Michael Miller
SamsTeachYourself
TweetDeck in 10 Minutes
800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46240
Sams Teach Yourself TweetDeck in 10 Minutes Copyright © 2011 by Sams Publishing
Associate Publisher Greg Wiegand
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ISBN-13: 978-0-672-33549-2 ISBN-10: 0-672-33549-5
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Contents Introduction 1 How TweetDeck Consolidates Your Social Networking What TweetDeck Is—And What It Does Connecting to Multiple Social Networks Who Uses TweetDeck—and Why Exploring Different Versions of TweetDeck Summary
2 Downloading and Installing TweetDeck Downloading and Installing TweetDeck for Desktop Creating Your TweetDeck Account Launching TweetDeck for Desktop Configuring TweetDeck for Other Social Network Accounts Summary
3 Navigating TweetDeck Touring TweetDeck for Desktop Navigating the Toolbar Navigating Columns Using TweetDeck for Desktop Summary
4 Adding and Arranging Columns Reviewing Available Columns Adding a New Column Arranging Columns
Deleting Columns Summary
5 Reading Tweets and Posts Reading Tweets and Status Updates Displaying Update Notifications Filtering Column Contents Clearing Tweets and Updates Summary
6 Tweeting and Posting Creating a New Post Shortening a Post Cross-Posting for Longer Tweets Including Hashtags Scheduling a Post in Advance Summary
7 Tweeting Links and Photos Embedding Shortened Links Embedding Photos Viewing Twitter Photos in TweetDeck Summary
8 Sharing Videos in TweetDeck Sharing a Video File Recording a Webcam Video Embedding a YouTube Video Summary
9 Using TweetDeck to Manage Twitter Activities Retweeting Replying to Tweets "Favoriting" Tweets Sending a Direct Message Finding People to Follow Unfollowing a User Tracking Specific People Tracking Specific Topics Summary
10 Using TweetDeck to Connect with Facebook Friends Picking Columns to Display Tracking Specific Friends Viewing Friends’ Profiles Retweeting Facebook Status Updates to Twitter Viewing and Making Comments Liking a Status Update Sending Private Messages Writing on a Friend’s Wall Summary
11 Using TweetDeck on Your iPhone Understanding TweetDeck for iPhone Getting Started Navigating TweetDeck for iPhone Managing Columns Creating a New Update
Managing Application Settings Summary
12 Configuring TweetDeck Configuring General Settings Configuring Twitter-Related Settings Configuring Notifications Configuring Appearance Configuring Services Configuring Accounts Syncing Your Account Filtering Updates Summary
About the Author Michael Miller has written more than 100 nonfiction books over the past two decades, with more than one million copies sold worldwide. His bestselling titles include Facebook for Grown-Ups, Sams Teach Yourself YouTube in 10 Minutes, Sams Teach Yourself Wikipedia in 10 Minutes, Sams Teach Yourself Google Analytics in 10 Minutes, Windows 7 Your Way, and Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Computer Basics. He also created Que’s Facebook Essentials video tutorial and authored the Introduction to Social Networking textbook for Prentice Hall/Pearson. Mr. Miller has established a reputation for practical advice, technical accuracy, and an unerring empathy for the needs of his readers. For more information about Mr. Miller and his writing, visit his website at www.molehillgroup.com or email him at
[email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter as @molehillgroup.
Dedication To Sherry: Ten minutes is never enough.
Acknowledgments I’d like to thank the usual suspects at Sams who turned my manuscript into a real book, including but not limited to Katherine Bull, Greg Wiegand, Lori Lyons, and Barbara Hacha. Thanks also to technical editor Erik Deckers, who made sure I really knew what I was writing about. .
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Introduction Do you like to tweet? Or follow other people’s tweets? Are you a heavy Facebook user? Do you like to follow your favorite entertainers on MySpace? Do you network with other business professionals on LinkedIn? If you engage in one or more of these activities, you know how time consuming the whole social networking thing can be. This is especially true if you participate in more than one social network. Trying to keep track of your friends and posts on Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn can be a real pain. Unless, that is, you use TweetDeck, a program designed to consolidate all your social networking activities. TweetDeck is a godsend for heavy social networkers, letting you write a single message and post it to multiple networks. It even lets you track posts from friends on Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and the rest. One program for multiple social networks— what’s not to like? The problem with TweetDeck is that it’s not always intuitive to use. There are lots of things it can do that you probably haven’t figured out how to do, and there’s no proper instruction manual or help file to help you learn. In short, TweetDeck is a great program—if you could figure out how to use it. That's where this book comes in. Sams Teach Yourself TweetDeck in 10 Minutes is a quick-and-easy way to learn how to use TweetDeck to manage all your social network communications. Every lesson in this book is short and to the point, so you can learn everything you need to learn at your own pace, in your own time. Just follow the straightforward Sams Teach Yourself in 10 Minutes game plan: short, goal-oriented lessons that can make you productive with each topic in 10 minutes or less.
What You Need to Know Before You Use This Book How much prior experience do you need before starting this book? I assume that you’re already using one or more social networks and that you know how that social network works. So if you’re a Twitter user, I assume you know how to tweet and retweet and use hashtags and things like that. If you’re a Facebook user, I assume you know how to create status updates and read your wall and do other basic tasks. Beyond these basic skills with your social networks of choice, no prior experience with TweetDeck is presumed. I’ll take you from downloading and installation to advance use of the program in a step-by-step fashion, teaching you everything you need to know along the way.
About the Sams Teach Yourself in 10 Minutes Series Sams Teach Yourself TweetDeck in 10 Minutes uses a series of short lessons that walk you through the various features of TweetDeck for Desktop and TweetDeck for iPhone. Each lesson is designed to take about 10 minutes, and each is limited to a particular operation or group of features. Most of the instruction is presented in easy-to-follow numbered steps, and there are plenty of examples and screenshots to show you what things look like along the way. By the time you finish this book, you should feel confident in using TweetDeck to read and create posts to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks.
Special Sidebars In addition to the normal text and figures, you'll find sidebars scattered throughout that highlight special kinds of information. These are intended to help you save time and to teach you important information fast. NOTE Notes present pertinent pieces of information related to the surrounding discussion.
LESSON 1
How TweetDeck Consolidates Your Social Networking In this lesson, you learn what TweetDeck does and how it works.
What TweetDeck Is— And What It Does If you’re reading this book, chances are you’re familiar with one or more of the popular social networks. Maybe you’re a follower of others on Twitter, maybe you have lots of friends on Facebook or MySpace, or maybe you use LinkedIn for business networking. Or maybe, like many out there, you use more than one of these services. As a social networker, you know the challenge of keeping up to date on all the posts and updates and tweets that your friends and colleagues make during the course of day. If you subscribe to more than one service, you also face the challenge of coordinating your posts across multiple networks. If you have lots of friends and are yourself a frequent poster, it can be a full-time job keeping everything in sync. This is where TweetDeck comes in. TweetDeck is a program that manages communications across multiple social networks. With TweetDeck, you can write a single message and have it posted automatically to Twitter, Facebook, and the rest. You also can follow all of your friends’ posts and tweets in one place, using a single unified interface.
That’s right, TweetDeck consolidates communications from Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and more. You don’t have to log on to each of these services to stay up to date; TweetDeck serves as a focal point for posting and reading posts from all of these services. As a nexus for all your social networking, TweetDeck makes it easy to manage all the posts you make and read. Instead of logging on to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn separately, you can read posts from all these services in the TweetDeck application. The program’s multicolumn interface helps you organize communications by service or topic so that you can quickly see who’s saying what and where. You can search for people or topics across multiple social networks, and save those searches for future use. TweetDeck also makes it easier to post to your favorite social networks. You can send a single post to multiple services and include photos, videos, and web links in your posts. TweetDeck even lets you make longer posts by linking together multiple tweets. All this is accomplished via use of multiple columns within the TweetDeck interface. As you can see in Figure 1.1, TweetDeck uses different columns to show different things; each column is customizable. So, for example, you might have one column devoted to showing Twitter tweets, another for Facebook status updates, and a third for LinkedIn network updates. You can even split the people you follow into multiple groups and display each group’s posts in a separate column.
FIGURE 1.1 TweetDeck’s multiple-column interface.
NOTE: Adobe AIR TweetDeck was developed using the Adobe AIR runtime environment. A copy of AIR is installed on your computer when you install TweetDeck.
Connecting to Multiple Social Networks TweetDeck originally was designed for Twitter users only, connecting to Twitter via the Twitter API. In April 2009, Twitter was expanded to add support for Facebook; support for additional social networks soon followed. NOTE: Twitter API The Twitter application programming interface (API) is used to connect third-party applications with Twitter’s data feed, in real time.
As of the fall of 2010, TweetDeck enables users to connect to the following social networks: ► Facebook ► Foursquare ► Google Buzz ► LinkedIn ► MySpace ► Twitter The TweetDeck for Desktop application supports all of these networks; mobile versions of TweetDeck support some of them.
Who Uses TweetDeck—and Why TweetDeck can be used by anyone using any of the supported social networks. For most social networks, TweetDeck provides an interface that many find superior to the network’s native interface; that is, it’s easier to
post and follow friends on TweetDeck than it is on the social networks themselves. Where TweetDeck really shines, however, is its capability to integrate access to multiple social networks. This makes TweetDeck the ideal gateway for users who connect to both Twitter and Facebook, for example, or Facebook and LinkedIn. TweetDeck lets you follow all your friends—no matter which social network they use—and all in one place. The capability to follow posts from multiple social networks had made TweetDeck the program of choice for journalists around the world. When you need to keep up-to-date on what’s happening, no matter where it’s happening, TweetDeck delivers. In addition, TweetDeck is especially popular with businesses and web marketers who maintain accounts on all major social networks. A business can make one post via TweetDeck and have that promotional message appear on all major social networks simultaneously. As such, TweetDeck is the most popular Twitter application, with a 19% market share. The desktop application has been downloaded more than 15 million times, whereas the iPhone version has seen more than 2.5 million downloads. TweetDeck users make more than 4 million tweets, posts, and status updates every day.
