How I Manage My Twitter Feeds

Tweetdeck screen shot

Twitter is perhaps one of the most powerful learning tools presently available; however, it can be a real time sink if not managed effectively.

Currently, I am managing three Twitter accounts: my personal one – @skrabut, one for work – @uwcesedtech, and one for a volunteer organization – @wywgcap. Through these accounts, I am following from 60 to 390 depending upon the account. Additionally, I am following several specific interests from aerospace education to informal learning.

With the number of people and ideas I wanted to follow, I quickly realized I needed a tool to bring them all together. For that reason, I chose TweetDeck to help me manage my feeds.

TweetDeck allows me to do some important things efficiently:

Update Multiple Accounts with One Post

Sometimes, I have information that I want to send to different Twitter accounts. TweetDeck allows me to do this by simply selecting all the accounts I want to send a message to. Not only can I send to the three Twitter accounts I am using, but I can also send updates to my LinkedIn and Facebook accounts and my six Facebook Fan Pages. For me, this is a powerful feature.

Follow Twitter Feeds

With TweetDeck, I can easily follow, reply, retweet, and direct message to the folks whom I follow. I can also follow, comment, and message on my LinkedIn and Facebook feeds.

Monitor Topics With Search Queries

This is perhaps the most powerful feature I use to help me monitor things that interest me. I have set up searches to monitor what is being said on topics of interest such as “informal learning” and “aerospace education;” on places such as “Laramie,” “Tunkhannock,” and the “University of Wyoming;” and organizations such as the “Civil Air Patrol” and the “Bujinkan.” It is possible to set up a search on the fly and monitor it for a short time. I often do this to follow conference proceedings that use a hashtag. Presently, I am following #ASTD2011 as I get ready to attend the conference in May.

Reviewing New Followers

I recently displayed the “New Followers” column on TweetDeck for each of my accounts. This makes it easy for me to see who I am following and not following, as well as provide an quick link to review their profiles.

Organize People With Customized Lists

This is another feature that I have used extensively. My list of 390 people I follow can be overwhelming. With lists, I can group and organize them based on the reason I am following them. For example, I just ran across a list of recommended people who write about education and elearning, I created a list to follow only these people. I also have a list of people from the University of Wyoming whom I follow. Others can benefit from the list because I can share it.

TweetDeck lets me keep a finger on the pulse of information. How are you managing your feeds?