Hands-on with Tweetdeck 0.26
The new version of Tweetdeck is out, a bit ahead of schedule. As discussed previously, this version adds cloud synchronization and other features. But I found the implementation rough in spots. Here’s a quick hands-on overview of the main new features:
Posting to multiple accounts at once is really easy.
(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)
Synchronization: The big feature: searches and groups are saved to your online Tweetdeck account, and setting up the account is easy. Now when you launch Tweetdeck on another computer these searches and groups will be there waiting for you. The interface for managing these is very bare-bones, however. There’s no easy-to-view window of your saves searches, for example. You can see the queries you’ve saved in a drop-down list when you open the search box, but it’d be better if there were more management tools for people who create a lot of queries.
All searches and groups are automatically saved to the Tweetdeck server if you have an account, and of course they have to be synchronized before you can use them on another comptuer. You can’t control when your items sync (it seems to be every few minutes), and if you delete an item permanently before it syncs, you’ll lose it. You will get a warning first, though, advising you to wait a few minutes before you delete.
Multiple-account support: The good news is that it’s really easy to tweet to one or multiple accounts from the input box. You just click on the accounts you want to send from. Easy.
New Replay All feature sends a reply tweet to everyone mentioned in the original.
(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)
The bad news is that the interface for selecting which account you want to use when you create a new column to view tweets is very poor. There’s a status message on the top right of the screen that shows you information about your Twitter accounts. It rotates between accounts on its own schedule (every 15 seconds), or you can click on it to move through your account list. Whatever account is displayed, that is the the one that Tweetdeck will use when you press a button for a new Friends, Mentions, or Directs column. It’s not documented and not intutitive. Bad show.
Reply options: : There are some cool new activities you can take on each tweet you see. A “reply all” option creates a message that includes the @ addresses of everyone mentioned in a message. You can also block users, report spammers, follow and unfollow, and add users to groups directly from their tweets. These features will make power Twitterers happy.
Video support: If you get a Qik or a 12Seconds video, you can play it in the Tweetdeck interface. Nice. Still no support for Seesmic videos, though. Wonder why.
Here is the original:
Hands-on with Tweetdeck 0.26
Tags: apple, cancel, cnet, crave, downloads, facebook, global-warming, home, media, microsoft, networking, news, reviews, search, security, Uncategorized, version-tracker, video, webware, wireless
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