Exploring Different Versions of TweetDeck There are several different versions of TweetDeck for different types of computers and devices. As of the fall of 2010, the following versions are available: ► TweetDeck for Desktop (Windows). Compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 98. ► TweetDeck for Desktop (Mac). Compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 or later. ► TweetDeck for iPhone and iPod touch ► TweetDeck for iPad ► TweetDeck for Android
NOTE: TweetDeck User Streams TweetDeck is testing a version of its program that is compatible with Twitter’s User Streams API. This version updates all Twitterbased columns in true real time, instead of waiting for Twitter’s normal batched updates.
The Desktop versions of TweetDeck are designed for use on desktop and notebook computers. The other versions are designed for mobile use, keeping you connected to Twitter, Facebook, and so on while you’re on the move. You can use TweetDeck for iPhone/iPad/Android to read and write posts from your mobile phone, anywhere you have an Internet connection. That last point is worth noting. TweetDeck is a real-time social network interface. As such, your computer or mobile device needs to be connected to the Internet for TweetDeck to function. If you’re not connected, TweetDeck can’t access Twitter and the other social networks to retrieve new posts. NOTE: TweetDeck Version TweetDeck is continuously updating its software. This book is written on TweetDeck for Desktop, Windows version 0.35.3. If you have a later version, it may differ somewhat from the version discussed in this book.
Summary In this lesson, you learned what Twitter is and what it does. In the next lesson, you learn how to download and install Twitter for Desktop on your computer.
LESSON 2
Downloading and Installing TweetDeck In this lesson, you learn how to download, install, and configure the TweetDeck for Desktop software.
Downloading and Installing TweetDeck for Desktop TweetDeck for Desktop is available in both Windows and Mac versions. You can download either version for free from the TweetDeck website. Follow these steps: 1. Point your web browser to www.tweetdeck.com, shown in
Figure 2.1. 2. Click the Desktop link at the top of the page. 3. When the next page appears, click the Download Now, It’s Free
button. 4. You should now see a dialog box that asks if you want to open
or save the installation file. Click the Open button. 5. When prompted to confirm the installation, click the Install
button. 6. When the next dialog box appears, decide if you want to add a
shortcut icon for TweetDeck to your desktop or start the program after installation; then click the Continue button. 7. You are notified when the installation is complete. Click the
Finish button.
FIGURE 2.1 Download the program from the TweetDeck home page.
Creating Your TweetDeck Account Before you can use TweetDeck, you must create a TweetDeck account. This account links to your accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks. You can create and configure your TweetDeck account in several ways. The easiest is via TweetDeck’s website. Follow these steps: 1. From the TweetDeck website, click the Sign In—Register link at
the top of the page. 2. When the next page appears, as shown in Figure 2.2, go to the
Register for a TweetDeck account section and enter your email address and desired password (at least 7 characters long). Enter the “captcha” text displayed at the bottom of this section, and then click the Submit button. 3. You now see the Twitter page shown in Figure 2.3. Enter your
Twitter username and password; then click the Allow button. You’re now returned to the TweetDeck home page, where you can launch TweetDeck for Desktop and log in to your account.
FIGURE 2.2 Creating your TweetDeck account.
FIGURE 2.3 Linking to your Twitter account.
Launching TweetDeck for Desktop To launch TweetDeck for Desktop and log in to your account, follow these steps: 1. Launch the TweetDeck for Desktop program. 2. When the first screen appears, as shown in Figure 2.4, click the
Click Here link for the If This Is the First Time You’ve Used TweetDeck on This Computer option.
FIGURE 2.4 Launching TweetDeck for the first time. 3. You now see the welcome screen shown in Figure 2.5. This
screen will appear every time you launch TweetDeck, unless you uncheck the Show Welcome Screen at Startup option. To proceed to the program itself, click the Get Started button.
FIGURE 2.5 TweetDeck’s optional welcome screen. 4. When the Welcome to TweetDeck screen appears, as shown in
Figure 2.6, click the Sign In to TweetDeck button.
FIGURE 2.6 The Welcome to TweetDeck screen.
5. When the Sign In to TweetDeck screen appears, as shown in
Figure 2.7, enter the email address and password for your TweetDeck account, then click the Verify Account button.
FIGURE 2.7 Signing into TweetDeck for the first time. 6. You now see the Welcome to TweetDeck screen again. To add
your existing Twitter account to TweetDeck, click the Add Twitter button. NOTE: Other Social Networks If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can launch TweetDeck by logging into your Facebook or MySpace account as well. 7. When the Add Twitter Account screen appears, as shown in Fig-
ure 2.8, enter your Twitter username and password, then click the Submit button. (Yes, you’ve already linked your Twitter account when you created your TweetDeck account, but TweetDeck for Desktop asks for the information again.)
FIGURE 2.8 Adding your Twitter account to the TweetDeck for Desktop program.
TweetDeck for Desktop now launches, as shown in Figure 2.9, with data from your Twitter feed displayed in multiple columns.
FIGURE 2.9 TweetDeck for Desktop.
Each subsequent time you launch TweetDeck, you’ll be automatically logged in to this TweetDeck account. If you have created multiple accounts, you can log out of TweetDeck (click the Log Out button at
the top right of the window) and then launch the program again. When prompted, select the account name from the Username list, enter your password into the Password box, and click the Login button to log in.
Configuring TweetDeck for Other Social Network Accounts TweetDeck was originally designed to help users manage their Twitter accounts but has since been expanded to interface with other major social networks. If you have accounts with Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Foursquare, or Google Buzz, you can configure TweetDeck to retrieve posts from and create new posts to those networks.
Configuring TweetDeck for Facebook Facebook (www.facebook.com) is the most popular social network on the Internet, with more than 500 million users. To configure TweetDeck to work with Facebook, you must first have an active Facebook account. You then follow these steps: 1. Launch TweetDeck for Desktop and click the Settings button in
the top-right corner of the screen. 2. When the TweetDeck Settings dialog box appears, click the
Accounts tab. 3. When the Accounts screen appears, as shown in Figure 2.10,
click the Add New Account button. 4. Click the Facebook button. 5. TweetDeck now connects to Facebook and displays the Face-
book Authorization dialog box, shown in Figure 2.11. Enter the email address you use to access Facebook, as well as your Facebook password, and then click the Login button. 6. Back in the TweetDeck Settings dialog box, click the Save Set-
tings button. You will now need to add a Facebook column to TweetDeck. For more details, see Lesson 4, “Adding and Arranging Columns.”
FIGURE 2.10 Adding new accounts to TweetDeck for Desktop.
FIGURE 2.11 Authorizing TweetDeck to access your Facebook account.
Configuring TweetDeck for LinkedIn LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) is a social network that caters to business professionals. To configure TweetDeck to work with LinkedIn, you must first have an active LinkedIn account. You then follow these steps: 1. Launch TweetDeck for Desktop and click the Settings button in
the top-right corner of the screen.
2. When the TweetDeck Settings dialog box appears, click the Ac-
counts tab. 3. When the Accounts screen appears, click the Add New Account
button. 4. Click the LinkedIn button. 5. TweetDeck now connects to LinkedIn and displays the LinkedIn
Authorization dialog box, shown in Figure 2.12. Enter the email address you use to access LinkedIn, as well as your LinkedIn password, then click the OK, I’ll Allow It button.
FIGURE 2.12 Authorizing TweetDeck to access your LinkedIn account. 6. Back in the TweetDeck Settings dialog box, click the Save Set-
tings button. You will now need to add a LinkedIn column to TweetDeck. See Lesson 4, “Adding and Arranging Columns,” for more details.
Configuring TweetDeck for MySpace MySpace (www.myspace.com) is a social network popular with younger users and followers of musicians and other entertainers. To configure TweetDeck to work with MySpace, you must first have an active MySpace account. You then follow these steps: 1. Launch TweetDeck for Desktop and click the Settings button in
the top-right corner of the screen.
2. When the TweetDeck Settings dialog box appears, click the Ac-
counts tab. 3. When the Accounts screen appears, click the Add New Account
button. 4. Click the MySpace button. 5. TweetDeck now connects to MySpace and displays the
MySpaceID Authorization dialog box, shown in Figure 2.13. Enter the email address you use to access MySpace, as well as your MySpace password, then click the Continue button.
FIGURE 2.13 Authorizing TweetDeck to access your MySpace account. 6. Back in the TweetDeck Settings dialog box, click the Save Set-
tings button. You will now need to add a MySpace column to TweetDeck. See Lesson 4, “Adding and Arranging Columns,” for more details.
Configuring TweetDeck for Google Buzz Google Buzz (buzz.google.com) is a new social networking service that integrates with Google’s Gmail web-based email application. To configure TweetDeck to work with Google Buzz, you must first have an active Google account. You then follow these steps:
1. Launch TweetDeck for Desktop and click the Settings button in
the top-right corner of the screen. 2. When the TweetDeck Settings dialog box appears, click the Ac-
counts tab. 3. When the Accounts screen appears, click the Add New Account
button. 4. Click the Buzz button. 5. TweetDeck now connects to Google and displays the Google
Buzz login dialog box. Enter your Gmail address and password, then click the Sign In button. 6. You now see the dialog box shown in Figure 2.14. Click the OK,
Continue button.
FIGURE 2.14 Authorizing TweetDeck to access your Google account. 7. The next dialog box asks you to confirm the TweetDeck access.
Click the Grant Access button. 8. Back in the TweetDeck Settings dialog box, click the Save Set-
tings button. You will now need to add a Google Buzz column to TweetDeck. See Lesson 4, “Adding and Arranging Columns,” for more details.
Configuring TweetDeck for Foursquare Foursquare (www.foursquare.com) is a social location service that lets you “check in” to various locations and find friends nearby. To configure TweetDeck to work with Foursquare, you must first have an active Foursquare account. You then follow these steps: 1. Launch TweetDeck for Desktop and click the Settings button in
the top-right corner of the screen. 2. When the TweetDeck Settings dialog box appears, click the
Accounts tab. 3. When the Accounts screen appears, click the Add New Account
button. 4. Click the Foursquare button. 5. The Accounts screen now changes to display two Foursquare-
specific boxes, as shown in Figure 2.15. Enter your email address or phone number into the first box, your Foursquare password into the second box, then click the Verify Details button.
FIGURE 2.15 Authorizing TweetDeck to access your Foursquare account.
6. TweetDeck now displays the pane shown in Figure 2.16. To add
a location column for your Foursquare account, check the first option.
