TheWayoftheWeb

Content and Digital Marketing Specialists

tweetdeck

What’s in a crowdsourcing….

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I was going to write an eloquent and heartfelt post regarding everything that’s wrong about the attempt by Golley Slater to rebrand by a hamfisted attempt at ‘crowdsourcing’ – another example why really we should be stricter about how the term is used, and why co-collaboration should probably replace it.

But then I spotted the always interesting Andrea Phillips had beaten me to is on her blog, Deus Ex Machinatio. Worth reading the post if you’re interested in ever trying to actually achieve something productive using crowdsourcing mechanics, and also if you’re interested in transmedia and game design/mechanics etc.

So I’ll get back to working and trying not to lose myself in playing with Google +. Despite being touted initially as a ‘Facebook killer’, it actually seems more and more people are coming round to thinking of it as a potential rival to Twitter in the curation of streams of content. Similar to how Twitter might have evolved lists, or how Tweetdeck used them to create a more workable interface at scale.

 

Tweetdeck among winners at Shorty Awards

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The Shorty Awards are held annually, with nominations and votes submitted by anyone via Twitter, combined with voting by the Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences. Twitter client Tweetdeck was one of the 26 category winners announced last week.

Tweetdeck won the Apps category ahead of Hoosuite, Mr Unfollowers, ColourLovers, MailChimp and AggreTweet. Other winners included @BettyDraper, @WholeFoods, and @NathanFillion.  You can see the full list of winners on the Shorty Awards website.

Tweetdeck installed as staff Twitter client at Sky News

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Sky News is installing Twitter client Tweetdeck as default software across journalists computers to encourage and integrate social media for newsgathering and reporting, as revealed by Journalism.co.uk.

It will be on all staff computers within a month, and as part of the move, Sky’s ‘Twitter Correspondant’ Ruth Barnett will move to Sky’s Westminster bureau. Since her appointment, around 90 staff have their own Twitter accounts, and the idea is to no longer ‘ghettoise’ it as the role of one person.

Sky already publish a feed from Sky News @SkyNews, and @SkyNewsBreak, which reveals breaking news before it’s even made it onto the main website.
“There aren’t so many users as Facebook, but they are deeply engaged and it can be applied in so many ways,” Executive Producer Julian March told Journalism.co.uk.

What’s interesting is that this is an official announcement and policy for all staff – many organisations are already using Tweetdeck or similar tools on an unofficial basis – usually requested on an individual basis. Certainly many of my colleagues at Absolute Radio have been using Tweetdeck for ages, while I currently use Tweetdeck and Seesmic Desktop together for two different purposes to avoid mistakenly cross-tweeting. Still others I’ve spoken to are using web-based solutions such as Splitweet, removing the need for downloads and installation.

The announcement is also good timing for Tweetdeck, which has just rolled out a new version of its iPhone app, countering some of the publicity around the acquisition of Ping.fm by Seesmic. Official corporate adoption is going to be just one of the measures in the popularity and success of Twitter clients as we enter a period of serious consolidation by the main players.

Did Twitter play a part in Facebook rolling back Terms of Service?

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An interesting post on the Twittown apps and widget community blog suggested Twitter ‘Took on Facebook’s Zuckerberg and Won‘.

It tracks the timeline between Facebook updating the Terms of Service for the social network, and rolling back to the original terms due to the outcry over ownership of content uploaded.

And while I don’t believe that Twitter outcry alone led to the decision to move back to the original terms and consult users about updates – Google blog search shows the outcry through full length blogging – the Twittown post does suggest that Twitter opinions had a significant effect.

And I would expect the Facebook team to be monitoring Twitter alongside all other channels – especially as FB considered Twitter important enough to try to buy it!

And it shows how monitoring and responding to probably the largest, and certainly the quickest online focus group makes sense for adding value and monetisation, whether it’s by Twitter, or third-party applications like Tweetdeck.

Tweetdeck – Twitter desktop application

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Tweetdeck is an Adobe Air desktop application that brings Twitter to the desktop of Mac and PC in the most readable format yet.

Tweetdeck uses column layouts to arrange Tweets however you like. The default columns are All Tweets, Replies, Direct, but Tweetdeck’s functionality allows you to add/remove columns and custom ‘build’ your own columns – even group certain Twitter users to their own column.

It also gives you on screen notifications of new Tweets and incorporates an optional column to display a Twitscoop keyword cloud to show you what the biggest keywords are on Twitter right now.

The interface is sleek and Web 2.0 style. Columns can be resized or rearranged by dragging. You can also Tweet directly from the application of course, and it has built in shorten url functionality and Twitpic.

The only thing I would say it lacks is highlighting of new Tweets, which I greatly appreciate from Socialthing.

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