TweetDeck: The 5 Best and 3 Worst Things About The New Version That Will Launch Today
TweetDeck is the most popular desktop Twitter client and is racing Seesmic to see who can be the most innovative social media browser across multiple social networks. TweetDeck will release the latest version of its software Wednesday and the differences are dramatic. Deep integration with Facebook, MySpace integration, easier link and photo sharing are just a few of the new features.
I've been testing the new TweetDeck for about half a day and below are the five things I like the best about it and the three things I like the least.
The Good News
Bring Your MySpace Friendships Back From the Dead, Without Visiting MySpace
Many people don't like visiting MySpace anymore, but let's admit it: unless you're a total snob, you probably still have some friends that are still active there. It's nice to know how they're doing. The new TweetDeck makes that easy. Just grant TweetDeck permission to access your list of friends and their updates will appear in one or more columns. It's downright heartwarming.
The Facebook Integration is Very Good
If you like to use Facebook, TweetDeck isn't going to replace the user experience for you, but it's an excellent supplemental view of your friends' activity streams. You get the whole hog - photos, comments, likes, liking and commenting. You can even send posts to Facebook just by clicking to select or deselect that account in the update composing window. The new TweetDeck makes it easy to post messages and photos to multiple or different accounts. It's remarkably easy - it's fantastic.
Also very nice is the ability to create TweetDeck groups from your Facebook friends. You can even create multiple columns in TweetDeck displaying updates from different groups of your Facebook friends, and group creation is now super smooth in Tweetdeck with name autocompletion when you start typing. Groups are the secret weapon of the social web and they are the key to Tweetdeck's value. Unfortunately you can't import the groups you've already created in Facebook, but more on that later.
Links Shortened Automatically
Type or paste a link into the posting box on TweetDeck and it's now automatically shortened. It's fast and easy, a real time saver.
Drag and Drop Photos Works Well, Even With Skitch
Drag photos in to share them by URL, even out of the Mac screen capture service Skitch. Expect a lot more image sharing via TweetDeck. You can even post those images over to Facebook. You can't send images to MySpace, which is a bummer.
The Directory Has Potential
There's a new TweetDeck Directory that's linked-to from the client where you can find groups of users organized by topic and follow them in a new column with just a click. That's very cool. There are really diverse groups, but they aren't that deep in the accounts included. Using a service like Twellow or Tweepz is still a better way to create your own groups - but this isn't bad for new users and it certainly has potential. (We're holding our breath for the ultimate Twitter group app, another one that's currently awaiting approval from Twitter but that we hope to get to write about soon.)
The Bad News
It's not all kisses from kittens with this new TweetDeck. Here are three things that are a disappointment above and beyond the fact that this is still the most memory-intensive software I have running on my computer right now.
Facebook Groups Can't Be Imported
It's probably not TweetDeck's fault at all but those groups you created in Facebook? You're going to have to build them all over again here if you want to use them. There's nothing like creating separate views for people you knew in highschool on one hand and geeks you know from the internet on the other. The inability to port those groups over makes Facebook reading in TweetDeck a lot more clumsy than it ought to be. Dear Facebook, would you please make sure this is easy to do?
MySpace May Take Up Two Columns
Syncing a MySpace account requires that you put either activity stream or status updates in a column. If you want to see what your friends are both doing and saying, then you have to give up two columns. That's obnoxious, but again probably not TweetDeck's fault. I'm just saying: this is a social network activity stream browser now and there are some issues.
There's Still No Group Export
TweetDeck remains in control over the work you've created in building groups in its client. This is TweetDeck's fault. The company hasn't made any visible progress in data portability. When thousands of friend connections are flying all around, group creation adds huge value. By not facilitating the porting of those groups to and from other clients, TweetDeck (as well as Seesmic) are effectively locking their users in. It's bad.
Those issues aside, this is a major update for the better. The pace of innovation in TweetDeck is really impressive. I look forward to using this software all day, every day, for the next few months until yet another version comes out that's even better. How does it look to you? Hopefully within the next few hours you'll be able to give the new TweetDeck a try and let us know.
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What about the automatic list of usernames? Like the Intelligent sence thing, when you start @user the list appears? Well, of course I'll check tweetdeck tonight, I'll see if they made this feature, because it's too time-saving.
Not listed in "The Bad News"
- No Android client
- Stingy API limits
- Cannot change audio sound that plays based on type/context of tweet
Big miss for me on TweetDeck has been full search functionality. The 'near'and 'within' wasn't supported, which is critical for local business and brands with common names.
