Which Twitter client?A look into the features and uses of three A look into the features and uses of three

popular applications: CoTweet, TweetDeckand HootSuite

Functionality

Plug-ins

Team Tweeting

• CoTweet is regarded at being the most efficient, allowing corporations or organisations to manage their Twitter presence as a team. CoTweet does this in two ways:

1. It enables you to assign tweets to fellow users for them 1. It enables you to assign tweets to fellow users for them to follow up with. This helps delegate the responsibility of following up leads and questions from customers.

2. You can assign team members ‘On Duty’. This allows your organisation to ensure that someone is always responsible for monitoring the account.

Facebook support

• Hootsuite Facebook fan page integration will allow charities to monitor its Facebook presence alongside Twitter, including updates and replies.

• Cotweet Facebook fan page integration also allows • Cotweet Facebook fan page integration also allows updates and replies – but is only available with a paid account.

• Tweetdeck allows you to update your Facebook fan page only.

Smartphone App Reviews

• CoTweet for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Mobile

• Tweetdeck for iPhone and Android • Tweetdeck for iPhone and Android

• HootSuite for iPhone, Android and Blackberry

CoTweet for iPhone*• Manage multiple workgroups for account control

• Assign updates to your colleagues for follow up. Allow your internal subject matter experts help you participate in the conversation

• Monitor keywords, brand names and competitors with real-time Twitter Search

• Tag inbound messages to Categorize conversations, organize • Tag inbound messages to Categorize conversations, organize updates to quickly drill down based on sentiment, or custom defined categories

• Access unlimited conversation history for deeper customer relationships

• Schedule out future updates

• Geo-tag updates to provide location info to your updates

*To use CoTweet for iPhone you must be a CoTweetEnterprise Customer with valid application privileges.

CoTweet for Android, Blackberry

and Windows Mobile* • CoTweet has released more mobile applications this week across

Android, Blackberry and Window’s Mobile.

• “The new applications offer full access to CoTweet by ExactTarget, providing Enterprise capabilities to engage, track and analyse social media conversations and harness conversation histories, sentiment media conversations and harness conversation histories, sentiment tagging, claim and assignment features and integration with leading CRM systems.” – via PCWorld

• Feedback is currently limited because the apps were very recently released. More information will be added when users post reviews.

*To use CoTweet mobile applications you must be a CoTweetEnterprise Customer with valid application privileges.

TweetDeck for iPhone

• Column based friend groups – similar to TweetDeck desktop

• TweetDeck desktop syncing means any changes made via the app will added to the desktop automatically

• Facebook toolbar

• Multiple account support• Multiple account support

• Flicking to move between columns

• Shake to refresh

TweetDeck for iPhone

Reviews:

“For some reason the iPhone version of this app seems to have

been left to rot. Shame as the iPad and desktop versions are great

Still have my fingers crossed that they have a great new update in

the pipeline that they are just waiting to unleash!”

“Facebook throws up an error all the time. They really need to fix “Facebook throws up an error all the time. They really need to fix

this app”

“New app coming for TweetDeck in a few weeks, looking forward to

it! Reckon it could be a 5 star when it arrives”

“Have deleted and moved onto HootSuite and Echofon. Too buggy

and crashed far too often. Waste of time.”

Comments from iPhone App Store reviews.

TweetDeck for Android

• Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Google Buzz

• Track replies, comments, likes and retweets in your 'Me' column

• Deep location integration with checkins, venue details and maps

• Customize the vibration, sound and light for each column• Customize the vibration, sound and light for each column

• Shows you the tweets and checkins around you with Geodata. Instantly access all of your social networks with your TweetDeck account

N.B. TweetDeck for Blackberry will be

available in the upcoming months.

TweetDeck for Android

Reviews

“It has become absolutely vital to my role as a volunteer organizer

and coordinator. However, there is a bug that I have noticed. Every

time I want to retweet a message and share it via Buzz, it fails to do

so.”

“Probably the best Twitter app out there. Needs to add more

foursquare features.”

“Lovely app design, but needs move 2 SD.”

Comments from users on blog.tweetdeck.com/android-tweetdeck-103-were-listening

HootSuite for iPhone

Recent upgrades – 12th March 2011

• New LinkedIn access alongside other networks

• Faster, simpler adding of Facebook pages

• Increased Facebook support (upgraded to Facebook’s new API)

HootSuite for iPhone

Reviews

“Nice – After the recent Twitter app fiasco I tried loads of alternative

apps out and this was definitely the best.”

