A presentation detailing the different functions of CoTweet, TweetDeck and HootSuite, and their usefulness for the charity sector.

1. Which Twitter client?
A look into the features and uses of three
popular applications: CoTweet, TweetDeck
and HootSuite

2. Functionality

3. Plug-ins

4. Team Tweeting
• CoTweet is regarded at being the most efficient, allowing
corporations or organisations to manage their Twitter
presence as a team. CoTweet does this in two ways:
1. It enables you to assign tweets to fellow users for them
to follow up with. This helps delegate the responsibility
of following up leads and questions from customers.
2. You can assign team members ‘On Duty’. This allows
your organisation to ensure that someone is always
responsible for monitoring the account.

5. Facebook support
• Hootsuite Facebook fan page integration will allow
charities to monitor its Facebook presence alongside
Twitter, including updates and replies.
• Cotweet Facebook fan page integration also allows
updates and replies – but is only available with a paid
account.
• Tweetdeck allows you to update your Facebook fan page
only.

6. Smartphone App Reviews
• CoTweet for iPhone, Android,
Blackberry and Windows Mobile
• Tweetdeck for iPhone and Android
• HootSuite for iPhone, Android and
Blackberry

7. CoTweet for iPhone*
• Manage multiple workgroups for account control
• Assign updates to your colleagues for follow up. Allow your internal
subject matter experts help you participate in the conversation
• Monitor keywords, brand names and competitors with real-time
Twitter Search
• Tag inbound messages to Categorize conversations, organize
updates to quickly drill down based on sentiment, or custom defined
categories
• Access unlimited conversation history for deeper customer
relationships
• Schedule out future updates
• Geo-tag updates to provide location info to your updates
*To use CoTweet for iPhone you must be a CoTweet
Enterprise Customer with valid application privileges.

8. CoTweet for Android, Blackberry
and Windows Mobile*
• CoTweet has released more mobile applications this week across
Android, Blackberry and Window’s Mobile.
• “The new applications offer full access to CoTweet by ExactTarget,
providing Enterprise capabilities to engage, track and analyse social
media conversations and harness conversation histories, sentiment
tagging, claim and assignment features and integration with leading
CRM systems.” – via PCWorld
• Feedback is currently limited because the apps were very recently
released. More information will be added when users post reviews.
*To use CoTweet mobile applications you must be a CoTweet
Enterprise Customer with valid application privileges.

9. TweetDeck for iPhone
• Column based friend groups – similar to TweetDeck desktop
• TweetDeck desktop syncing means any changes made via
the app will added to the desktop automatically
• Facebook toolbar
• Multiple account support
• Flicking to move between columns
• Shake to refresh

10. TweetDeck for iPhone
Reviews:
“For some reason the iPhone version of this app seems to have
been left to rot. Shame as the iPad and desktop versions are great
Still have my fingers crossed that they have a great new update in
the pipeline that they are just waiting to unleash!”
“Facebook throws up an error all the time. They really need to fix
this app”
“New app coming for TweetDeck in a few weeks, looking forward to
it! Reckon it could be a 5 star when it arrives”
“Have deleted and moved onto HootSuite and Echofon. Too buggy
and crashed far too often. Waste of time.”
Comments from iPhone App Store reviews.

11. TweetDeck for Android
• Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Google Buzz
• Track replies, comments, likes and retweets in your 'Me'
column
• Deep location integration with checkins, venue details and
maps
• Customize the vibration, sound and light for each column
• Shows you the tweets and checkins around you with
Geodata. Instantly access all of your social networks with your
TweetDeck account
N.B. TweetDeck for Blackberry will be
available in the upcoming months.

12. TweetDeck for Android
Reviews
“It has become absolutely vital to my role as a volunteer organizer
and coordinator. However, there is a bug that I have noticed. Every
time I want to retweet a message and share it via Buzz, it fails to do
so.”
“Probably the best Twitter app out there. Needs to add more
foursquare features.”
“Lovely app design, but needs move 2 SD.”
Comments from users on
blog.tweetdeck.com/android-tweetdeck-103-were-listening

13. HootSuite for iPhone
Recent upgrades – 12th March 2011
• New LinkedIn access alongside other networks
• Faster, simpler adding of Facebook pages
• Increased Facebook support (upgraded to Facebook’s new API)

14. HootSuite for iPhone
Reviews
“Nice – After the recent Twitter app fiasco I tried loads of alternative
apps out and this was definitely the best.”
“A bit slow but does not ruin the experience…”
“This is the best Twitter app, but it’s quite slow to load up”
“The addition of LinkedIn account syncing has turned HootSuite
from nice app to essential social media hub… Brilliant”
Comments from
http://appcomments.com/app/id341249709/HootSuite_for_Twitter_reviews

