How to Manage Multiple Social Networking and Communications Accounts

Social networking is all the rage, and if you're like me, you've jumped onto the social networking bandwagon and signed up for sites like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. You probably have at least one, if not more, IM accounts, and multiple email accounts too for personal use, work, or hobbies. It's fun to be connected and to so easily share information.

But there is a downside, a huge drawback, and that is how overwhelming it is to manage all the conversations. Whew! It's enough to make your head spin.

Well, I'm happy to share with you an excellent tool I found to help manage all the social sites (OK, it was my friend Victor who found the tool, a fellow writer and Producer/Director). The tool is called Digsby and it's great!

No, I'm not being reimbursed or compensated in any way for mentioning Digsby. It just helps me out so much that I have to share it with my readers. (I previously posted on handling twitter tweets, Handling all those Twitter Tweets – TweetDeck versus Seesmic and will try to share more helpful/handy tools as they are discovered).

Digsby very nicely ties everything together for you so that you don't have to spend all your time logging in and out of accounts and checking for updates yourself. It merges various IM accounts into one manager, alerts you of new events in your social networking sites, and manages multiple email accounts as well. And it's free!

With some very handy icons on my bottom right toolbar, I can glance down at any time and see if new mail has arrived or if there are message alerts on my social sites. With a click, I can open an email or delete one, set my facebook status, IM my buddy, and more. You can visit the site and download Digsby here.

Digsby is a great tool that I highly recommend. What are some of the tools you use for handling all your social sites and communications?

Handling all those Twitter Tweets – TweetDeck versus Seesmic

Hello. I'm Sheryltut, and I'm a Twitter user. Hi Sheryl.

If you are like me and have been listening to various sources extol the value of social networking, then it's likely you've also jumped on board some of those sites, including Twitter. At first I wondered, what's the point? Who really cares what I did this morning or what I'm doing now in 140 characters or less, but then I learned it's much more than that. Twitter provides an easy way to stay connected with people and to learn about topics of interest. It's a tool to listen to what is being said.

I signed up July 2008, but didn't really start using Twitter until 2009. What I quickly learned is that it's impossible to read all the tweets posted by the people you follow. Yet I knew that if Twitter was this great tool for listening and communicating like everybody says, then there had to be a way to capture and manage those tweets you wanted to read.

And there is, although I'm still learning these tools.

Following are the pros and cons of two tools I've tested for organizing and managing tweets. I've had more time with TweetDeck since I discovered it first, and I'm still on the fence as to which one to use going forward. I would appreciate any and all additional feedback in the comments.

TweetDeck - Click here for more information or to download TweetDeck.

TweetDeck Pros

• Easy to use
  
• Simultaneously tweet and update Facebook, or select which application to update
  
• Allows for grouping
  
• Search keywords (search becomes a group)
  
• Free
  
• Auto shorten tweets (helps to fit within 140 character limit)
  
• Shorten url links using one of several built-in choices
  
• Drop-down box for recent hashtags
  
• Integrates with Facebook
  

TweetDeck Cons

• Only allows for 10 columns
  
• No way to move pop-up notifications and for me they pop-up in an inconvenient location
  
• No help feature (or at least not easily evident)
  
• Frequently run out of Twitter API
  

Seesmic - Click here for more information or to download Seesmic Desktop.

Seesmic Desktop Pros

• Easy to use
  
• Tweet or update Facebook
  
• Allows for grouping
  
• Search keywords (search becomes a group)
  
• Free
  
• Auto shorten tweets (helps to fit within 140 character limit)
  
• Shorten url links using one of several built-in choices
  
• Integrates with Facebook
  
• Allows for many columns (not sure if there is a limit?)
  
• Columns can be static/detached or viewed with a click
  

Seesmic Desktop Cons

• Allows Tweet or Facebook update, but not both simultaneously
  
• No help feature (or at least not easily evident)
  

Pretty evenly matched in the pros and cons. And as I mentioned, I'm still on the fence and not sure which application to use.

The big thing I like about TweetDeck is the ability to simultaneously update Twitter and Facebook. The drawback is the 10 column limit.

What I like most about Seesmic is the unlimited columns and easy viewability. What I don't like is that you can't update Twitter and Facebook together.

So what I like about one is what I dislike about the other, and vice-versa. So, which is the best tool?

-------> June 25 UPDATE - Seesmic has added functionality that enables users to post simultaneously to facebook and twitter. A big plus!

-------> July UPDATE - Tweetdeck has removed their 10 column limit!