So by now you’ve signed up to Twitter, followed ten people, had conversations on Twitter, and updated your bio.
You might have noticed that Twitter is flowing stream of information, and the more people you follow, the faster the current. Each Tweet is a little seed-pod boat flying along, and keeping track of them can be a pain. To stretch the analogy to near breaking, it involves a lot of annoying running up and down the bank of the stream.
This is where using a more powerful client can make life easier.
1. Go to here or here (and click the link for your operating system – or you can just go directly to Windows applications and find a Twitter client you like the sound of.
Personally, I’m a little biased and use and love TweetDeck, so if you don’t want to choose from a large list, you can just grab that.
2. Download and install the Twitter client you’ve chosen. Depending on the client, you might be prompted to install additional software, like Flash or Adobe AIR. That’s completely fine – a lot of the clients use additional tools to look prettier.
3. Log in to Twitter using the client you’ve chosen. (if you’re using Tweetdeck, it give you an ‘Add a Twitter account’ button when you run it after installation) Each client will put the option somewhere different, but they will give you the ability to log in using the same user name and password you’ve used on the Twitter website.
4. Give the client a few minutes to run, and see what you think of the experience compared to using the Twitter website. See how it organises different types of tweet – messages from people you follow, replies to your tweets, and direct messages sent only to you.
5. Let us know how you found the experience, either by leaving a comment here, or starting a tweet with @kapowe or @catherinecaine on Twitter.