140Char

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.

I know Friday is the traditional day for a round-up post, but so much happens in the microblogosphere on a daily basis, all the 140char team have been busy, and Monday gives some nice alliteration:

• Some stats from Twitter on how the new SMS rules have affected UK Outbound SMS usage:

• Zygotweet and tweetSMS plan to offer Twitter via SMS in the UK (Via Twitterholics)
• Useful and interesting list and stats for newspapers on Twitter (Well, American ones!).
• Jaiku got hit by a power failure at the data center provider for their web servers earlier today, but is back online.
• Plurk has had some minor design and usability upgrades.
• Pownce has integrated FireEagle, which means all your uploads and messages can now be automatically geo-tagged with your location.
• Tumblr now allows you to search within Tumblelogs.
• And Seesmic has a new and improved search function, and threaded player. The improvements to the player make it more and more a mini-application for your website and blog, which now lets you: -start a new conversation straight from where you are without having to leave the site, -reply to any video in private and not only in public. -post to twitter the link from your reply.

So not too much has happened!

A belated one this week:

They really must dislike social media and digital types in Holland. Hope it wasn’t enforced with pointy sticks!

Later today computer firm Dell is holding a press conference to introduce a new generation of mobility products in San Francisco.

So far, so normal. But what will be interesting is that they will be using Twitter as a mechanism for taking and answering questions from both customers and reporters. (I picked this up via Neville Hobson). As Neville points out, it’s an example of Dell utilising a community they’ve become actively involved in. Just check out @RichardatDell, @TomatDell or search for Dell and you’ll find a number of people.

What’s also good is that they’re not trying to limit the questions to reporters. As an ex-journalist I can see it might be frustrating if your question is buried beneath those of people asking things which might seem banal by comparison - but perhaps there’s a better story and focus in monitoring what is being asked by the consumers, rather than by other reporters?

The Dell Conference takes place at 9am PDT (5pm UK). To ask questions and see responses etc, you’ll need to put them to www.twitter.com/Digital_Nomads. And in a nod to the old-fashioned, Dell will also be blogging about what happens at Direct2Dell.

Hopefully I’ll see you at 5pm, and I’d be interested in hearing what you think of the conference and use of Twitter either here or @badgergravling

In this recent age of the social network explosion, myself and others have identified the need to work to amalgate your activities to one central location to be able to maintain your internet identity namely, your own website.

It is the job of this personal website to act as a central repository for all you social networks and external websites so you aren’t lost over a million, slightly overlapping networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Plurk and so on.

I am just in the process of moving my currently Wordpress powered website over to Tumblr for a few significant (to me) reasons:

• Firstly, it occurred to me that if I ever blogged anything of interest which hit a nerve ‘out there’ then a decent amount of sudden traffic would clean out my bank because of the hosting charges.
• I’m a fan of Wordpress and am always a bit of a control freak and felt inadequate if I didn’t host and fully run my own website. I’ve gotten over this a bit and feel that in this day and age, such website pride not needed. Also noting that plenty of web guru’s don’t host their own sites helped.
• Wordpress updates always give me chills and they are needed airly often. I have had upgrades go BADLY wrong before, with all posts having to be manually re-entered.
• Like moving to Mac, I wanted to have my blog just work and remove some of the temptation to fiddle with it all the time.
• I wanted something more streamline and neat.

And then there’s my main reasons..

I’ve had my Tumblr account for some time and wasn’t quite sure about the concept. It provides micro-blogging, of a sort, but where post types are defined into text, photo, link, quote, chat, audio, video. Each of these types has a pre-defined style applied to it meaning it makes it easy to quickly post different types of content that looks nice and the main template can be fully customised with HTML.

Tumblr can seem a bit backwards on first glance, especially when coming from a full blogging platform like Wordpress. There are no categories as such, no ‘pages’ (static posts outside of the blog/date system) and the only real navigation comes as PREV and NEXT pagination. But a system as Tumblr shines when you embrace the format - it’s meant a blog - a date ordered, ongoing series of updates from a personal point of view. The one-page, single list layout that is Tumblr gives a great blog format. It means, like a blog, the main emphasis is about what it going on now and the Tumblr ‘dashboard’ gives you the means to quickly post content with little other thought.

Tumblr also provides domain customising so that you CAN have the Tumblr blog using your own mydomain.com address.

Archiving on Tumblr is handled in a unique way. Posts are date organised on a page in a grid layout with actual post thumbnails of the posts you have made.