FIGURE 2.16 Configuring TweetDeck for Foursquare. 7. To remove duplicate tweets and Foursquare location notifica-
tions, check Remove All Foursquare Tweets from My All Friends Columns. 8. Click the OK button. 9. Back in the TweetDeck Settings dialog box, click the Save Set-
tings button.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to download, install, and configure TweetDeck for Desktop. In the next lesson, you learn how to navigate the TweetDeck interface.
LESSON 3
Navigating TweetDeck In this lesson, you learn to find your way around TweetDeck for Desktop.
Touring TweetDeck for Desktop When you launch TweetDeck for Desktop, the program opens in its own window. As you can see in Figure 3.1, the TweetDeck window consists of a series of columns, each containing a particular type of data. How many columns are displayed depends on the width of your computer screen. Above the columns is a toolbar; you use the buttons on the toolbar to perform specific actions within the program.
FIGURE 3.1 The TweetDeck for Desktop interface.
Navigating the Toolbar You use TweetDeck’s toolbar to perform most important actions. The toolbar is divided into two parts, one on the left and one on the right. The left part of the toolbar, shown in Figure 3.2, hosts the following buttons:
FIGURE 3.2 The left side of the TweetDeck toolbar.
► TweetDeck.com—Click this button to open TweetDeck’s home page in your web browser. ► Compose Update—Click this button to open a message pane (what TweetDeck calls the Update Window), shown in Figure 3.3, used to create a new tweet or status update.
FIGURE 3.3 TweetDeck for Desktop with update pane open.
► Add Column—Click this button to create a new column within the desktop. ► Quick Profile—Click this button to search for and display (in a new column) the Twitter profile for a given user. The right side of the toolbar, shown in Figure 3.4, contains the following buttons:
FIGURE 3.4 The right side of the TweetDeck toolbar.
► Refresh—Click this button to refresh the content displayed in the columns. This lets you see the latest tweets and status updates from Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks. ► Single Column View—Click this button to display a smaller window with just one column visible, as shown in Figure 3.5. When you’re in Single Column view, the Single Column View button changes to a Multi-Column View button; click this button to return to the normal desktop view.
FIGURE 3.5 TweetDeck in Single Column view.
► Settings—Click this button to configure TweetDeck’s program settings. NOTE: Configuring TweetDeck Learn more about configuring TweetDeck in Lesson 12, “Configuring TweetDeck.”
► Launch TweetDeck Support—Click this button to access TweetDeck’s help system in your web browser. ► Log Out—Click this button to log out of the open TweetDeck account and close the program window.
Navigating Columns All the content displayed by TweetDeck is organized into columns. By default, TweetDeck for Desktop displays five Twitter-related columns: ► All Friends—Displays the latest tweets from the Twitterers you follow. ► Mentions—Displays any tweets in which you’ve been mentioned. ► Direct Messages—Displays private messages sent to you from other Twitterers. ► Trending—Displays the current hot topics on the Twitter site. Hover over the top of the column to display the Edit button; click this button to display a Choose Location list. You can then choose a different region (Worldwide is the default) to display. ► TweetDeck Recommends—Displays recommended Twitterers you might like to follow. NOTE: Trending Topics The Trending column (formally called the Trending Topics column) pulls the latest topics from Twitter and descriptions of those topics from WhatTheTrend.com.
NOTE: Managing Columns Depending on the other social networks you’ve linked to, TweetDeck may display more columns than those listed here. In addition, you can hide any of TweetDeck’s default columns or display multiple new columns. Learn how in Lesson 4, “Adding and Arranging Columns.”
Controlling Column Content At the bottom of each column is a series of control buttons, as shown in Figure 3.6. Use these buttons to control the content displayed in that column:
FIGURE 3.6 Column control buttons.
► Move Column Left—Click this button to move the column one place to the left. (Not shown in left-most column) ► Show What Is Popular in This Column—Click this button to display a pane that lists the most popular topics in the tweets displayed in this column. Click the button again to hide the pane. ► Filter This Column—Click this button to display only those tweets that discuss (or don’t discuss) a given topic. NOTE: Displaying and Filtering Learn more about displaying and filtering the contents of these columns in Chapter 6, “Tweeting and Posting.”
► Mark All as Seen—Marks all the tweets in this column as read. ► Clear Seen Updates—Hides all the tweets that have been read or marked as read.
► Clear All—Hides all the tweets currently displayed in this column. ► Move Column Right—Click this button to move the column one place to the right. (Not shown in right-most column)
Scrolling Columns On a normal widescreen computer display, TweetDeck for Desktop can display a maximum of four columns. The TweetDeck window can be scrolled horizontally to display those columns to the left or the right. There are several ways to scroll through the columns: ► Click and drag the scrollbar beneath the columns. ► Click the left or right arrows on either side of the scrollbar. ► Press the left or right arrow buttons on your computer keyboard. In addition, there is a series of column display buttons beneath the column scrollbar. Each button represents a column, in order from left to right. Hover over a button to view information about that column, as shown in Figure 3.7. Click a button to scroll directly to that column.
FIGURE 3.7 Column display buttons.
Using TweetDeck for Desktop There are two primary uses of TweetDeck for Desktop—to read tweets and posts from others and to make your own tweets and posts. You use TweetDeck’s various columns to display different types of posts. By default, these columns display Twitter tweets. You can, however, add other columns to display posts from Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks. You can also add columns to display specific types of data, such as all posts that include a certain keyword or topic.
To create your own tweets and posts, click the Compose Update button in the top-left toolbar. This opens the message pane (Update Window), where you can enter the text of your post and decide which social network(s) to post to. NOTE: Posting Updates Learn more about posting tweets and updates in Lesson 6, “Tweeting and Posting.”
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to navigate TweetDeck for Desktop. In the next lesson, you learn how to manage columns within the TweetDeck interface.
LESSON 4
Adding and Arranging Columns In this lesson, you learn how to manage the columns you see in TweetDeck.
Reviewing Available Columns Data from the various social networks are displayed in individual columns in TweetDeck for Desktop. Each column displays a particular type of data, such as Twitter tweets, Facebook status updates, and the like. You can even create columns based on specific criteria, such as posts that discuss a given topic. By default, TweetDeck displays five columns, all Twitter related: All Friends, Mentions, Direct Messages, Trending, and TweetDeck Recommends. You can choose to hide any of these default columns, or add columns to display other data from Twitter and other social networks. What columns can you add? Table 4.1 details the columns available for each of the social networks that TweetDeck links to. TABLE 4.1 Available TweetDeck Column Types Social Network Column Type Twitter
Description
Core: All Friends Displays tweets from everyone you follow. Core: Mentions
Displays retweets and replies that mention you. Can include public tweets, private tweets (direct messages), and re-tweets.
Core: Direct Mes- Displays direct messages (private sages tweets) to and by you. Core: New Followers
Displays your 100 most recent followers. From this column you can choose to block a follower or add that person to your follow list.
Core: Favorites
Displays tweets you’ve favorited, so you can reread your favorite tweets.
Core: Trending Topics
Displays the current hottest topics on Twitter.
Core: TweetDeck Displays tweets from users that Recommends TweetDeck for some reason thinks you might be interested in. Core: TwitScoop Displays a Tag Cloud based on the most-mentioned words in recent tweets, as compiled by TwitScoop. Core: StockTwits Displays information about stocks you follow on StockTwits. Core: Scheduled Displays and enables you to manUpdates age any tweets or updates you’ve scheduled for future posting.
Facebook
Core: Locations
Displays location information from the people you follow on Foursquare.
Groups/Lists
Displays tweets for selected Twitter groups or lists you’ve created.
Search
Displays tweets that contain a search phrase you specify. Use a search column to follow tweets on a given topic.
Full News Feed
Displays the contents of your full Facebook news feed.
Status Updates
Displays status updates only from your Facebook friends.
Wall Posts
Displays posts made on your Facebook wall.
Photos
Displays the most recent photos posted by your Facebook friends.
MySpace
Videos
Displays the most recent videos posted by your Facebook friends.
Other
Use this option to create a custom column displaying status updates from selected Facebook friends or groups only.
Core: Friends Activity Stream
Displays activity updates from your MySpace friends.
Core: My Comments
Displays comments left to you on MySpace.
Core: Friends Displays status updates and mood Status and Mood changes from your MySpace friends. Core: Scheduled Displays any scheduled MySpace Updates status updates. LinkedIn
LinkedIn
TweetDeck displays a single LinkedIn column that contains any combination of the following data streams: Status, Q&A, Applications, Groups, Connections, Profile, and Recommendations.
Google Buzz
Buzz
Displays your friends’ activity streams.
Foursquare
Core
Displays a location column with recent updates from your Foursquare friends.
NOTE: TwitScoop TwitScoop (www.twitscoop.com) is a visualization tool that tracks tags and keywords in the Twitter stream to identify growing trends in real time.
NOTE: StockTwits StockTwits (www.stocktwits.com) is an online community that shares financial information and advice. It also offers real-time stock quotes and other data.
Adding a New Column TweetDeck allows you to add as many columns as you like. Using multiple columns lets you track more data from various social networks, as well as fine-tune the data you display.
Adding a Twitter Core Column You can create three main types of Twitter-related lists in TweetDeck. Most users will opt to create some sort of Core list, because these encompass the most popular Twitter activities. To add a new Twitter core column to TweetDeck, follow these steps: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar, as shown in Figure 4.1. 2. When the Add Column dialog box appears, click the Twitter but-
ton, as shown in Figure 4.2. 3. Click the Core tab. 4. Click the specific type of column you want to add: All Friends,
Mentions, Direct Messages, New Followers, Favorites, Trending Topics, TweetDeck Recommends, TwitScoop, 12Seconds, StockTwits, Scheduled Updates, or Locations. The new column is now created and added to the far right of the column list.
FIGURE 4.1 Click the Add Column button to add a new column.
FIGURE 4.2 Adding a core Twitter column.
Adding a Twitter Search Column TweetDeck lets you create columns to track specific topics on Twitter. You do this by specifying a search phrase; all tweets that contain this search phrase are listed in the new column. To add a topic-specific search column to TweetDeck, follow these steps: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the Add Column dialog box appears, click the Twitter but-
ton. 3. Click the Search tab, as shown in Figure 4.3. 4. Enter the query you want to track into the search box. 5. Click the Search button.
The new column is now created and added to the far right of the column list.
FIGURE 4.3 Creating a Twitter search column.