Hope thats addressed.
Marshall,
is it also available with the same features as a Web appli ?
And how much "is the most memory-intensive software" ?
(PS: I want a retweet button ... working ;-) )
Ist there ping.fm support in this release?
Wow, glad Paul Moss mentioned that search thing, I was completely unaware.
It truly is amazing how TweetDeck has yet to build export functionality. I've seen people use custom hacked scripts, but that's a dozen steps too many. It should be one: an export button. Especially, considering they store your lists online so you can sync them among TD installations, that's just mind-boggling to me.
Todd, not sure what you mean by "Stingy API limits" but isn't that a Twitter thing, not a TD thing?
I'm surprised they didn't just copy the only few remaining things Twhirl was doing that they weren't, i.e. sounds customization (as Paul mentioned). I'd much rather say "Can't wait to see TweetDeck perfect this feature" than "Can't wait to see TweetDeck add this feature." If these don't release before 2010... yikes.
"Just grant TweetDeck permission to access your list of friends"
Is it just me or does anyone else like to maintain control over certain things? Just like syncing Twitter and Facebook.
I understand these things can be advantageous and I understand why. However, I'm not sure it's always in the user's best interest.
In addition, has there ever been a study on how many Twitter users also use Facebook seriously or regularly?
As groups are not yet a major part of my social media world, TweetDeck is by far the best tool I have. It simplifies many of the tasks and allows me to post to Twitter & Facebook with the same tweet. The search function lets me keep an extra column up to see who's currently tweeting on my topic of interest. LOVE it!
I'd be happy if TweetDeck just allowed me to port groups among my various machines. The previous/current version supposedly does that via its login function but it doesn't come even close to working - let alone resynching between machines.
You forgot to mention the utterly repulsive User Interface.
I like that you're talking about lock-in by not allowing groups import/export. You seem to be the lone voice advocating data portability in the world of Twitter clients.
Posted by: Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
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September 9, 2009 7:21 AM
Oskar Krawczyk +1
Integration between MySpace, Twitter and Facebook... and your RSS, weather, LinkedIn, eBay... exists for years in aggregators like iGoogle or Netvibes.
The latter launched lately the "drag and follow" for people and topics. http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/15/netvibes-adds-drag-and-follow-search-widgets-for-twitter-facebook-and-myspace/
Column based UI limited to few apps looks like a step backward to me.
Does this version have minimize to system tray?
Dear Tweetdeck,
Why cant i see the updates from FB pages im a fan of?
Would be nice to see Hootsuite integraion even though they seem to be competing against each other now.
Lack of keyboard shortcuts or reliable mouse scrolling still makes this (and all Air apps) pretty much unusable for me.
The fact that it still takes up so much memory means that it's not going to find it's way on to my netbook. Staying with Seesmic for the moment
Dreadful update - where have Mentions gone, and I hate the pop up when selecting accounts you're tweeting to say which account is selected and deselected (it stays up for ages and you have to wait for it to go before you can select another account to post the same tweet to.
TweetDeck: The 5 Best and 3 Worst Things About Today's New Version http://bit.ly/15Rvyu http://pic.gd/bbfbb3 [from http://twitter.com/marshallk/statuses/3860082504]
Posted by: Marshall Kirkpatrick
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September 12, 2009 10:56 PM
I have been using Orsiso (www.orsiso.com) for ages and they have had Facebook (and other networks, notably LinkedIn) down pat for ages. The UI and user experience is much better than Tweetdeck which I still think is really clunky. Rock on Orsiso!
TweetDeck's aim of taking its suggested user feature and turning it into a Tweet Directory is a welcome move.
I agree that it's somewhat limiting that TweetDeck groups can't be easily exported outside of the client. What we really need of course is for Twitter themselves to support groups. A while back, I posted some scripts to help manage Twitter groups in del.icio.us, and to import them into TweetDeck:
http://kartiksubbarao.com/managing-twitter-groups-with-delicious-tags
This is how I used to manage my groups back when TweetDeck didn't have native support. It still might be of interest.
i tried TweetDeck a while back, but once i tried Seesmic, i found it to be MUCH easier to manage groups in every way. i see nothing here that even tempts me to try TweetDeck again. if i ever find something i like better than Seesmic, i'll switch, but it seems like i'm constantly finding new ways that i can use it that are surprising and delightful.
Is there a way to time-release tweets with TweetDeck?