It’s fairly easy to understand the potential benefits of Twitter, both personally and for a business. But, like the rest of us, you may well be short on time and think that social media is a nicety time doesn’t allow. The truth is, Twitter should be a fairly fundamental part of any social media strategy, and understanding how to manage your Twitter account effectively can help you develop this strategy, without letting it overtake your life.
The great thing about social media is as a phenomenal shift in the way we communicate, it has been embraced by some great technology companies who have done all the hard work to make our own lives more simple.
Introducing TweetDeck…
TweetDeck is a desktop app that allows you to setup segmented twitter feeds, LinkedIn and your Facebook account (and others) all in one. It uses fairly simple columns to segment your interests, mentions, direct messages or general friend feeds at the click of a button. 
My columns are fairly simply setup, with a feed with all friends tweets on the left, any mentions following that, direct messages, my LinkedIn news updates and finally Facebook feed.
It means I can keep an eye on the basics. It lets me know when someone has retweeted what I have said, so I can return the favour at a later date. Or if someone has asked me a question, I can reply promptly, without having to be reminded by Twitter that I have a message.
As a desktop app, I can leave it running in the background (with noise notifications setup) so I can be aware of what’s happening, without having to keep a constant eye on it. I can quickly switch between what I am working on and Twitter without any fuss. Most importantly, if I have something to say, I can flick it up, and, using one of the integrated Twitter tools such as TwitPic, YFrog, bit.ly etc, tweet anything from pictures to videos all through the same tool. It saves me time, and allows me more flexibility in my tweets.
For those of you with lots of followers or are looking for more advanced management, try playing about with the global filter under preferences. This tool will create a column with updates surrounding certain terms, so if you’re an IFA and someone mentions #pensions, you could jump right in and message them with some advice. You also may wish to segment your friends into groups, so you can keep an even closer eye on those people who influence you, as we all have them, rather than shifting through hundreds of micro-blogs that may not be relevant.
Introducing Twitterlator…
So, while you’re at your computer, use TweetDeck, but what about on the move, in theory one of the most powerful uses of Twitter, instant micro-blogs. Well, Twitterlator is another great tool. Available as a free or paid app, Twitterlator offers an easy means of keeping up to date while out and about. Much like TweetDeck (which coincidentally also has an iPhone app) it segments things into general tweets, mentions and direct messages, and allows easy use of third party tools for the on the go photo or longer message. Coupled with TweetDeck, it means you can easily stay on top of your tweets, without taking up all of your time. There are plenty of other android and iPhone apps that achieve fairly similar things, I just happen to use Twitterlator, but find one that works for you and use it, and let’s start some #intrigue. @rjpalmer