Adding a Twitter Group or List Column You can also create columns that display tweets from any Twitter groups or lists you’ve created. This is a good way to display tweets from selected users only. To add a new Twitter group/list to TweetDeck, follow these steps: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the Add Column dialog box appears, click the Twitter
button. 3. Click the Core tab, as shown in Figure 4.4.
FIGURE 4.4 Adding a Twitter core or list column. 4. Enter the URL for the group or list you want to track. 5. To create a new list, click the New List button to expand the dia-
log box as shown in Figure 4.5. 6. Enter a name and description for your list, and then click the Add
List Members button. 7. When the dialog box changes to that shown in Figure 4.6, select
users you want to track, then click the right-arrow button. 8. Click the Save List button when done.
FIGURE 4.5 Creating a new Twitter list.
FIGURE 4.6 Adding users to your Twitter list.
The new column is now created and added to the far right of the column list.
Adding a Facebook Column To add a new Facebook-related column to TweetDeck, follow these steps: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the Add Column dialog box appears, click the Facebook
button, as shown in Figure 4.7. 3. Click the type of column you want to add: Full News Feed,
Status Updates, Wall Posts, Photos, Videos, or Other. 4. To display updates from all your friends, click the Everyone
button.
FIGURE 4.7 Adding a Facebook Full News Feed column. 5. To display updates only from selected friends, click the Create a
New Group button. When the dialog box expands, as shown in Figure 4.8, enter a name for this group, check those friends you want included in this group, and then click the Finish button.
FIGURE 4.8 Choosing to display updates only from selected friends.
The new column is now created and added to the far right of the column list.
Adding a MySpace Column To add a new MySpace-related column to TweetDeck, follow these steps: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the Add Column dialog box appears, click the MySpace
button, as shown in Figure 4.9. 3. Click the type of column you want to add: Friends Activity
Stream, My Comments, Friends Status and Mood, or Scheduled Updated. The new column is now created and added to the far right of the column list.
FIGURE 4.9 Adding a MySpace column.
Adding a LinkedIn Column To add a new LinkedIn column to TweetDeck, follow these steps: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the Add Column dialog box appears, click the LinkedIn
button, as shown in Figure 4.10. 3. Check the data you want included in this column: Status, Q&A,
Applications, Groups, Connections, Profile, or Recommendations. 4. Click the Create Your Column button.
The new column is now created and added to the far right of the column list.
FIGURE 4.10 Adding a LinkedIn column.
Adding a Google Buzz Column To add a new Google Buzz column to TweetDeck, follow these steps: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the Add Column dialog box appears, click the Google
Buzz button, as shown in Figure 4.11. 3. Click the Friends Activity Stream link.
The new column is now created and added to the far right of the column list.
FIGURE 4.11 Adding a Google Buzz column.
Adding a Foursquare Column To add a new Foursquare Location column to TweetDeck, follow these steps: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the Add Column dialog box appears, click the Foursquare
button, as shown in Figure 4.12. 3. Click the Location column link.
The new column is now created and added to the far right of the column list.
FIGURE 4.12 Adding a Foursquare column.
Arranging Columns You can change the order of any column by using the left- and right-arrow buttons at the bottom of each column, as follows: ► To move a column to the left, click the left-arrow button. ► To move a column to the right, click the right-arrow button.
Deleting Columns To remove a column from the TweetDeck display, hover your cursor over the service button (Twitter, Facebook, and so on) at the top right of the column until it changes into an X. Click the X button to delete the column. When prompted to confirm the deletion, click the Delete Column button.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to add, arrange, and delete TweetDeck columns. In the next lesson, you learn how to read and filter the tweets and updates displayed in these columns.
LESSON 5
Reading Tweets and Posts In this lesson, you learn how to read the tweets and status updates displayed in TweetDeck.
Reading Tweets and Status Updates Most people use TweetDeck to read tweets and status updates from their friends and people they follow on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks. Tweets and updates from multiple networks are displayed in the same TweetDeck window, but in separate columns—one column for each social network. To view the posts from a given social network, you must first add a column to the TweetDeck display for that network. The most recent updates are then displayed in that column, with the newest updates at the top. Scroll down through the column to read additional messages. For example, Figure 5.1 shows the All Friends column, which displays NOTE: Older Posts TweetDeck displays only a column’s worth of posts. (You can determine how many posts to display in a column; the default is 200.) There is no way to display older posts within a column.
tweets from all the people you follow on Twitter. The text of the tweet is displayed on the right, and the twitterer's profile picture is on the left. The twitterer’s name and the time of the post are displayed at the bottom of the
tweet; click the person’s name to view their Twitter profile information and recent tweets in a new temporary TweetDeck column, like the one shown in Figure 5.2.
FIGURE 5.1 Twitter tweets in the All Friends column.
FIGURE 5.2 Viewing a user’s Twitter profile information in a TweetDeck column.
Posts from other social networks follow a similar format. For example, Figure 5.3 shows the Facebook: Full News Feed column, which displays the most recent activities of all your Facebook friends. A status update in this column follows the same format as for a tweet—profile picture on the left, update text on the right, and name of your friend and time posted below. Click the friend’s name to view that person’s profile information and recent posts in a temporary TweetDeck column.
FIGURE 5.3 Facebook activity in the Facebook: Full News Feed column.
Beyond this basic organization and operation, posts from different networks have different options available. We’ll look at each type of post separately.
Viewing Twitter Tweets When you hover your cursor over a person’s profile picture next to their tweet, you see four small buttons, as shown in Figure 5.4. Click one of these buttons to perform the related action, as follows: ► Reply To—Posts a reply tweet to the person’s original tweet. ► Direct Message—Sends a direct message (private tweet) to that person. ► Retweet—Retweets the person’s original tweet.
FIGURE 5.4 Hover over a person’s Twitter profile picture to perform other Twitter-related actions. NOTE: Retweet Retweeting is a feature unique to Twitter. When you retweet a message, you post a copy of the original tweet to your own Twitter feed.
► Other Actions—Click this button and you display a pop-up menu of Tweet and User actions. Tweet actions include Reply All, Reference To, Favorite, Email Tweet, Translate, Untranslate, Mark as Read, and Delete. User actions include Add to Group/List, Follow, Unfollow, View Profile, Search, Block, and Block & Report Spam. Select an option to initiate that action.
Viewing Facebook Status Updates When you hover your cursor over a person’s profile picture next to their Facebook status update, you see four small buttons, as shown in Figure 5.5. Click one of these buttons to perform the related action, as follows:
FIGURE 5.5 Hover over a person’s Facebook profile picture to perform other Facebook-related actions.
► Comment—Click this button to display a Comment pane and post your own comment to the status update.
► Like—Click to “like” the status update. ► Write on Wall—Click to post a message on this person’s Facebook wall. ► Other Actions—Click this button and you display a pop-up menu of User and Update actions. User actions include Send Message (for private messages) and Wall to Wall. Update actions include Translate, Untranslate, Email Status, and Tweet Comment (posts the status update on Twitter). NOTE: Facebook Actions Learn more about commenting, liking, and other Facebook actions in Lesson 10.
In addition, below a person’s profile picture are options for Comments and Likes. By default, these display the number of comments and “likes” for this status update. You can click either the Comments or Likes link to post your own comment or “like” the status update.
Viewing MySpace Status Updates When you hover your cursor over a profile picture next to a person's MySpace status update, you see three small buttons, as shown in Figure 5.6. Click one of these buttons to perform the related action, as follows: ► Send a MySpace Message—Sends a private message to the person. ► Post a MySpace Comment—Posts a comment to their MySpace page. ► Other Actions—Click to display a pop-up menu of other actions, including View Profile, View Photos, View Videos, View Blog, View Status and Mood Updates, and Block User.
FIGURE 5.6 Hover over a person’s MySpace profile picture to perform other MySpace-related actions.
Viewing LinkedIn Posts When you hover your cursor over a person’s profile picture next to a LinkedIn status update, you see two small buttons, as shown in Figure 5.7. Click one of these buttons to perform the related action, as follows: ► Comment—Post a comment about this person’s LinkedIn status. ► Send a Message—Send this person a private message.
FIGURE 5.7 Hover over a person’s LinkedIn profile picture to perform other LinkedIn-related actions.
Viewing Google Buzz Posts When you hover your cursor over a person’s profile picture next to a Google Buzz post, you see three small buttons, as shown in Figure 5.8. Click one of these buttons to perform the related action, as follows:
FIGURE 5.8 Hover over a person’s Google Buzz profile picture to perform other Buzz-related actions.
► Comment—Post a comment about this person’s post. ► Like—Click to “like” this post.
► Other Actions—Click this button to display a pop-up menu of other actions, including Mute Activity, Delete Activity, or Email Activity.
Viewing Location Data The Location column is a little different from other columns, as you can see in Figure 5.9. At the top of the column are posts from your Foursquare or Facebook friends detailing their most recent locations. At the bottom of the column, these locations are pinpointed on a map.
FIGURE 5.9 The Location column.
When you hover your cursor over a person’s profile picture next to a Foursquare post, what you see depends on what functions that person has enabled on their account. For most Foursquare users, you'll see a single Other Actions button, as shown in Figure 5.10. Click this button to display a pop-up menu of actions, including Check In Here, Add Tip Here, and
Directions to Here. Other times, you might see four buttons: for Reply To, Direct Message, Write on Wall, and Other Actions. Click a menu option to perform that action.
FIGURE 5.10 Hover over a person’s profile picture to perform other Foursquare- or Facebook-related actions
Different buttons display if you’re viewing a location post from a Facebook member using that network’s Places feature. For Facebook users, you’ll see four Facebook-related buttons. Click the appropriate button to initiate the desired action.
Displaying Update Notifications By default, TweetDeck alerts you of new tweets and status updates by displaying a notification window on the upper-right side of your desktop, like the one shown in Figure 5.11. This window appears on top of all your other windows for a brief period of time, and then fades away. It is typically accompanied by a notification sound.
FIGURE 5.11 A typical TweetDeck notification window.
NOTE: Lock the Notification If you want a little more time to read a notification message, click the top part of the notification window. This keeps the notification displayed until you click it again.
