Facebook instead of Twitter. So, Facebook has the numbers (about 180 million for Facebook vs. about 10 million for Twitter). It is also why Rob Diana is right: people will put more intimate stuff, like having a baby, into Facebook rather than Twitter.

Only weirdos like me like sharing intimate stuff in a public forum and having conversations. Hint: for every weirdo like me, there are 1000 who are like my wife and only want to discuss that stuff with their “true friends.”

Which brings me back to Rob Diana’s point. It’s those intimate details that will bring advertising opportunities. “I’m having a baby shower in San Francisco at the Hyatt” is the type of thing normal people will share in Facebook with their friends but will never think of sharing in Twitter. Yet that’s the kind of information that a brand like the Hyatt needs to engage with you.

When I went to Las Vegas recently and said I was staying in the Luxor, someone got back to me at the Luxor on Twitter and said something like “let me know if I can help you, I can get you show tickets and make reservations for you.”

This kind of customer intimacy will be far more prevalent over on Facebook because WE are far more intimate there.

Rob is right, I wonder how Twitter is going to shift to get us to be more intimate with sharing the intimate details of our lives?

Oh, and I wonder how Facebook is going to keep us sharing the intimate details of our lives as it tries to add businesses to the social graph? The first time some business answers back a Facebooker like the Luxor did to me on Twitter they might get freaked out, so Facebook has to be careful here.

So, why would Facebook get any money from the Luxor? I can see a ton of ways. Can’t you?

Think of the Yellow Pages. Simple listings are free there (or were back when I advertised in the 1980s). But bigger ads that are more impressive cost thousands per month. Use that model on Facebook. Imagine a brand, like Luxor, just wants to say hi. That’s free. But how about post a link? That’ll be $4 please. And on and on.”

Agree?  Disagree?  Share your thoughts!  Come on….. you must all be on Facebook or Twitter or both.  Let us know what you think.

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Social Networks To Help You Get Your Word Out

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Social Networks
- Make Tweet Love – Top Tips for Building Twitter Relationships
- The Battle for Your Social Status
- Twitter Tools for Communication and Community Professionals
- Is Twitter a Viable Conversation Platform
- Is FriendFeed the Next Conversation Platform
- The Social Revolution is Our Industrial Revolution
- The State of Social Media
- Free ebook: The Essential Guide to Social Media

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Yes! You Actually Can Find A Job Using Twitter

HOW TO: Find a Job on Twitter.

job wanted imageSarah Evans author of a PR and social media blog and is founder of #journchat has studied how to squeeze the last ounce of juice out of Twitters as a job search tool and she shares her insights,  which I think are really helpful.  According to Sarah:

Get the most out of your page

• Make your Twitter presence “employer-friendly”

o Put your job pitch in your Twitter bio (which is 160 characters)
o Use a professional looking avatar
o Tweet about your job search

• Utilize your Twitter background. There’s lots of space you can use to promote yourself. Don’t know how to create a professional-looking Twitter background? Use this free template to design your own.

• Include a link to an online CV or resume in your bio. Use a tool like VisualCV. (For more information on building an online resume, see Dan Schawbel’s post HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Social Media Resume)

• Establish yourself as an expert in your field on Twitter. It’s important to note that you should not misrepresent yourself. If you’re not a medical doctor, don’t play one on Twitter. As those on Twitter become interested in your content, when employers are looking at you, you’ll have more than just your resume to back up your knowledge and experience.

“It’s about who you know”

How do you get to know the right people? It’s not always about who you’re looking for, some people on Twitter are actually looking for YOU.

There are many job recruiters who use Twitter to look for potential candidates. Before contacting a recruiter via Twitter, check out:

• Their bio
• Follower/Following ratio (Have they been around a while? Do they follow people back?)
• Click the link to their website
• Ask others in your network whether or not the recruiter is a credible source

Here are a few recruiters representing different professions and industries on Twitter:

Christa Foley a.k.a. @electra – Christa is the recruiting manager and recruiter at Zappos.com. Christa gives followers an inside look into her career at Zappos. She tweets out examples of negative recruiting interactions with potential clients, outreach she does with high school and college students, and ultimately looks for potential Zappos candidates.

christa foley twitter imageCraig Fisher a.k.a. @Fishdogs – Craig is an IT and executive recruiter who co-founded A-List Solutions staffing firm. On Twitter he offers tweets on how to find a job in the web industry, hiring tips and tricks, along with professional career advice.

Jim Durbin a.k.a. @smheadhunter – A social media recruiter, Jim is active on the Twitter scene. His goal is to partner “social media gurus” with the right companies. Jim responds to followers’ questions, offers general recruiting advice and sends out “teaser” tweets for positions he thinks followers might be interested in.