“A bit slow but does not ruin the experience…”

“This is the best Twitter app, but it’s quite slow to load up” “This is the best Twitter app, but it’s quite slow to load up”

“The addition of LinkedIn account syncing has turned HootSuite

from nice app to essential social media hub… Brilliant”

Comments from http://appcomments.com/app/id341249709/HootSuite_for_Twitter_reviews

HootSuite for Android• Free version includes multi-account support• High level of customization• Keyword tracking and notifications• Integrated stats with graphs• Threaded @replies

Recent upgrades – 12th March 2011Recent upgrades – 12th March 2011

• Foursquare access – check in, view friends’ recent checkins, comment and view tips on Foursquare venues

• Geotag tweets• Check in to Twitter locations, Facebook places, and Foursquare

venues at the same time

HootSuite for Android

Reviews

“HootSuite is well known for its flexible and robust web interface, and their Android app lives up to that reputation. If you’re looking for a business-oriented Twitter client, HootSuite should be first on your list to try.”

“The app definitely has some good features but there are some (like native RT) that I really wish it would have. Also, the interface looks very iPhone-esque, not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that.”

“Does not support native retweet.”

“Needs more links statistics”

Comments from http://androidandme.com/2010/04/applications/hootsuite-an-android-twitter-app-tailor-made-for-businesses/

HootSuite for Blackberry

• BlackBerry is the fastest growing mobile platform for HootSuite:

• @ username completions

• # hashtag completions – shows recently-used hashtags that you can select

• Facebook pages

• Hot-keys for navigating your streams (’space’ to page down, ‘t’ to move to top of list, ‘b’ to go to bottom)

HootSuite for Blackberry

Reviews

“Full support for Twitter lists, with lots of nice customization features for what Tweets appear. However, performance is quite slow--default view is your list of views, rather than an actual timeline, so it takes too long to see actual tweets.”

“Hootsuite never wanted to refresh and it was pretty laggy for me so I eventually deleted it.”

Comments from http://oneforty.com/item/hootsuite-for-blackberryhttp://forums.crackberry.com/showthread.php?t=594663

General Usability

CoTweet

• CoTweet has some good workflow features, which help you to assign responsibilities to team members and stay on top of responding to comments and enquiries.

• It has more of a corporate feel and functionality than its • It has more of a corporate feel and functionality than its more laid-back counterparts.

CoTweet

• The benefits of CoTweet Enterprise are only available for a monthly fee of $1500 (£928)

• Enterprise is the only way to access the app on blackberry’s iPhone’s and Android phones. blackberry’s iPhone’s and Android phones.

• Facebook integration is also only available for Enterprise customers. They have a high level of service and functionality but it comes at a price.

TweetDeck

• Like Hootsuite, TweetDeck has a multiple column interface but where TweetDeck has the edge is that it’s better in real time.

• The TweetDeck desktop application a pop up notification • The TweetDeck desktop application a pop up notification appears when your charity is mentioned, although this takes up a lot of memory space.

• Some glitches need to be worked out for smartphoneapplications, however, it is releasing new applications across iPhone, blackberry.

TweetDeck

• TweetDeck is a desktop application that works on the Adobe AIR platform.

• One of TweetDeck’s distinguishing features is the ‘New Followers’ column. This string of information makes it Followers’ column. This string of information makes it easier to monitor new followers and direct message them with personal thanks.

• It lacks is a ‘sent’ column, which makes it difficult to step back and observe how your stream looks to followers.

• Hootsuite is hosted on the web so can be accessed on any computer.

• A unique feature that HootSuite offers is the ability to auto post Tweets from an RSS feed. This is useful if you

HootSuite

auto post Tweets from an RSS feed. This is useful if you have a charity blog and would like to automatically post the updates to Twitter.

HootSuite

• HootSuite doesn’t have the advanced workflow features of CoTweet, but HootSuite Pro does offer a reporting feature which provides detailed analytics about Twitter activity, e.g. Tweet reach.

• This is useful from a PR and communications perspective. The effectiveness of social media marketing can be difficult to measure accurately, so this kind of detailed, real-time stats reporting is really useful. However, this will only work if you use HootSuite’s built in URL shortener.

HootSuite

• HootSuite pro starts out at a reasonable $5.99 (£3.70) a month in comparison to CoTweet Enterprise.

• HootSuite provides a follower’s bio and Klout score along with links to their social media profiles. along with links to their social media profiles.

• Hootsuite also allows you to create lists of followers you want to keep a closer eye on and increase engagement with.

Useful Resources

• http://www.michaeldhart.com/blog/2010-02-01/twitter-power-tools-hootsuite-vs-cotweet

• http://web.appstorm.net/reviews/twitter-reviews/10-reasons-im-switching-from-tweetdeck-to-hootsuite/

• http://www.ecommercecircle.com/tips-tricks-how-to-twitter-ecommerce-marketing_3912951.html

• http://androidandme.com/2010/04/applications/hootsuite-an-android-twitter-app-tailor-made-for-businesses/

• http://mashable.com/2010/10/21/social-media-management-tools/