Why not install and use Tweetdeck for Twitter group chats?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Last Monday night from 8:30pm – 9:30pm one of our s<i>ocial media in education</i> activitists in South Africa, Arthur Preston, Head at Elkanah House Primary School in Cape Town, introduced a Twitter chat for South African teachers on the </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">#edchatsa</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> hashtag. It was a wonderfully stimulating chat with many teachers from around the country participating. Teachers only got to know about it via Twitter and had a great chat about the topic, “If there was one piece of technology that could change South African education what would it be?”  You can log in to Arthur Prestons's blog </span><a href="http://headthoughts.co.za/edchatsa/" style="font-family: inherit;" title="http://headthoughts.co.za/edchatsa/">http://headthoughts.co.za/edchatsa/</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> to vote for the topic for this coming Monday night. Here is the list of topics:</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpQVt1Fa57puZHWAheTairevdNhpeS_GXBa8MCBbK3oLATz3XLp2Lb886TRCVgC19yMa9CK-6ptgm8qhWoIwMPvmm2i29pjOS6CcglOP6MZmLXiZck8oZwHn69AeVb-oGfN1vGjB2m7h4/s1600-h/image%25255B11%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="459" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUuRCE7gvnP86ZflxaG7Rcf7ew2_ZAZspDewp8gEfXIex9COdzL6UutN3JazDX3ixCuIRqkbN5GDXfNE1Ys8SjovoRgtriEmwFG4qz42VP4ON0yoKdRF5nQamqZleMSqrrU2kSizVVJ5Y/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="263" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">To be able to participate properly in this type of Twitter chat one needs to use an application like Tweetdeck where you can see a number of columns of Twitter at the same time. So this post is about Tweetdeck. It is a fantastic application to use. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here is a view of my Tweetdeck interface. This illustrates the columns.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Xpp3Xk3_SRlqrOg8IpsWPfSpmm5sgTHkX0GCcqmJciVA88RjBvIVToE6fNS6mg5BND8kEnatC3F2oGJ0Sk9f2agmSOMfKtdG0DB-uDzJoSyg7nktk4iqnaRD3ffCJv0n0M-N6XtvDwg/s1600-h/image%25255B10%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1oSJF9NvX5OXPn3ywCFylNrhez_OglFKHkpideMo-9v7BcfHX6NUvHpRr7YHDNSuuII8_YBAHhgbTJmpNjsY2H15VM9R0K-9MqAaOCRTZQXjn5woCRyGiwwsC0D2ujLewN6G14BJ4VzY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">Getting started</span></b><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Search for Tweetdeck on the Internet and download the free application to your desktop (<a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/">http://www.tweetdeck.com/</a>). It will ask you to set up a Tweetdeck account. One can use the same username and password as one’s Twitter account to simplify matters. Once installed, Tweetdeck looks like you see above arranged in columns. You can now add as many columns as you like. </span> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">The columns</span></b> <br /><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">The columns work like this.<br />a) On the very left is your <b>Home</b> section where you receive the tweets of all the people you are following. This is the same as your timeline in Twitter. </span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3k7f7cYnYOb99FQZKSs0OCgUk_HPm3DulvHIMOd28pJpncbnyksGbC2giT-7r6sBbmthMa8bJxmaI9mAYgAtD6TYMrWyeWfALPLBUnc6DO0i-_YSWcpZsdVh0xclhwAEj_bo-DfFm-s/s1600-h/image%25255B14%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="99" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3jqMD41Ee1PQcoMGuzU7xZaW-2KtUUQ0E_f31cdbUdQK1On03TMOdLYBHNbFw-DffWZSk21QJFOXvIkF4FiJhGWnJ8283PrdxzWmVeE-K80JxagdtDNM2ErSQ4wSxyLLv4ROH4Q-iLok/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"> b) Next to that you will get your<b> Mentions</b> column where you are notified if anyone retweets one of your tweets or sends you a message.