What Is TweetDeck And How To Use It
TweetDeck is an app that helps you manage your Twitter feed and engagements. Here we’ll show you the basics for getting started.
If you’re an avid internet user, you’ll be familiar with the all too popular “Twitter”. It’s a place where anyone can scream into the void, and sometimes the void screams back. At least, that’s how I feel when I use Twitter.
It entirely depends on your purpose for having an account, although I personally find it to be the perfect place to post things that I know no one will care much about. And maybe that’s why Twitter is the way it is. Thankfully, there’s a way to help make your Twitter user experience better, thanks to TweetDeck.
What is TweetDeck?
If you want to be able to view multiple parts of Twitter simultaneously, you’ll need TweetDeck. TweetDeck is a free-to-use dashboard that allows you to view and control multiple Twitter accounts or customizable Twitter feeds at once.
This is what the TweetDeck dash looks like.
The TweetDeck interface is lined up into columns, giving you the ability to view different parts of Twitter simultaneously. You can view your personal Twitter feed, DMs, a list of liked or scheduled tweets, trending topics, and more.
You can also keep an eye on your engagement data, letting you see how your tweets are performing with your audience. It’s completely free for anyone with a Twitter account, but you’ll need to use it in your web browser on PC or Mac.
Why Is TweetDeck Useful?
TweetDeck seems to be incredibly useful if you’re a busy person online. If you use Twitter as a main facet of your internet use, then TweetDeck is for you. Also, let’s say you’re trying to keep up to date on something. Being able to message someone, view your feed, see activity from people you follow, and watch your notifications all at the same time can be very useful. With TweetDeck, you’ll never be out of the loop.
Another great aspect about TweetDeck is that all of the different columns update automatically. There’s no need to refresh your page every two seconds. The moment someone you follow tweets something, you’ll be able to see it.
If you use Twitter religiously, I’d highly recommend starting to use TweetDeck instead of the basic Twitter feed. It’s also just pleasing to the eye. Having it up on your second monitor or just to the side is a good filler for a screen if you don’t know what to have up.
Let’s actually get into how to customize TweetDeck and the basic functions it provides that sets it apart from the basic feed Twitter is commonly known for.
Changing Dashboard To Dark Mode
This is something that I always do to my social media feeds when I first join. Dark Mode is much easier on the eyes, so I’ll show you how to do that really quick. First, if you look at the bottom left of the dash, you’ll see a gear icon. You’re going to want to click that.
Once you’ve done that, a popup will appear. It will give you the option to go the release notes, keyboard shortcuts, search tips, or settings. You can also log out from here. You’re going to want to click the “Settings” option.
Once you’ve clicked Settings, you’ll be brought to a screen with many different options. We won’t look into any of the other tabs in this article, but in the General tab, you’ll see in the main section different options you can turn on and off and, below that, different customization options. You can change the size of the columns and the size of the font. For now, we’ll just click the Dark option under where it says THEME.
And there you go! You have officially changed your dashboard to the dark theme. If you don’t like the look of it, you can always go back and change it. Just mess around with the options in the settings screen until it looks the way you like.
What the dark theme looks like.
Adding Columns
The next step is having displayed what you want to see mainly. You can add as many columns as you like. I find that the default 4 is displayed and the size of them is good for me. I did change out the messages column for the Trending column, as you’ll see on the right in my example of the dashboard. Before I show you how to delete columns, I’ll demonstrate how to add columns. I’ll cover deleting them in the next section. First, let’s look to the left side again and click that blue plus symbol.
Once you click that, a menu will pop up that says “Choose a column type to add”. Below that will be the four main columns, and below that will be all the other options you can have displayed. In this example, I’ll add the “likes” column. To add a column, you just have to click the icon of the one you want to be added.
With the “likes” column, you have the option to either display your likes, or other users like. In this example, I’m just going to add a column of my likes. So once you’ve established that, you can locate the Add column button in the lower right corner of the menu and click that. Once you’ve added that column, unless you want to add more, you can just close out of the menu by clicking the X. If you want to add another, you can click Back.
You’ve added a new column to your dashboard. You can always go back and add more to your liking. Next, we’re going to be talking about how to actually delete a column, and move the columns around.
Deleting and Moving Columns
Let’s say you first loaded up TweetDeck and don’t enjoy how it’s laid out. Maybe you want to delete a column that’s put there by default. Because I don’t really want the “Likes” column on my dash, I’ll use that again as an example of how to delete columns.
First, you’re going to want to locate the column you want to delete. At the top of that column, you’ll see a little button (as shown in the picture below).
Once you click that, a menu will appear with options you can alter listed. For now, just look at the bottom right of this menu. There, you’ll see the Remove option. You’re just going to want to click this to remove the column.
And now you’ve removed the column. It’s easy as that. Now that you know how to remove and add columns to your dash, you’ll probably want to know how to arrange them to your liking. There are two ways to do this. I’ll show you both ways. First, if you look at the upper left of the column you want to move, you’ll see three vertical lines with a number above it.
You’re going to want to click and hold this symbol. Then, you’ll drag the column to whichever position you’d prefer.
And there you have it! You now know the basics of how to use TweetDeck. It’s an amazing platform to use if you’re a busy person online. TweetDeck is super useful for keeping you in the loop about what’s going on. Multitasking has never been easier. Now that you know how to customize your own dash, you can personalize it to your heart’s content. There are many more things you can do to make the dashboard feel more comfortable to use, but these are just some basic things you’ll need to know to get started.
