30 Twitter tips hath September: Use specialized applications

In September, we’re offering a Twitter tip a day. Send us your thoughts and suggestions.

[Tweet this tip]
Day 22: Stop using Twitter in your browser,
and start using Tweetdeck or Seesmic Desktop.

Tweetdeck (shown above) and Seesmic Desktop are two competing free applications that run on your computer to monitor Twitter. Both allow you to monitor multiple Twitter accounts, @replies, Facebook accounts, saved searches and more.

Why would you switch from using the Web interface? Because that view is one-dimensional: You see only a limited amount of data at a time. With either of these tools, you can make sure those talking with you are being heard. You can jump in on conversations, and group your many friends by useful categories.

I’ve been using Tweetdeck almost as long as I’ve been on Twitter (for several months); I haven’t used Seesmic, but have heard great things about it, too from its users. Try them both, and stick with the one you like best. (And if you’re using Tweetdeck, you can learn a lot from this 4-minute video, “How to Tweetdeck Like a Pro,” though some features have changed in the most recent release.)

Which one are you using and why? Tell us in the comments.

Follow @WadeOnTweets for more Twitter fun.
30 Twitter tips hath September