Jennifer McClure a.k.a. @CincyRecruiter – Jennifer is an executive recruiter/coach. She often tweets out specific advice for job seekers, including words not to use on a resume. Jennifer is accessible to her followers and tweets about non-recruiting topics as well.

Laurie DesAutels a.k.a. @biotechjobs – Laurie recruits a specific niche, looking for senior level leaders in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Her tweet stream includes links to other job search resources and lots of Twitter information.

Job search tools & resources

A reactive job search on Twitter probably isn’t the best way to find a job. There are many new Twitter tools and applications to assist with a proactive job search.

@Microjobs

Started by well-known PR professional, Brian Solis, @Microjobs was developed to bring together job seekers and recruiters through tweets.

How does it work?
Recruiters begin their tweets with @Microjobs, and then submit. The @Microjobs account automatically tweets out requests to its growing network of job seekers.

microjobs twitter image

TweetMyJobs

Another tool born out of Twitter for job seekers and recruiters. Follow the hashtag #Tweetmyjobs and visit the website. This is a very simple (and free) tool for job seekers. You can subscribe to desired job channels and even have new openings automatically sent to your mobile phone. Even better? You can specify which cities you want notifications from.

tweetmyjobs

Job search accounts

There are a variety of Twitter accounts dedicated to providing job listings by field, company, region, and more. Once you’ve decided which best match your job search, consider turning on mobile alerts for these accounts to be among the first to receive messages (if your mobile phone plan includes SMS messages).

By company

@attjobs – Jobs at AT&T
@mtvnetworksjobs – Jobs at MTV
@TRCareers – Jobs from Thomson Reuters

By field

@alldevjobs – Developer jobs
@ArtDirectorJobs – Art director jobs
@cwjobs – Copywriter jobs
@jobsinhiphop – Jobs in Hip-Hop
@journalism_jobs – Jobs in journalism
@juicyjobs – Green jobs
@libgig_jobs – Library Jobs
@mediabistrojobs – Media job listings from mediabistro.com
@medical_jobs – Medical jobs
@media_pros – Jobs for media professionals
@narmsjobs – Retail marketing jobs
@PRSAjobcenter – Jobs in public relations, communications and marketing
@reflectx – Physical Therapy jobs
@seojobs – SEO job listings
@socialmediajob – Jobs in social media
@travelmaxallied – Healthcare jobs
@travelnursejob – Jobs for traveling nurses
@usmusicjobs – US Music Jobs
@web_design_jobs – Web design and other graphics jobs

By job type

@findinternships – Internships and entry level jobs for college students
@freelance_jobs – Freelance jobs
@heatherhuhman – Entry level jobs and internships
@Project4Hire – Freelance and temporary jobs
@jewish_jobs – Jewish job listings

By region

@MyBristolJobs – Job listings from mybristoljobs.co.uk
@chicagowebjobs – Web-related jobs in Chicago
@ChicagoTechJobs – Technology jobs in the greater Chicago area
@ITJobsLondon – IT jobs in London
@ITJobsSydney – IT jobs in Sydney, Australia
@JobsBoston – Jobs in the greater Boston area
@jobshawaii – Jobs in Hawaii
@NewYorkTechJobs – Technology jobs in the greater New York area
@PDXJobs – Jobs in Portland, Oregon
@sdjobs – San Diego technology jobs
@sfmobilejobs – Mobile Web and Digital Media jobs in Silicon Valley
@mtltweetjobs – PR/marketing/social media/tech jobs in Montreal
@TopJobsInLondon – Top jobs in London, UK
@web20jobs – UK-based web 2.0 jobs

General

@JobAngels – Helping the unemployed find jobs
@indeed – One search. All jobs.
@jobshouts – General job postings
@simplyhired – Job search site
@StartUpHire – Jobs at VC backed companies
@twithire – Job board service

To find additional Twitter job resources, use the Twitter search function and type in keywords important in your job search. For example, “job openings,” “looking for a job,” or “healthcare career.” Additionally, you can search out others in your desired career field on sites like Twellow, Just tweet it, and TwitterTroll.

Your next job could be just a tweet away.

Have more tips, accounts, or stories of your own to add? Tell us about them in the comments.

More job resources

We first should add our own diversity job site:  Careers.AdvancingWomen.com.

And also those below:

- 30+ Websites to Visit When You’re Laid Off
- 7 Secrets to Getting Your Next Job Using Social Media
- 10 Ning Networks to Help You Land Your Next Job
- CAREER TOOLBOX: 100+ Places to Find Jobs
- Top 10 Social Sites for Finding a Job
- Mashable’s Job Board

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From The Mouth Of A Guru: How to Tweet Deck like a Pro

TwitScoop and Twitter search filters in Tweetdeck
Image by Kevglobal via Flickr

I don’t know about you, but I’m still learning all the best tools for Twitter, learning to tweet and need all the best help I can get.  I found this pretty useful and hope you will too.