The top part of this window, called the Detail window, includes the tweet or status update and the person’s profile picture. The bottom part of the window, called the Summary window, is a link to whichever TweetDeck column this post appears in. Click this link to switch to TweetDeck, with that column and post highlighted. You can customize several aspects of these notification windows. Follow these steps: 1. Click the Settings button on the right part of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the TweetDeck Settings dialog box appears, select the
Notifications tab, shown in Figure 5.12.
FIGURE 5.12 Configuring notification options. 3. To turn off display of the Detail window, click Detail On. To
redisplay this window, click Detail Off.
4. To turn off display of the Summary window, click Summary On.
To redisplay this window, click Summary Off. 5. To change where the notification windows appear, click a new
square on the Notification Window Position object. You can display the window in the top-left, top-right, bottom-left, or bottomright corner of your computer screen. 6. To change the level of the notification sound, adjust the Notifica-
tion Sound slider. Move the slider all the way to the left to completely mute the sound. 7. To determine whether and how notifications are displayed for
a given column, click the Advanced Options for Columns link. This expands the dialog box as show in Figure 5.13. For each current column, you can opt to display or not display the Detail and Summary columns, as well as play or not play the alert sound. Check a box to enable a function for that column; uncheck a box to disable that function. 8. Click the Save Settings button.
FIGURE 5.13 Configuring notification options for each individual column.
Filtering Column Contents Sometimes the sheer number of tweets and status updates displayed can be overwhelming. If you want to make it easier to find specific posts within a TweetDeck column, you can filter the results within that column. To filter column contents, follow these steps: 1. Click the Filter This Column button at the bottom of the column.
This displays the search pane, shown in Figure 5.14.
FIGURE 5.14 Filtering the contents of a column. 2. Click the first list to select what to filter: Text, Name, Source, or
Time. 3. Click the second list to include (+) or exclude (-) posts that con-
tain the search term from the column. 4. Enter the word or words you want to include or exclude in the
search results. As you type your query, the column’s contents will be filtered in real time to include only those matching posts. To redisplay the original column contents, click the X button in the search pane.
Clearing Tweets and Updates After you’ve read a post, you may not want it cluttering up the TweetDeck column. To this end, you can clear selected posts from a column. First, you can clear the entire contents of a column. To do this, click the Mark All button to mark all the posts, and then click the Clear All button to delete them. NOTE: Mark All as Seen To quickly change the status of all posts in a column to seen, click the Mark All as Seen button at the bottom of the column.
For some networks (not Facebook or MySpace, unfortunately), you can clear only those posts that you’ve read. You first have to mark a post as read, however, which you do by clicking the post. You can then click the Clear Seen Updates button at the bottom of the column.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to read and respond to posts from all the major social networks. In the next lesson, you learn how to create new posts from within TweetDeck.
LESSON 6
Tweeting and Posting In this lesson, you learn how to create new tweets and status updates from within TweetDeck.
Creating a New Post TweetDeck makes it easy to post to any of the major social networks. You can post directly to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and so on from within TweetDeck for Desktop. You can send a post to a given network individually or send the same post to multiple networks simultaneously. To make a post, follow these steps: 1. Click the Compose Update button on the left side of the Tweet-
Deck toolbar. This displays the message pane (what TweetDeck calls the Update Window) shown in Figure 6.1.
FIGURE 6.1 Composing a new tweet or post. 2. Click the button for each network you want to post to. When a
network is selected, the icon shows in color; icons that are grayed out will not receive this post. 3. Enter the text of your post into the text box. Your post can be up
to 140 characters long. 4. Click the Send button, or press the Enter button on your key-
board.
Your message will now be posted to the services you selected. For example, if you clicked the Twitter button, your post will appear as a tweet in your Twitter feed; if you selected the Facebook button, your post will appear as a Facebook status update.
Shortening a Post If you’re used to posting on Facebook, you may be unfamiliar with the length restrictions imposed by Twitter and other social networks. Posts on Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Foursquare can be no longer than 140 characters, and TweetDeck follows this character limit for posts made to these services. How, then, do you shorten your messages to fit within this 140-character limit? NOTE: Facebook and Buzz Updates Facebook and Buzz do not have the same 140-character limit found with Twitter and other networks. As such, if you create a post within TweetDeck solely for Facebook or Buzz, it can be longer than 140 characters. However, if you select both Facebook and Twitter (or another 140-character network), your post cannot be longer than 140 characters.
To help you create shorter messages, TweetDeck includes a feature called TweetShrink. When you TweetShrink a message, TweetDeck replaces common words and phrases with shorter representations. For example, TweetShrink will replace the word “people” with the shorter representation, “ppl.” It will also replace “for” with “4,” “see you later” with “C U l8r,” and so forth. To TweetShrink your message, simply enter your original text and then click the TweetShrink button. The results will be shorter—and hopefully understandable by your audience.
Cross-Posting for Longer Tweets What if you just can’t shorten a tweet to fit within the 140-character limit? TweetDeck lets you cross-post a longer tweet to Google Buzz, which doesn’t have the same length limits.
Here’s how it works. If you have a long message you want to post to Twitter, select both Twitter and Google Buzz in the posting pane. As you write your message, the text box will turn orange when you reach the 140 character limit. Click Send as usual when you’re done composing. The message posted to Buzz will include the complete text of the message. The message posted to Twitter will include the start of your message accompanied by a link to the Buzz post. Followers of your Twitter feed can read the start of the tweet and then click the link to read the full post on Google Buzz. NOTE: Google Buzz This cross-posting capability is a good reason to open a Google Buzz account, if you haven’t yet.
Including Hashtags Twitter lets you tag popular topics in your posts via use of hashtags. A hashtag is simply a hashmark (#) placed in front of a word. Within the Twitterverse, this hyperlinks the word for easier searching by other users. (Hashtags are a Twitter-only feature, and not used by any other social network.) You can include hashtags in the posts you create with TweetDeck. To insert hashtags you’re previously used, click the Insert Hashtags button. This displays the pull-down list shown in Figure 6.2; click a hashtag to insert it in your new post.
FIGURE 6.2 Inserting a recently used hashtag.
Scheduling a Post in Advance When you click the Send button, your message is immediately posted to all selected social networks. You can, however, create a post in advance and schedule it for posting at a later time. To schedule a future post, follow these steps: 1. Compose your message as normal, but do not click the Send but-
ton. 2. Click the Schedule This Update (stopwatch) button. TweetDeck
now displays the scheduling pane, shown in Figure 6.3.
FIGURE 6.3 Scheduling a future post. 3. Enter the date and time you want the message to be posted. 4. Click the Set Time button. 5. Click the Send button, which now displays the date and time of
the scheduled post. Any posts you’ve scheduled are displayed in a Scheduled Updates column, like the one shown in Figure 6.4. To edit the scheduled post time, hover your cursor over your profile picture and click the Edit button; you can now change the information in the editing pane. To cancel a scheduled post, hover your cursor over your profile picture and click the Cancel button.
FIGURE 6.4 Viewing scheduled posts.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to create and schedule message posts. In the next lesson, you learn how to include links and photos in your posts.
LESSON 7
Tweeting Links and Photos In this lesson, you learn how to embed links to other websites and photos in your TweetDeck posts.
Embedding Shortened Links It’s easy enough to include a link to another web page when you create a post with TweetDeck. All you have to do is enter the full URL of the page you’re linking to, including the http://, into your message, like this: http://www.mywebsite.com/page.html
The problem comes when the page you want to link to has an overly long URL. Given the 140-character limitation of Twitter and other social networks, devoting a large number of these 140 characters to a URL is wasteful. In fact, some URLs can be longer than 140 characters, which would make it impossible to insert them into a tweet. The solution comes from so-called link-shortening services. These are web-based services that translate a page’s long URL into a shorter URL that you can insert in your tweets. All you have to do is copy the original page’s full URL, paste it into the appropriate box at the link-shortening website, and the service will generate a new, shorter URL. Anyone clicking the shorter URL will be redirected to the original web page. The most popular of these link shortening services is bit.ly (www.bit.ly). TweetDeck incorporates bit.ly link shortening, so that you can shorten long links directly from within TweetDeck for Desktop. This link shortening works automatically, whenever you enter a URL into a new message. All you have to do is enter or paste the original URL you want to link to, and
bit.ly automatically shortens the URL. (Figure 7.1. shows a URL in a TweetDeck message, shortened by bit.ly.)
FIGURE 7.1 A shortened link in a TweetDeck message. NOTE: Other Link Shorteners Although bit.ly is TweetDeck’s default link shortener, you can configure the program to use other URL shortening services, including is.gd, tinyurl, and twurl. Learn how in Lesson 12, “Configuring TweetDeck.”
Automatic link shortening is turned on by default. If you want to turn off link shortening (if you prefer to use another link shortening service, for example), click “off” the Auto Link Shortening button in the compose message pane.
NOTE: Other t.co Support TweetDeck also supports Twitter’s own t.co link shortening. When you read a message in TweetDeck and hover your cursor over a link shortened with t.co, you see the original URL in a small popup window.
Embedding Photos Many people like to post photos they’ve taken. How this is accomplished depends on which social networking you’re posting to.
Posting Photos to Twitter Twitter does not allow photo posting; tweets are text only. If you want to share a photo with your Twitter followers, you need to upload the photo to a photo-hosting service and then include a link to that uploaded photo in your tweet.
TweetDeck facilitates this process by incorporating access to YFrog (www.yfrog.com), a photo-hosting service popular with Twitter users. TweetDeck automatically uploads your photo to YFrog, generates a link to the photo, and then inserts that link into a new message. Here’s how it works: 1. Click the Compose Update button to open the message pane. 2. Click the Twitter button. 3. Click the Attach Photos and Videos button, shown in Figure 7.2. 4. When the Choose Files to Upload dialog box appears, navigate
to and select the photo you want to upload, then click the Open button. 5. A thumbnail for the photo now appears in the message pane, as
shown in Figure 7.3. Click the Upload All Media Items button to upload the photo to YFrog. 6. A link to the uploaded photo now appears in the message pane,
as shown in Figure 7.4. Enter the rest of your message text, and then click the Send button.
FIGURE 7.2 Click the Attach Photos and Videos button.
FIGURE 7.3 The photo is selected, ready to upload.
FIGURE 7.4 The link to the photo is inserted in a new message.
The resulting tweet includes a link to the photo. Anyone reading your tweet can click the link to view the photo on the YFrog website.