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfvTOruHuMroRBWUDVBU7_ONER9RSS74ms_1j3EfVuu28dMFAKJe_LUjdP29J_IzHWfhHBnNUCpazpTcoLGJmyvrGaHIFgqV4-ZIpohgOwbWGIL_6DwyLkSGscZ232tdZO2tymya0ZWhU/s1600-h/image%25255B17%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz2Y7vxWMpFD1GDUySYumCv6k26QPWPXWdivDPRaXDbFQQkJta7TIsowFQ2adclTfSuhYc6V5hE2bNzA9n1oRPvaIPOmALZ5XVmQDEsaUd5HxW2x03uODGhyf_M6epx2qSa2-sn0OYiVk/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">c)  Next is your </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">Inbox</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> which shows the tweets or direct messages you have just sent to others. In fact this default column (Inbox) could be called the </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">Direct Messages </b><span style="font-family: inherit;">column since it records the direct messages that you send or receive. These do not show up in your </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">All Friends/Home</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> column because they are to or from you personally.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxjw7EJBJigDW2Fuul7oKEOa-CNPZowVo1tvEoP16ITsUt3-brZSpRUAIHcQmWZlINze1WkWgAs6dwYDnIWNw4QuSqoe-6hJXw3Ksezbv5mKRbvogz-Vo9mtaFJIccJIy98wTWymM4PE/s1600-h/image%25255B20%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="95" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2e5KlXYZBsMc6IZAPCp7Ki8LWYGKEfU6S-dtTVO4bSlafXlxkkhy3kIejfdbQPh-aPp7ru0p8njOUe4sHR5FXEnQEwO69pkwniY-p_3Xgf17Ed3FmbdYBO79AQen3UeAG0p-RQ1Zq6E/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">d) After that you can add your favourite # columns. I have <i>#edchatsa</i>, <i>#edtechconf,</i>  <i>#SAipaded</i>,  <i>#ict4champions</i> and <i>#sateachers</i>. That reminds me to mention that your Tweetdeck interface shows five columns but at the top is a little icon – it's a horizontal scrollbar - where you move across to the next lot of columns. I guess you can have as many columns as you like, with five displaying at a time.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjIXDQIUYb2RK3rVNtz09pP6DQqCiDvnLrIxVbFzUrkN8Bx8K_N5LgN6DmwEkKGYFwThvzfTJEV29a5wL7ko-mFEsDZOHbTex5Ib2wGHaaG0KBf0FsA_q7X8OGldTJLsMDw2qBjPy4fgM/s1600-h/image%25255B23%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="63" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb6y_tSYgorcyxaU0qxYR0Du8DEQz2i8ewfHvgb2wvF_SYv2VTW4hoEL60DJb7irgVCL3qMopMn8EV1QrPM-I_B8OOERPyMJJIQBqP6yEHU-a5a8oiXmzmylnDtR3QI0c4F9Kb0JNliS0/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">To add a column click on the <i>Add column</i> button and write in your choice of <i># hashtag</i>.</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNeZn7Drha7_JKHr1kTzNpN-SPXwvTuoP9yUv0QnGDqaGJpIKgv4mNNVbOYRtKwOuuuWShrQoWIn8_-VYgF4OFV-8An7wEaqu77OwAn_v48OCZFmzfiQMcfNUQXL8cy-GzL3_dImgr48/s1600-h/image%25255B26%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="44" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKx6SCHpqPgMaR-Uun3Osw4T96XG8vNIaa5VqUNjOI-g_n87kICgoetbOtk_nnM6GHzJlB8xAL27CK7cePMLa-imZ4QQqYI62CKTSgAtHTkLfdRwkqUpd76NQzuSREGRLfA9a2msCQfQY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">You can move the columns around</span></b><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">To move a column just check on the little wheel on the top right of each column and a box comes up giving you the arrows to move the column left or right.