15. HootSuite for Android
• Free version includes multi-account support
• High level of customization
• Keyword tracking and notifications
• Integrated stats with graphs
• Threaded @replies
Recent upgrades – 12th March 2011
• Foursquare access – check in, view friends’ recent checkins,
comment and view tips on Foursquare venues
• Geotag tweets
• Check in to Twitter locations, Facebook places, and Foursquare
venues at the same time

16. HootSuite for Android
Reviews
“HootSuite is well known for its flexible and robust web interface,
and their Android app lives up to that reputation. If you’re looking for
a business-oriented Twitter client, HootSuite should be first on your
list to try.”
“The app definitely has some good features but there are some (like
native RT) that I really wish it would have. Also, the interface looks
very iPhone-esque, not that there’s anything inherently wrong with
that.”
“Does not support native retweet.”
“Needs more links statistics”
Comments from
http://androidandme.com/2010/04/applications/hootsuite-an-android-twitter-app-tailor-made-for-businesses/

17. HootSuite for Blackberry
• BlackBerry is the fastest growing mobile platform for HootSuite:
• @ username completions
• # hashtag completions – shows recently-used hashtags that you can
select
• Facebook pages
• Hot-keys for navigating your streams (’space’ to page down, ‘t’ to
move to top of list, ‘b’ to go to bottom)

18. HootSuite for Blackberry
Reviews
“Full support for Twitter lists, with lots of nice customization features
for what Tweets appear. However, performance is quite slow--default
view is your list of views, rather than an actual timeline, so it takes
too long to see actual tweets.”
“Hootsuite never wanted to refresh and it was pretty laggy for me so
I eventually deleted it.”
Comments from
http://oneforty.com/item/hootsuite-for-blackberry
http://forums.crackberry.com/showthread.php?t=594663

19. General Usability

20. CoTweet
• CoTweet has some good workflow features, which help
you to assign responsibilities to team members and stay
on top of responding to comments and enquiries.
• It has more of a corporate feel and functionality than its
more laid-back counterparts.

21. CoTweet
• The benefits of CoTweet Enterprise are only available for
a monthly fee of $1500 (£928)
• Enterprise is the only way to access the app on
blackberry’s iPhone’s and Android phones.
• Facebook integration is also only available for Enterprise
customers. They have a high level of service and
functionality but it comes at a price.

22. TweetDeck
• Like Hootsuite, TweetDeck has a multiple column
interface but where TweetDeck has the edge is that it’s
better in real time.
• The TweetDeck desktop application a pop up notification
appears when your charity is mentioned, although this
takes up a lot of memory space.
• Some glitches need to be worked out for smartphone
applications, however, it is releasing new applications
across iPhone, blackberry.

23. TweetDeck
• TweetDeck is a desktop application that works on the
Adobe AIR platform.
• One of TweetDeck’s distinguishing features is the ‘New
Followers’ column. This string of information makes it
easier to monitor new followers and direct message
them with personal thanks.
• It lacks is a ‘sent’ column, which makes it difficult to step
back and observe how your stream looks to followers.

24. HootSuite
• Hootsuite is hosted on the web so can be accessed on
any computer.
• A unique feature that HootSuite offers is the ability to
auto post Tweets from an RSS feed. This is useful if you
have a charity blog and would like to automatically post
the updates to Twitter.

25. HootSuite
• HootSuite doesn’t have the advanced workflow
features of CoTweet, but HootSuite Pro does offer a
reporting feature which provides detailed analytics
about Twitter activity, e.g. Tweet reach.
• This is useful from a PR and communications
perspective. The effectiveness of social media
marketing can be difficult to measure accurately, so
this kind of detailed, real-time stats reporting is really
useful. However, this will only work if you use
HootSuite’s built in URL shortener.

26. HootSuite
• HootSuite pro starts out at a reasonable $5.99 (£3.70) a
month in comparison to CoTweet Enterprise.
• HootSuite provides a follower’s bio and Klout score
along with links to their social media profiles.
• Hootsuite also allows you to create lists of followers you
want to keep a closer eye on and increase engagement
with.

27. Useful Resources
• http://www.michaeldhart.com/blog/2010-02-01/twitter-power-
tools-hootsuite-vs-cotweet
• http://web.appstorm.net/reviews/twitter-reviews/10-reasons-
im-switching-from-tweetdeck-to-hootsuite/
• http://www.ecommercecircle.com/tips-tricks-how-to-twitter-
ecommerce-marketing_3912951.html
• http://androidandme.com/2010/04/applications/hootsuite-an-
android-twitter-app-tailor-made-for-businesses/
• http://mashable.com/2010/10/21/social-media-management-
tools/