When Twitter added lists not only was there a race to build (and get on) lists, but Twitter clients to add support for them. Over the past few weeks I’ve watched Hootsuite, Nambu, and others add Twitter Lists support all the while waiting for my favourite Twitter tool, TweetDeck to add support. This morning the wait is over and I think TweetDeck has upped the ante for all Twitter clients, and they did it by making themselves less essential, but more valuable at the same time.
One of the things I’ve loved about TweetDeck, and what made it essential for me, were Groups. Instead of drowning in the stream of Tweets, I made groups that put news tweets into my “News” column, colleagues in another, and friends in another. A very, very efficient way to manage information.
Then came Twitter lists.
Drat.
I could immediately see the problem here, as could many others. It didn’t matter which tool you made your tool-specific groups in, the prospect of having to manage local lists and Twitter lists was daunting. I use TweetDeck most of the time, but I do occasionally have to use other tools like the Twitter website or Hootsuite and without my preferred groups, they just didn’t give me the info I needed.
Today that’s changed. TweetDeck came out with its new version, one that not only support Twitter Lists, but also export of TweetDeck Groups to private Twitter lists. As I’m exporting my key groups now, I see that this move actually sets the bar higher for all Twitter clients and brings Twitter closer to being like email. Now I don’t have to use TweetDeck anymore. I can use Hootsuite or Twitter or any other tool and have all the same lists available. This means is that now all the apps have to step it up a notch to keep people using them.
This is a bold move, and one that the TweetDeck team needed to make before anyone else did. Now it’s back to full-on features that we’re going to judge an app by. Speed, memory usage, subtle UI touches.
My verdict? I’m going to see how TweetDeck vs Hootsuite go today. I’m still leaning towards TweetDeck, I just think he UI is cleaner and I can get far more info punch for my bargain than I can with Hootsuite.
For more on the new version of TweetDeck: Mashable (very thin review, publish fast, little thought there) and Techcrunch (better and a killer screenshot of TweetDeck in action…)
Now it’s time to see how this new TweetDeck does. BTW, the first trick I’ve figured out is to tune your API calls to get the most out of lists by turning down/off new followers (if you don’t have the column active), groups, and all friends to bump up DMs, replies, and lists.
Tris Hussey is a writer, teacher, blogger, and speaker on all facets of Internet life, WordPress, and social media. If you are interested in having Tris speak, teach, lead a workshop or consult for you, feel free to email tris [at] trishussey [dot] com.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
How about Tweetdeck vs. Seesmic? I use Tweetdeck mostly, and every few weeks fire up Seesmic Desktop and Nambu to check out improvements. I always go back to Tweetdeck, but that’s probably only due to familiarity.
I haven’t tried Seesmic lately, but Nambu is a strong contender. When Nambu puts back multicolumn layouts, it could give TweetDeck a run for its money.