GissiSim.com | How to Tweet Deck like a PRO.

How to Tweet Deck like a PRO

People have been asking me for more tips about how I use my Tweet Deck. I was sort of wanting to give twitter a little rest. However the response has been overwhelming, so here we are. I’m personally under the impression that there is no other client worth using. Yes it’s not the prettiest client around. At first it can be awkward to use. However once you learn how to use it like a power user, you’ll never know how you tweeted without it!

First time

When you first start your tweet deck up, you’ll be greeted with 3 columns. All Friends, Replies, Direct Messages, and there might be a TwitScoop column all the way at the right. If TwitScoop column is there, close it quickly with the X in top right. Also close the Replies column. What you want to do first is click on the Search button in the toolbar in the top left, it’s the magnifying glass icon =) searchbutton search1 Now you’ll get a nice search box popping up. Write your twitter username into it. This is the column that will replace the replies one we closed earlier. The reason we do this is because sometimes people forget to add the @, also you’re own tweets come in there so you can remember what people are replying to =) Now use the arrow at the bottom of your new column to move it to where the old replies column was.

Settings

Something that is worth getting out of the way quickly. There are a few things you want to change right away. Start by turning off the annoying noise tweet deck does every time new tweets come in. Select the Narrow column view, lets you fit more columns in. You can uncheck the “Include All Friends Notifications” since it’s not a very informative notification. I personally prefer the Tweet Window at the bottom, try it out for yourself and see. One other thing that is optional is to Open profiles in web page, it’s good if you are big on looking at profiles since looking at them takes API calls. You only get 100 API calls an hour. I actually have this selected at work. Here is what your general tab might look like: settings_general You can play with the Colors/Font tab all you want, I’m not going to give you any pro tips on that =) However the API tab is something you need to look into. It’s hard for me to tell you exactly what is best in your situation, so here is a screenshot of how I have mine set. settings_api

Buddies

Once you reach a certain number of people that you follow, your going to want to set up a group. Click on the group button in the top toolbar. buddiesbutton In my case I only have one group set up. This group is for my close friends and family, people who’s tweets I don’t want to miss at all. I have very few people in this group just so it doesn’t get over crowded. I’m sure that once people have even more followers it will be nice to set up a few different groups for different groups of people. One for professionals, one for co workers, etc etc. Now there are a few ways to add people to your newly created group. However I find the best way to do this is by mousing over their profile image, click on the more icon. You’ll get a dropdown where you can choose to add them to any group that you would like. moreoptionsdrop Looking at this menu you will see a lot of very useful features. One that I actually use on this list is the Translate one. Sometimes the people I’m following will write one and one tweet in a different language, and instead of unfollowing them like some people do, I just translate the tweet =) Once you reach this point you should have a window that looks something like this: maincolumns

Search and Filter

Now it’s on to what makes twitter so powerful. I’ve learned to use this to watch how my blog articles are traveling. See what people are talking about on a certain subject. You name it, the search functionality can do it. I’m sure I’m not using it for everything it can be used for yet, however it’s been very useful with how I’m using it as is. You’ve seen how to do a search with your username and replies, so you achieve this in the same way. What I like to write in there is the name of a blog article that I’m promoting at the moment, since people that tweet about it rarely include my name in it anymore. Also this way I can find new people that like my articles and webpage, in return following them or get to know them. If your blog article is long enough it should be enough to just write it as is, however sometimes you might want to put quotes around it “How to blog like a pro” that way you get those words in exactly that order. Another thing I like to do is have a open search on something I’m interested in like Sharepoint, Apple, CMS, PHP, WordPress etc. This way if I see someone write anything interesting about something I’m INTERESTED in, I can add them =) So here is an example of how my TweetDeck is now: searchblog Now there is really one more thing left to talk about and that is the filter. I’ve talked about this before in an earlier article, however I want to include it here as well. At the bottom of every column there is a filtering button. searchrt Like I’ve talked about here you can write things like http and RT @ to get some of the best of what your friends are talking about. You can filter more things than just for text, you can filter by User, by Time, and by Service they entered the tweet. So another thing I like to do is select services and write blip to get some good music people are talking about =) searchblip One last thing about filtering before I wrap up this article is that you can also select to filter things MINUS a specific word, or time, or person etc etc. Can be very useful if someone is tweet spamming, or however you would like to use it =)

If you have some more tips or hint on how to best use Tweek Deck, please add a comment or Tweet me.  Thanks.

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