NOTE: Other Photo Hosts Although YFrog is TweetDeck’s default photo hosting service, you can configure the program to use other photo hosts, including Plixi, TwitPic, Posterous, and Mobypicture. Learn how in Lesson 12, “Configuring TweetDeck.”
Posting Photos to Facebook Unlike Twitter, Facebook does allow and encourage photo uploading. You can upload photos directly from TweetDeck to Facebook. Photos you upload appear in a new TweetDeck Photos album on your Facebook page. To upload a photo to Facebook, follow these steps: 1. Click the Compose Update button to open the message pane. 2. Click the Facebook button. 3. Click the Attach Photos and Videos button. 4. When the Choose Photos to Upload dialog box appears, navigate
to and select the photo you want to upload, then click the Open button. 5. A thumbnail for the photo now appears in the message pane.
Click the Upload All Media Items button. The photo is now uploaded to your TweetDeck Photos album on Facebook. You don’t have to send an accompanying message.
Posting Photos to MySpace Although MySpace does allow photo posting, at present TweetDeck does not take advantage of this capability. As such, you cannot include photos (or other media) in any TweetDeck message you post to your MySpace account.
Posting Photos to LinkedIn LinkedIn does not allow photo posting. You cannot include photos (or other media) in any TweetDeck message you post to your LinkedIn account.
Posting Photos to Google Buzz Although Google Buzz does allow photo posting, at present TweetDeck does not take advantage of this capability. As such, you cannot include photos (or other media) in any TweetDeck message you post to your Buzz account.
Posting Photos to Foursquare Foursquare does not allow photo posting. You cannot include photos (or other media) in any TweetDeck message you post to your Foursquare account.
Viewing Twitter Photos in TweetDeck As noted, Twitter does not include the capability for embedded photos. Users must upload photos to another service and link to those photos within a tweet. When you’re viewing a tweet in TweetDeck that includes a photo link, such as the one in Figure 7.5, you can view that photo directly from TweetDeck for Desktop. All you have to do is click the link within the tweet; TweetDeck now displays the photo in the main window, as shown in Figure 7.6. Click the X to close the photo and return to TweetDeck.
FIGURE 7.5 A tweet with a photo link.
FIGURE 7.6 A photo displayed in TweetDeck for Desktop.
NOTE: Full-Size Photos If you want to view the photo full size, click the displayed photo in TweetDeck. This opens the photo hosting site in your web browser; you can then view or download the photo.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to include links and photos in your TweetDeck posts. In the next lesson, you learn how to embed and view videos in TweetDeck.
LESSON 8
Sharing Videos in TweetDeck In this lesson, you learn how to include links to videos in your TweetDeck messages—and view videos linked to by others.
Sharing a Video File Many people like to share videos over social networking services. If you already have a video recorded, you can upload that video for others to view. How you do this depends on the network you’re posting to, however.
Linking to a Video File with Twitter As previously noted, tweets are text only; you can’t embed videos or other media into your Twitter messages. Instead, you have to upload your video to a video sharing service and then include a link to that uploaded video in your tweet. TweetDeck automates this process by partnering with TwitVid (www.twitvid.com), a video-sharing service popular among Twitter users. You can select and upload a video directly from TweetDeck and then embed a link to that video in your TweetDeck message. Here’s how it works: 1. Click the Compose Update button to open the message pane. 2. Click the Twitter button. 3. Click the Attach Photos and Videos button, shown in Figure 8.1. 4. When the Choose Files to Upload dialog box appears, navigate
to and select the video you want to upload, then click the Open button.
5. A video graphic now appears in the message pane, as shown in
Figure 8.2. Click the Upload All Media Items button to upload the video to TwitVid. 6. A link to the uploaded video now appears in the message pane,
as shown in Figure 8.3. Enter the rest of your message text, and then click the Send button.
FIGURE 8.1 Click the Attach Photos and Videos button.
FIGURE 8.2 Video selected, ready to upload.
FIGURE 8.3 The link to the video inserted in a new message.
The resulting tweet includes a link to the video. Anyone reading your tweet can click the link to view the video on the TwitVid website.
Uploading a Video File to Facebook Unlike Twitter, Facebook does host video files you upload, and you can upload videos directly from TweetDeck. Follow these steps: 1. Click the Compose Update button to open the message pane. 2. Click the Facebook button. 3. Click the Attach Photos and Videos button. 4. When the Choose Photos to Upload dialog box appears, navigate
to and select the video you want to upload, and then click the Open button.
5. A video graphic now appears in the message pane. Click the
Upload All Media Items button. 6. Enter any text you want to accompany this video, and then click
the Send button. The video is now uploaded to your Facebook videos page. NOTE: Other Networks At present, TweetDeck does not enable uploading of video files to MySpace, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, or Foursquare.
Recording a Webcam Video TweetDeck also lets you record new videos with your computer’s webcam and upload those videos to TwitVid. A link to an uploaded webcam video is then automatically placed in a new tweet.
Recording the Video Here’s how to record, upload, and link to a webcam video in TweetDeck: 1. Click the Compose Update button to open the message pane. 2. Click the Twitter button. 3. Click the Record Video from Your Webcam button. 4. This opens the video recording window shown in Figure 8.4.
When you’re ready to start recording, click the red Record button. 5. When you’re done recording, click the Stop button.
FIGURE 8.4 Recording a webcam video. 6. Click the Save Video button to upload the recorded video to
TwitVid. 7. A link to the uploaded video now appears in the message pane.
Enter the rest of your message (if any) and click the Send button. A new tweet is sent containing the link to the uploaded webcam video.
Viewing a TwitVid Video Figure 8.5 shows a tweet that contains a link to a TwitVid video. To view the video, click the link. This opens a new video viewing window in the TweetDeck for Desktop program; click the Play button to view the video.
FIGURE 8.5 A tweet with a video link.
FIGURE 8.6 Viewing a TwitVid video in TweetDeck for Desktop.
Embedding a YouTube Video YouTube is the most popular video-sharing service on the Internet, and many people like to share the videos they find on YouTube. You can easily share a link to a YouTube video in any message you create in TweetDeck, and post that message to any of the compatible social networks. To share a YouTube video, follow these steps: 1. On the YouTube site (www.youtube.com), navigate to the video
you want to share. 2. Click the Share button beneath the video, as shown in Figure 8.7. 3. Check the Short URL option. 4. Copy the URL displayed in the link box. 5. Open TweetDeck and click the Compose Update button. 6. Paste the YouTube video URL into the message box. 7. Finishing composing your message.
8. Select which networks to post to. 9. Click the Send button.
FIGURE 8.7 Copying a YouTube video URL.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to share videos via TweetDeck. In the next lesson, you learn how to use TweetDeck for Twitter-specific activities.
LESSON 9
Using TweetDeck to Manage Twitter Activities In this lesson, you learn how to use TweetDeck for various Twitter-specific activities.
Retweeting Throughout this book we’ve discussed how to use TweetDeck to post to and read messages from Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks. Many of these activities apply across multiple social networks, but as TweetDeck was originally designed as a Twitter helper application, there are many Twitter-specific activities built into the TweetDeck for Desktop program. One such activity is retweeting, or being able to forward a tweet from another person to all your Twitter followers. Here’s how you do it: 1. Navigate to the message you want to retweet and hover over the
person’s profile picture to display the group of four small buttons, as shown in Figure 9.1.
FIGURE 9.1 Click the Retweet button. 2. Click the Retweet button.
3. You now see the retweet pane, shown in Figure 9.2. To retweet
the message exactly, click the Retweet Now button.
FIGURE 9.2 Retweeting a tweet. 4. To add your comment to the original tweet, click the Edit Then
Retweet button. This opens the message pane with the original tweet included. Make your edits, and then click the Send button.
Replying to Tweets TweetDeck lets you personally reply to any tweet you view. Here’s how to do it: 1. Navigate to the message you want to reply to and hover over the
person’s profile picture to display the group of four small buttons. 2. Click the Reply To button. 3. The message pane now opens with that person’s name at the start
of the message, preceding the @ sign. Enter the balance of your reply. 4. Click the Send button.
Your reply will now be posted to that person’s Replies tab in Twitter.
"Favoriting" Tweets If you like a particular tweet, you can “favorite” it. This saves the tweet to your favorites page. This lets you easily revisit your favorite tweets, as well as display those tweets to your followers. To favorite a tweet from within TweetDeck, follow these steps: 1. Navigate to the tweet and hover over the person’s profile picture
to display the group of four small buttons. 2. Click the Other Actions button. 3. From the pop-up menu, select Tweet, Favorite.
Sending a Direct Message Tweets are public, but Twitter allows you to send private tweets, or what it calls direct messages, to other users who are following you on Twitter. To send a direct message from within TweetDeck, follow these steps: 1. Navigate to a message from the person you want to contact and
hover over the person’s profile picture to display the group of four small buttons. 2. Click the Direct Message button. 3. The message pane now opens with that person’s name at the start
of the message, preceding by the letter “D,” which is how Twitter recognizes a direct message. Enter the text of your message. 4. Click the Send button.
The recipient will now receive your private tweet.
Finding People to Follow You don’t have to leave TweetDeck to find new people to follow. TweetDeck lets you search for other Twitter users and add them to your follow list. Follow these steps: 1. Click the Quick Profile button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the What Are You Looking For? window appears (see
Figure 9.3), enter the name of the person you’re looking for.
FIGURE 9.3 Searching for a specific person.
3. Click the Find Profile button. 4. A profile pane for that user now appears, like the one in
Figure 9.4.
FIGURE 9.4 Click the Follow button in a person’s profile column. 5. Click the Follow button to follow this user.
Unfollowing a User By the way, you can also unfollow people from within TweetDeck. Follow these steps: 1. Navigate to a message from the person you want to unfollow and
hover over the person’s profile picture to display the group of four small buttons. 2. Click the Other Actions button. 3. From the pop-up menu, select User, Unfollow.
Tracking Specific People One of the nice things about TweetDeck’s customizable columns is that you can view tweets from selected Twitter users in a dedicated column. That is, you can devote a column to a single user or group of users instead of having to view tweets from everyone you follow. You do this by creating a list column that tracks specific users. Here’s how to do it: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the next window appears, click the Twitter button. 3. Click the Groups/Lists tab. 4. Click the New List button. 5. When the next screen appears, as shown in Figure 9.5, enter a
name and description for your new list; then click the Add List Members button.
