Twitter has recently announced its revamp of TweetDeck’s tweet panel. This revamp makes it easier to tweet, preview images to share, and send direct messages. The company also said these changes will be rolled out to all its users gradually, beginning with the chrome add-on and web version of TweetDeck. Eventually it will be followed by an update to the Windows and Mac apps.
TweetDecks New Tweet Panel
The new Tweet Panel can be opened by hitting the “New Tweet” button, or simply replying to a tweet. By default, this is docked to the sidebar on the left, which includes an option to keep it open at all times. If you have this panel open, you can still access the rest of the TweetDeck by scrolling or using keyboard shortcuts. Now choosing the account you would like to tweet from is as simple as clicking the row of avatars at the top of the panel. The account you select will show a green check mark and unselected accounts will be dimmed out. Below the new tweet box you will see three buttons: “Add Image,” which lets you attach an image using pic.twitter.com, “Schedule Tweet,” and “Direct Message.” When you’re adding a new image to your tweet, you will be shown a preview right in the New Tweet panel. If you decide you don’t like that image, removal is as easy as clicking the black “x” at the top right of the image preview. TweetDeck’s new tweet panel also lets you reply to multiple users in a single tweet. Now you can simply click “reply” on each tweet to bring in all the usernames. Another great addition to the update was TweetDeck’s new ability to attempt to find matching usernames when you start typing in the tweet panel; TweetDeck used to only search usernames that were recently accessed. These new search abilities apply to hashtags as well. Lastly, now TweetDeck will not only automatically shorten links to 22 characters, but it will also show you the full original URL–this applies to any t.co links as well. This is a great addition, because now you will know whether or not you have the correct URL outfitted in your tweet. Some might not consider this a big update to the platform, as it mainly focuses on the new tweet panel, but it’s actually a pretty notable update. This update gives users an idea as to the direction in which TweetDeck is heading as far as user experience and design is concerned. I must say, I’m a big fan of the new tweet panel vs. the old one. – Fat Guy Media Team