Twitter gains in popularity constantly. The general service is that of following, being followed, shooting off public notes of 140 characters or less, as well as replies and direct messages. On top of that basic functionality many a tool has been built. Here is a long list of Twitter Tools.
The question is whether this is just a new type of chat tool to communicate with friends, a time killer, or something more. Everyone has their opinion which ranges from “you must tweet, and your company must tweet” to “complete waste of time and a huge interrupter which just lowers everyones overall daily efficiency”.
Here is my opinion, it is yet another channel of communications to manage and quite frankly whether I like the technology or not I approach it like anything else. If my customers and potential customers (and I use customers in a broad sense encompassing whatever your audience may be) are there then you should be there. If my customers (audience) were not there I would not be there.
These days there are many ways in which someone can use their time, however there is only so much time in a day. If Twitter is part of your audience’s time slice of each day then it may be worth your time.
That being said, where to start? Take a look at the Twitter Tools list I mention above, you will find that you can search past tweets for keywords and also monitor keywords in real time with Monitter and other tools. You can also use Twitter in a web browser or on a cell phone, or with one of many applications that sit on your desktop. This brings me to the latest tool I found to manage multiple accounts.
Twitter for Companies
This tool is name Splitweet. This is the first tool I have found to use and monitor multiple Twitter accounts, for example Twitter accounts for multiple companies or brands. Through this tool you will be able to tweet, reply and direct message through more than one account at a time without having to flip between browser windows or log in and log off. Take a look at their menu here:
Your dashboard shows tweets of those you are following, the replies, direct messages and favorites are all provided in a tabbed format. Also provided are your brand monitors. More below. Here is the most impressive feature and a picture below to explain.
The above shows two tweets that were on the dashboard (for privacy reasons I marked out certain aspects) and you will see a green square and a yellow square. When you use Splitweet you can log into multiple accounts. For this example I logged into two Twitter accounts. One account is represented by a yellow square and one by a green square. The tweet with both colored squares was made by an individual that was being followed by both accounts. You then have the option to reply or direct message in response to that tweet from either account.
All the tweets of those you are following are shown on the same screen and the color squares let you know which of your multiple accounts they are related to. The same method is used on the reply screen and direct message screen.
Brand Monitoring
Another feature for companies is the constant watch for terms you have asked it to follow. You enter a search term and if anyone anywhere tweets publicly with your search terms you will see them listed on the dashboard as well as the Brand mentions tab.
Conclusion
I am impressed by the feature set that Splitweet provdes for those that would like to monitor multiple accounts and their brands. A feature set needed for both small and large companies. While I would like to see it in an application and store information in an attached database, this application is a good start and worth a try, especially for free.
Give Splitweet a try.
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