Starting with Tweetdeck

Before you make the commitment to downloading and installing the desktop version of Tweetdeck, you can get a taste by logging on the browser app at tweetdeck.twitter.com.

Once you’ve logged on, you can add the accounts that you regularly access – usually your personal and work Twitter @handles.

Click on the ‘Add another Twitter account button,’ fill in your additional account info, and press ‘Authorize app.’

Once you’ve added your accounts, you can begin turning Twitter’s never-ending outpouring of news, links and jokes into easy-to-understand columns of useful information.

Curating the Twitter Firehose

Tweetdeck’s central feature is the column — basically a pre-programmed advanced search. You can view your notifications, direct messages, mentions, favorites, streams from individual users, trending hashtags and more. There are a daunting number of choices, however, but feel free to experiment. Here is a list of the types of Tweetdeck columns and what they display.

Adding Columns

You can add as many columns as you like and delete them in seconds. The columns appear as icons along the left side of the screen, so you can easily add ten or twelve columns and still won’t have to scroll horizontally to find the information you want. To add a column, click on the column icon. On the next screen choose which account (if you have more than one handle), and click the “Add Column” button.

Adding Alerts

Usually, you’ll want to schedule times during the day to delve into Tweetdeck, but there are some people who you’ll want to hear from the minute that they tweet. To receive immediate alerts, go to the top right of the column and click on the settings icon.

Next, make some lists to sort out the mess of incoming information.