</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq7OUSKYDgERzFPJFgH__3SeAIYIyaH1RIIso65rAy05k21YZ9QHo4hnXWR30Pupj99UIiIwcF8hW1i4cKtKpBDhi1g0ZpoHBThJUr8sO-2COqURjlTj72LRP8GryhAN5sp7ygAjYNsNk/s1600-h/image%25255B29%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEZxvVw5qckKi368Bz12w4WfmQ858y4Yr7tKG4OKh-3Xc_beL2UfROBnUy3RzXgV5b42AfjoM8_Pa5FQnC-D-vX7SEJVcmyIZU6n-viOAv9hjRelzKvitxDSn_eNUZJ9oN7R0Yp0x6AVM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">For the purposes of the <i>#edchatsa </i>on a Monday night I have moved my <i>#edchatsa</i> column right next to my <b>Mentions</b> columns so that I can write easily and receive any @fibeal messages.</span> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">How to create and send a message</span></b><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">To create a message click on the little blue pen icon on the top of the interface.</span> <br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw1y4mZqSErWW6VcgAb_HSMpB-9WNrFZ6GRSly_bRctuWTdtuhf9ffNkYBS5Xjjd5E1mrQSrTwM3fdmNJvSpUcPAxajKN9Zitr7JAb8pNsWQweDz41YD_-0LcogTOD_f-ESPYwtTeviVQ/s1600-h/image%25255B32%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="42" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXsk16JNRQ99KktHCfMVyU8S-GCWmn8rAQzFs8jqBaOGb3f-XOegvG7tM-lMdOSpRs2uUN7sVojx-fotKpj__Zw_Zk3TrzPA34qazELPTk8Mgqos8b8V955W6EZoR61AbCzUXigd-M0tg/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">This will open the box to write and send your messages. When the writing box opens write your message making sure it doesn’t exceed 140 characters, and press </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Tweet.</i><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXLW7MM7sY9wOCcOC3E4wJR0_IoEmtgvfAp0qlz91DmGB0mOq7L0ZHKnJIyAYGF6haJIV4pe8as6Gu3Xu6Uq3V91kJpSuvttFReBt77UHXQQUomR13j0HZssjYzVmk9M3LrtVRhyFCUWg/s1600-h/image%25255B35%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2-tHdWiOVH0hM7l8VeNQShMJid86fZbkWdjomp_23tCeoI5-Tb_UgNcmJfXJgS8I3bUVpNxKLyDpgS0_-987a6oDgUOsj9HNKfvew7vc9ngmkNJQ2V2mbJK_N-nHCK4iJNBbc68gFc8I/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">How to send a direct message to someone</span></b><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hover your mouse over the avatar of the person and the word <i>More</i> will appear on the top right.  click on More and it will take you to another icon with a little dropdown arrow. Click on that and a box will open that says “<i>Send a direct message</i>”.</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3NCbgPW_LbbRBb3Gjq0iSCT9Km4hP9eAuFNhio48WGbjS6rDiQoml0MCHiwD0eLbbRRFp2SHHpkaRPEnd93WrD3CQY9TBfZR_I2gzksnk6mFHYNeONOn9r6LEGqdAXWY0oY7q8V2Jzrw/s1600-h/image%25255B38%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdtJv6JGvv0r-JUU9VnrJQzkPlXtgg7S3aMcvYTSila-91fywFmTDaRZjLSo_fjPRSH6gZK_l93_50eiF_4Loh8NasQ_Psm1DLGOAeDC4cQqejeBLSfWnY7C7MTv9uUs1C8RFIcdzrvgA/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">How to reply or retweet</span></b><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hover your mouse over the avatar of the person and a bar comes up containing an arrow, a group of arrows a star and the word <i>more</i>. The single arrow is for <i>Reply</i> and the group of arrows is for <i>Retweet</i>. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, why not give Tweetdeck a try?</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>

Collaboration Tutorials Twitter Website reviews Why not install and use Tweetdeck for Twitter group chats?

Last Monday night from 8:30pm – 9:30pm one of our social media in education activitists in South Africa, Arthur Preston, Head at Elkanah House Primary School in Cape Town, introduced a Twitter chat for South African teachers on the #edchatsa hashtag.…

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