TweetDeck: There's An App For That And Sync Takes Us Into The Clouds!

Image by joedawson via Flickr

TweetDeck the personal browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now just got better. The desktop client for connecting you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook and more has come to the iPhone. TweetDeck was originally created to address the avalanche of information sites are serving consumers rather than static web pages. Developer Iain Dodsworth notes on the Posterous blog that -

Today’s browsers aren’t set up to help us filter and digest this new format. So I started TweetDeck with a focus on Twitter but a bigger vision, to become a new browser for the real-time Web

Iain Dodsworth's objective was to change the way people view streamed, real time data from the Web. In the space of a year with the support of the TweetDeck community the team have established themselves as the Twitter client of choice for many users, built a team in London that constantly improve the product and today announce the release of TweetDeck for the iPhone and a new version of TweetDeck for the desktop.

Image by joedawson via Flickr

To start I downloaded TweetDeck for the iPhone, the Welcome screen introduces TweetDeck as the mobile browser for staying in touch with what's happening now on Twitter. The wizard informs me that there are just a few steps before I can get started with TweetDeck. Pressing 'Get Started' prompts me to enter my Twitter account details, you can add more Twitter accounts later the message informs.

After verifying account details with Twitter another screen appears asking whether I want to Register with TweetDeck. Basically what this enables is the ability to sign up for a TweetDeck account to synchronise and backup your TweetDeck favourites, including columns, groups and saved searches between your desktop and iPhone so it's always up to date. This is very impressive and with more of my friends signing up to Twitter, having the ability to create groups is a requirement that makes this an essential download!

The full details on what's available from the iPhone application -

Image via CrunchBase

• Tweet directly from your iPhone or iPod Touch.
• Manage multiple Twitter accounts.
• View notifications for new tweets received.
• Use columns to create your personal dashboard.
• Simply sync to set-up
• Continuously updates between your desktop and iPhone.
• Create Groups to easily follow all your friends.
• Follow topics in real-time with saved searches.
• Reply to tweets and send direct messages.
• Easily re-tweet messages.
• Share photos with Twitpic and YFrog.
• Shorten links with your favourite URL shortener.
• Follow and un-follow people.
• Shake your iPhone to refresh columns.

The new desktop client also introduces automatic synchronisation for TweetDeck between your desktop and iPhone. Details from the Posterous blog state that this process makes it really simple to import your columns and groups -

Sync works in the background so whenever you change a group or add a new search column it’s updated and available on all your computers and your iPhone. This also means that everything can be backed up in case your computer ever crashes.

Also available is multiple Twitter account support, tweet from any account or even cross-post tweets to numerous Twitter accounts at the same time. The ten column limit has been removed so now we can have unlimited columns which is an aspect I will experiment with extensively to provide the richest experience. Local trends is another great addition providing trends on any columns, for example I can see what's a hot topic with my friends and work colleagues :)

Here's a list of the rest of the features available in the new desktop client -

Image by akakumo via Flickr

• Conversation window - View an entire dialogue all at once.
• Video playback - Watch Qik or 12seconds video clips from the comfort of TweetDeck.
• New ‘Block & Report Spam’ button - Just one click will delete the message from view, block the user and report them to Twitter.
• TweetDeck Recommends column - Find new and interesting people to follow whether you’re a Twitter newbie or a veteran of the Twitterverse.
• ‘Reply All’ - Tweet everyone mentioned in a tweet in just a couple of clicks.
• YFrog - Share and preview YFrog photos inside TweetDeck.
• Smart filter – Start typing a username to find a person and add them to a group quickly and easily.
• RE (In reference to) tweets – Easily comment on a discussion.
  

Overall I am impressed with the new features available, TweetDeck for iPhone is definitely impressive and the ability to synchronise through the cloud is exactly how it should be with ease of usage. Does TweetDeck for iPhone have the potential to become the most used iPhone application? Most definitely but Tweetie and Seesmic are also in contention, I'm excited as with the companies innovating to provide the best experience as the consumer we benefit the most.

What are your views on the latest developments?

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