FIGURE 9.5 Creating a new list. 6. The next screen, shown in Figure 9.6, displays all the people you
follow on Twitter. Select a person and click the right arrow to
add that person to your list; if you like, add multiple people to track.
FIGURE 9.6 Adding users to your list. 7. Click the Private option. 8. Click the Save List button. 9. When the final screen appears, you have the option of notifying
this person of your action by sending a tweet. Do so if you like, and then click the Completed! button to view your new list column.
Tracking Specific Topics Just as you can use a customized column to track tweets from specific users, you can also use a customized column to track all tweets about a specific topic. This collects tweets from all Twitter users, not just the people you follow, and displays them in a single column. For example, you might want to track what the Twitterverse is saying about autism. To do this, you create a new search column that searches for tweets that contain the word "autism." All tweets that contain this word are then displayed in the column.
To create a search column to track a given topic, follow these steps: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the next window appears, click the Twitter button. 3. Click the Search tab, shown in Figure 9.7.
FIGURE 9.7 Creating a search column. 4. Enter keywords to describe the topic you’re searching for. 5. Click the Search button.
Twitter now creates a column that tracks all tweets that contain the words in your search query. NOTE: Search Tips By default, TweetDeck searches for tweets that contain all the words in your query. To search for tweets that contain either one word or another, insert the OR operator between keywords. To search for tweets that contain a specific phrase, enter that phrase within quotation marks, like this: “global warming”. To search for a hashtag, include the hash character (#) before the keyword; this will search only for uses of that word as a hashtag, not for instances of the word without the # character.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to perform important Twitter-only activities. In the next lesson, you learn how to perform Facebook-only activities.
LESSON 10
Using TweetDeck to Connect with Facebook Friends In this lesson, you learn how to use TweetDeck for various Facebook-specific activities.
Picking Columns to Display Just as you can use TweetDeck to perform various Twitter-specific activities, you can also use TweetDeck to manage selected Facebook-only activities. This starts with monitoring your friends’ activities on Facebook. You monitor various types of Facebook activities by creating different types of columns within TweetDeck for Desktop. You can display the following Facebook activity columns: ► Full News Feed—This displays the default news feed typically displayed on your Facebook home page, as shown in Figure 10.1. This news feed includes status updates, photo uploads, event requests, and other activities from your friends.
FIGURE 10.1 The Facebook Full News Feed column.
► Status Updates—This displays your friends’ status updates only, with no extraneous activities. ► Wall Posts—This displays posts your friends make to your wall, and posts you make to theirs. ► Photos—This displays the most recent photos uploaded by your friends. ► Videos—This displays the most recent videos uploaded by your friends. To add a new Facebook column, follow these steps: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the next window appears, click the Facebook button, as
shown in Figure 10.2.
FIGURE 10.2 Creating a new Facebook column. 3. Click the tab for the type of column you want to add. 4. Click the Everyone button.
TweetDeck now creates the new column and adds it to the far right of the column display.
Tracking Specific Friends For any type of Facebook column you create, you can opt to display updates from all your friends (Everyone) or only from selected friends. This is a great way to track updates for individuals you’re particularly interested in. To track updates from one or more specific friends, follow these steps: 1. Click the Add Column button on the left side of the TweetDeck
toolbar. 2. When the next window appears, click the Facebook button. 3. Click the tab for the type of activity you want to track. 4. Click the Create a New Group button.
5. The screen now changes to list all your Facebook friends, as
shown in Figure 10.3. Check those friends you wish to track in this column. 6. Click the Finish button.
FIGURE 10.3 Selecting which friends to track.
Viewing Friends’ Profiles You don’t have to go to the Facebook website to view your friends’ profile pages. You can do this from within TweetDeck. To display a friend’s profile page, click that person’s name at the bottom of any status update displayed in TweetDeck. This opens a new Facebook Profile column for that user, like the one shown in Figure 10.4. This column displays the friend’s profile photo at the top, followed by all the friend’s recent activities.
FIGURE 10.4 Viewing a friend’s Facebook profile in TweetDeck. NOTE: Full Profile To view the friend’s full profile page on Facebook, click the Facebook: Profile link in that person’s profile column.
Retweeting Facebook Status Updates to Twitter Sometimes a Facebook friend makes an interesting observation that you’d like to share with your Twitter followers. Although Facebook and Twitter are not connected, TweetDeck enables you to post Facebook updates as Twitter tweets, essentially retweeting those updates.
Here’s how to do it: 1. Navigate to the status update you want to retweet and hover over
the person’s profile picture to display the group of four small buttons, as shown in Figure 10.5. 2. Click the Other Actions button. 3. From the pop-up menu, select Update, Tweet username’s Com-
ment. 4. This opens the TweetDeck message pane with the status update
already inserted, preceded by FB RT:, which indicates a retweet of a Facebook comment. Click the Send button to post the tweet.
FIGURE 10.5 Facebook action buttons.
Viewing and Making Comments You can also comment on your friends’ Facebook status updates directly from within TweetDeck. Follow these steps: 1. Navigate to the status update you want to comment on and hover
over the person’s profile picture to display the group of four small buttons. 2. Click the Comment on Post button. 3. This opens the comment pane shown in Figure 10.6. Enter your
comment into the text box. 4. Click the Add Comment button.
FIGURE 10.6 Commenting on a Facebook status update.
Your comment will be posted to your friend’s message on Facebook.
Liking a Status Update Another action popular with Facebook users is “liking” a particular status update. Instead of taking the time to write a comment, you can simply click a button to indicate that you like what your friend posted. You can “like” Facebook status updates from within the TweetDeck interface. Follow these steps: 1. Navigate to the status update you want to comment on and hover
over the person’s profile picture to display the group of four small buttons. 2. Click the Like Post button.
Click the button again to “unlike” a post you’ve previously liked.
Sending Private Messages Like most social networks, Facebook encourages public conversations between members. You can, however send private messages, much like conventional emails, to your Facebook friends—and you can do this from within TweetDeck, sort of. Follow these steps: 1. Navigate to a status update from the friend you want to contact
and hover over the person’s profile picture to display the group of four small buttons. 2. Click the Other Actions button. 3. From the pop-up menu, select User, Send Message. 4. This opens your web browser and navigates to the Messages
page on the Facebook site with a New Message window displayed. Enter your message and click the Send button.
Writing on a Friend’s Wall Another way to communicate one-to-one with someone on Facebook is to write on their wall—that is, to leave a message on their profile page. There are two ways to do this from within TweetDeck: using the action buttons on that person’s profile picture or entering your message directly into the
TweetDeck’s message pane. This latter approach is the most versatile; follow these steps: 1. Click the Compose Update button to open the message pane. 2. Start your message by typing the > symbol; this pops up a list of
all your Facebook friends, as shown in Figure 10.7. 3. Click the name of the friend you want to contact; this places the
friend’s name, preceded by the > symbol, into the message pane. 4. Enter the text of your message. 5. Click the Send button.
FIGURE 10.7 Selecting a friend to write to.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to use TweetDeck to perform several Facebook-specific actions. In the next lesson, you learn how to use the TweetDeck for iPhone application.
LESSON 11
Using TweetDeck on Your iPhone In this lesson, you learn how to use the TweetDeck for iPhone application.
Understanding TweetDeck for iPhone TweetDeck makes mobile versions of its applications for Apple’s iPhone and iPad, and for Google Android phones. All these applications have similar features, enabling you to access your social network accounts while you’re on the go. You can use these mobile versions of TweetDeck to read tweets and status updates from your friends or to post new updates to multiple networks simultaneously. Because all these mobile versions function in a similar fashion, we’ll focus on the TweetDeck for iPhone app in this lesson. You can download TweetDeck for iPhone from Apple’s App Store; it’s a free download. Note that TweetDeck for iPhone offers limited functionality compared to TweetDeck for Desktop. The iPhone app connects to just two social networks—Twitter and Facebook. It does not connect to MySpace, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, or Foursquare. NOTE: TweetDeck for iPad and Android TweetDeck for iPad is even more limited, connecting only to Twitter, not to Facebook or other social networks. TweetDeck for Android, however, connects to all the social networks available with TweetDeck for Desktop: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, and Foursquare.
Getting Started The first time you use TweetDeck for iPhone, you need to configure the program for your specific accounts. Follow these steps: 1. When prompted, click the Get Started button. 2. On the Step 2 screen, shown in Figure 11.1, enter your Tweet-
Deck username and password, and then tap the Verify button. TweetDeck now verifies your account details.
FIGURE 11.1 Verifying your TweetDeck account. 3. If you have a Facebook account registered, you’re now prompted
to connect to Facebook. Click the Connect with Facebook button; then enter your Facebook account information. Tap the Allow button to permit access to various Facebook features. 4. The Step 3 screen prompts you to register with TweetDeck.
Assuming that you already have a TweetDeck account, tap the Sign In button.
5. When the Step 4 screen appears, enter your TweetDeck email
and password, then tap the Next button. 6. The Step 5 screen, shown in Figure 11.2, displays those columns
imported from TweetDeck for Desktop. Select which columns you want to display on your iPhone, then tap the Next button. 7. The setup is now complete. Click the OK–All Done! button to
proceed.
FIGURE 11.2 Importing columns from TweetDeck for Desktop.
Navigating TweetDeck for iPhone As you can see in Figure 11.3, TweetDeck for iPhone displays information in separate columns, just as TweetDeck for Desktop does. You move from column to column by scrolling the screen right or left.
FIGURE 11.3 Viewing columns in TweetDeck for iPhone.
To maximize a column to full screen, tap anywhere on the column. To return to the multicolumn display, tap the left-arrow button at the top of the screen. By default, you see only the first part of any tweet or status update. To view the entire update on its own screen, tap that update. The resultant screen not only displays the message, but also contains the following reply functions: ► For Twitter tweets, like the one shown in Figure 11.4, you can reply to the current tweet, send a direct message (private tweet) to that user, or retweet the message to all your followers. Tap the More button at the bottom of the screen to email the tweet, send the tweet via a RE:, or mark the tweet as a favorite. ► For Facebook status updates, like the one shown in Figure 11.5, you can post a comment to this message, write on this person’s wall, or like the message.
FIGURE 11.4 Viewing a tweet screen.
FIGURE 11.5 Viewing a Facebook status update screen.