Tags have recently been introduced but unlike Wordpress, there aren’t any functions to have all those tags listed in a sidebar or anything. BUT apply a tag to a post automatically makes a url of it, so that a posts tagged personal, can then be accessed in date order via yourname.tumblr.com/tagged/personal meaning you could manually add a tag list if, like me, you have a fixed tag list, defined in advance.

But still the main reason to switch a whole website to something like Tumblr is that rather than your main website being a hub for other networks you use, it means that your website IS one of those networks. It means your website ITSELF can be added as a friend rather than giving someone your username for a particular social network and having the friend have to go off to that other site and add you.

This is technically where MySpace was so far ahead but most of us didn’t realise because it was/is so poorly implemented.

Having this setup means that the potential for self-promotion is greatly increased as your website is inside a network.

If only Twitter gave this functionality - image it: your twitter profile page WAS your website with custom HTML etc..?

There’s been quite a lot of coverage over Malware arriving on Twitter, rather than just irritating spam. A link to a pornographic film prompts you to download a new version of Adobe Flash - which is actually a downloader containing 10 banking Trojans disguised as MP3s. There’s loads more details, here. So, as with any other email or weblink from someone you don’t know, treat links as suspicious - and downloads doubly so. If not more!

On a brighter note, I’ve made some updates to the Tools page to include some new additions, such as sites like Globme, Blippr and Beemood. Plus more tools like Phweet and Posty. There are loads more than need adding shortly, and we’re speaking with the creators of some of them to get more information on the how, why, and what next for the most popular, most interesting and most useful of the bunch.

In the midst of my latest post over at TheWayoftheWeb, I started musing about whether Twitter provides a more realistic picture of me than any other mass social communication. Besides Instant Messaging, it’s the most instant, meaning less time to construct an image if you want to reply relatively quickly, and once you build up a network, there’s a definite urge to maintain relationships by Tweeting regularly - meaning far more touch points for someone to find out about me than long daily blog posts on a single topic, or the occasional message on Facebook.

We’re also seeing more results on the microblogging survey. Seems like the rise of Identi.ca as a rival to Twitter is some way off , and it’s still Plurk holding the second spot so far. It’s quite interesting that Tumblr has started off quite well - a sign I need to spend more time checking out Tumblelogs…

It’s thrown up one surprise so far - Beemood. Which is now on my list to check out and consider adding to the list!

Disclaimer

I’m a spectacular dunce when it comes to marketing.  I look at glossy pictures in a doctor’s waiting room or on a plane or at other moments of ‘dead-time’ and I can be impressed by something good-looking - but do I go out and buy it?  Never.

I don’t trust marketing either, or rather for me, it generates distrust.  A two-for-one deal just reminds me of your utter disloyalty to me.  You can supply me at a price and you don’t normally.  If you are willing to cheat me over money, what else will you stoop to?

So with that disclaimer and no apologies at all to people who make their living from marketing (I know you are enjoying a jolly good party and I think that is rather smart of you), answer me this question.

When and why should a corporate use Twitter?

I mean, what is the point?

Here is a list of brands on Twitter.  When would you follow them?

I do follow BBC.  They are an old habit - much like continuing to drink tea when I don’t like English tea (yep, I don’t, I miss the tea we used to grow in another life).

I do follow Barack Obama.  He alerts me when he speaks and I can patch through to a video.

• There is a clear response that I need to make.
• I am instantly rewarded with something I want (to satisfy my curiosity about what he actually says)

What are the rules of thumb for Twittering when you are a corporate?

It’s important for us to have an idea of what microblogging tools are most used by our readers. And so:

A while ago, someone asked me why I rush to claim certain brand names on any new microblogging/social network site I find. The main reason is to safeguard them for the future, and the fake ExxonMobilCorp account on Twitter shows the reason why!

The fakery was uncovered by a select few, including Shel Holtz , spread via the likes of Jeremiah Owyang, who posts some very interesting responses from Exxon spokesperson Alan Jeffers, and even made the mainstream media.

Interestingly, Exxon aren’t rushing to the lawyers, but are trying to find out who is behind the act:

‘It’s our perception that social networking is based on honesty, transparency and trust, it’s important that they become forthcoming about who they represent,”’ said Alan Jeffers

As of 3 hours ago, the fake ExxonMobilCorp appears to be up and running, and ignoring public calls from the likes of Holtz and Owyang to ‘fess up. So possibly not someone looking to be recognised and commended for making the effort to engage then, and yet someone who seems to be trying to portray the company in a good light.