Tap the top-left button to close this screen and return to the previous column.
Managing Columns You can change the way columns are displayed on TweetDeck for iPhone. You can rearrange columns, add new columns, and delete old ones.
Rearranging Columns To change the horizontal position of a column, follow these steps: 1. Tap the gear icon in the top-right corner of the column you want
to move. 2. When the Edit screen appears, as shown in Figure 11.6, tap the
Page Order arrow buttons to move the column left or right. 3. Tap the Close button when done.
FIGURE 11.6 Editing a column.
Adding New Columns You can add new columns to TweetDeck for iPhone at any time. Follow these steps: 1. Tap the Add Column button at the bottom of the screen. 2. When the next screen appears, as shown in Figure 11.7, tap the
type of column you want to add—Twitter or Facebook.
FIGURE 11.7 Choosing which type of column to add. 3. When the Add Column screen appears, as shown in Figure 11.8,
tap the left- and right-arrow buttons to cycle through the available columns until you find the one you want to add. 4. Tap the Add Column button.
FIGURE 11.8 Adding a new column.
Deleting Columns To delete a column, follow these steps: 1. Tap the gear icon in the top-right corner of the column you want
to delete. 2. When the Edit screen appears, tap the Delete Column button.
Creating a New Update Naturally, you can use TweetDeck for iPhone to post new tweets and status updates to your Twitter and Facebook accounts. Follow these steps: 1. Tap the Compose Update button at the top of the screen. This
displays the New Status screen, shown in Figure 11.9.
FIGURE 11.9 Creating a new update. 2. In the From: section, tap the button or buttons for the services
you want to post to. 3. Enter the text of your message into the large text box. 4. To include a recent hashtag, click the hashtag (#) button and se-
lect the tag from the list. 5. To mention one of your Twitter followees in your message, tap
the Addresses button and select a user from the list shown in Figure 11.10.
FIGURE 11.10 Mentioning someone you follow on Twitter—select the user from the list. 6. To shorten a post with TweetShrink, tap the TweetShrink button. 7. To upload a photo and include a link to that photo, tap the Photo
button. When you see the screen shown in Figure 11.11, select to either take a new picture with your iPhone’s camera or choose from photos stored on your iPhone. 8. To GeoTag this post (to include your current location), tap the
GeoTag button and select one or more of the following options shown in Figure 11.12: Enable GeoTagging, GeoTag This Tweet Only, Update Profile Location, or Add Map Link. 9. When you’re done creating your post, tap the Send button.
FIGURE 11.11 Inserting a photo.
FIGURE 11.12 GeoTagging a post.
Managing Application Settings You can configure various settings for the TweetDeck for iPhone app. Tap the Settings button at the bottom of the screen to display the Accounts & Settings screen, shown in Figure 11.13. From here you can edit settings for your Twitter, TweetDeck, and Facebook accounts.
FIGURE 11.13 Configuring accounts and settings.
You can also edit various general settings, shown in Figure 11.14.
FIGURE 11.14 Configuring general settings.
Some of the general settings you can edit include the following: ► Theme (dark or light) ► Compose Settings (Auto-correct, Auto-capitalization, and ReTweet New style) ► Picture Service ► General (Sounds, Pop-up Alerts, Show Real Names, Shake Refresh, Photo Scaling, Column Arrows, and Load All Tweets on Startup) ► GeoTag Service (GeoTagging Enabled, GPS Location Accuracy, and Ignore GPS Accuracy Warning) When you make the desired change, it is implemented immediately; there is no Save button to tap.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to use the TweetDeck for iPhone app. In the next lesson, you learn how to configure TweetDeck for Desktop settings.
LESSON 12
Configuring TweetDeck In this lesson, you learn how to configure various aspects of the TweetDeck for Desktop application.
Configuring General Settings You configure TweetDeck from the TweetDeck Settings dialog box, which you access from the Settings button on the right side of the TweetDeck toolbar. This dialog box has nine tabs, each of which lets you configure specific types of program settings. The first tab, the General tab, provides access to general program settings (see Figure 12.1). The settings on this tab are detailed in Table 12.1.
FIGURE 12.1 Configuring TweetDeck’s general settings.
TABLE 12.1 TweetDeck’s General Settings Setting
Description
Update Window at Bottom
By default, the message pane (what TweetDeck calls the Update Window) is displayed at the top of the application. Check this option to display this pane at the bottom of the application instead.
Narrow Columns
By default, TweetDeck displays wide columns. To display narrow columns, and thus fit more columns in the window, check this option.
Hide Previously Loaded Updates Check this option to not display older (After Restart) tweets and status updates when you launch TweetDeck. Open Profiles in Web Page
By default, TweetDeck displays user profiles in columns within the program; check this option to display profiles in web pages in your web browser instead.
Open Photo Links in Web Page Check this option to display photos in web pages in your web browser when you click photo links. Use Autocomplete for Usernames
Check this option to let TweetDeck suggest your friend's username when you begin typing a username within the program.
Press Enter to Send an Update
When this option is checked, which it is by default, you can send an update by pressing the Enter key on your keyboard. If you uncheck this option, you have to click the Send button to send an update.
Show Preview Information for Short URLs
Check this option to display information about the full URL when you click a shortened URL in a tweet or status update. You can then click through to the linked-to page.
Enable Keyboard Shortcuts
By default, TweetDeck lets you use keyboard shortcuts for some program operations. Uncheck this option to not use keyboard shortcuts.
Mark Updates as Read When Moving with Keyboard
Check this option to mark any tweet or status update as read when you move from that update via your keyboard.
Check any setting to activate that option. Uncheck any setting to turn it off. In addition, you can decide what the Minimize button does: minimize TweetDeck to the taskbar (default) or hide to the notification area. You can also decide what the Close button does: quit the application or hide to the notification area. Click the Save Settings button to save your changes.
Configuring Twitter-Related Settings There are several Twitter-related settings you can configure from within TweetDeck. Some of these are located on the Twitter tab of the TweetDeck Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 12.1; others are on the Twitter Updates tab, shown in Figure 12.3.
FIGURE 12.2 Configuring TweetDeck’s Twitter settings.
FIGURE 12.3 Configuring TweetDeck’s Twitter Updates settings.
Table 12.2 details those settings on the Twitter tab. The Twitter Updates tab configures some of the technical settings that have to do with how TweetDeck interfaces with Twitter. You can determine the maximum number of updates per API call, the maximum number of updates (tweets) displayed in each column, and whether TweetDeck should manage your Twitter API limit (it does, by default). TABLE 12.2 TweetDeck’s Twitter Settings Setting
Description
Show Follower Count in Tweets Check this option to display the number of followers in tweets. Hide Previously Sent Direct Messages (After Restart)
Check this option to not display older direct messages when relaunching the program.
Auto Include Hashtags When Replying
Check this option to automatically include hashtags when replying to tweets.
Retweet Button Should
Determines what clicking the Retweet button does: send without editing, edit before sending, or always ask me.
Configuring Notifications The Notifications tab, shown in Figure 12.4, determines where and how update notifications are displayed. We discussed this in Lesson 5, “Reading Tweets and Posts”; turn there for more information.
FIGURE 12.4 Configuring TweetDeck’s Notifications settings.
Configuring Appearance TweetDeck is kind of a dark program, in terms of appearance. You see white text on a dark background. If you find this hard to read, or if you just prefer a different color combination, you can change the program’s look and feel on the Colors/Font tab, shown in Figure 12.5.
FIGURE 12.5 Configuring TweetDeck’s Colors/Font settings.
The easiest way to change TweetDeck’s appearance is to click the Light Theme button. This changes the program to display black text on a white background, as shown in Figure 12.6.
FIGURE 12.6 TweetDeck for Desktop’s Light theme.
If that’s not enough, you can personalize the colors used for each onscreen element. Just go to the TweetDeck Colors section of the Colors/Font tab, click an element listed there, and select a new color from the color chooser. NOTE: International Fonts If you’re using TweetDeck in a language other than English, you may want to check the International Font/TwitterKey option, which supplies a greater number of font characters from different languages.
Configuring Services Throughout this book we’ve discussed how TweetDeck uses various thirdparty services to provide specific features, such as URL shortening and photo hosting. We’ve addressed the default providers of these services, but you can configure TweetDeck to use other services instead. You do this from the Services tab of the TweetDeck Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 12.7.
FIGURE 12.7 Configuring TweetDeck’s Services settings.
To select a different provider for a given service, click the appropriate control to make a new selection from the list. Table 12.3 details the various services and providers available; default providers are listed in bold. TABLE 12.3 TweetDeck’s Service Providers Service
Available Providers
URL shortening
bit.ly is.gd tinyurl twurl Other
Photo uploading/hosting
YFrog Plixi TwitPic Posterous Mobypicture
Email client
Default Client (your normal email program) Gmail
NOTE: Languages You can also use the Services tab to select the default language for all your new tweets and status updates.
Configuring Accounts The Accounts tab, shown in Figure 12.8, is where you add new social networks to TweetDeck for Desktop, as well as remove any accounts you no longer want to link. Turn to Lesson 2, “Downloading and Installing TweetDeck,” for more detailed instructions.
FIGURE 12.8 Configuring TweetDeck’s Accounts settings.
Syncing Your Account The Sync tab, shown in Figure 12.9, is where you enter your TweetDeck account information, so that this version of TweetDeck for Desktop can synchronize with your general TweetDeck settings. You can run TweetDeck for Desktop on multiple computers, using the same general account settings.
FIGURE 12.9 Configuring TweetDeck’s Sync settings.
Filtering Updates Sometimes you don’t want to be bothered with tweets or status updates from particular people or about specific topics. Fortunately, TweetDeck enables you to filter tweets and updates from specific people, that contain specific words, or from specific sources. You do this filtering from the Global Filter tab, shown in Figure 12.10. The settings you make here affect what you see across all of TweetDeck from all your connected social networks.
FIGURE 12.10 Configuring TweetDeck’s Global Filter settings.
Enter the names or words or services you want to filter into the appropriate boxes; then click the Save Settings button. You’ll no longer see updates that you block in this fashion. NOTE: Unfiltering To unblock updates from previously filtered people or places, return to the Global Filter tab and click the Clear Filters button.
Summary In this lesson, you learned how to configure TweetDeck for Desktop’s various program settings.
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