TweetDeck Beta

Apart from, how do I get one of these, my first thought as I watched the iPad being revealed was that TweetDeck was MADE for this device (or should that be this device was made for TweetDeck...unlikely). 

TweetDeck's raison d'être, its reason for being, is to display multiple streams of social and real time data in a large, powerful, flexible interface...completely regardless of the platform it finds itself on. Hence our TweetDeck for iPhone is the only true multi-column Twitter client interface available on the iPhone and we've had to do a bit of squashing and squeezing to get it all on there. The TweetDeck App for iPad takes this vision up a level and makes full use of the iPad's large screen size and gesture-based Multi-Touch navigation.

We didn't just want to port TweetDeck for iPhone to iPad so we've built a new interface which is quintessentially TweetDeck but also takes full advantage of all this new device offers - our "highest common denominator" approach. We've actually built two new interfaces, one for portrait and the other for landscape - more on the differences below. 

Click here for the full HD version

When you first open the TweetDeck App for iPad, you can add all your Twitter accounts (multi-account support!) and then, if you have one, enter your TweetDeck account and choose which synchronized columns you want to bring in from the Desktop TweetDeck or TweetDeck App for iPhone. Now all your columns will load in and you'll be able to scroll up and down individual columns and left and right between multiple columns using just your finger - the most natural way of navigating TweetDeck we can think of. 

Whichever way you hold iPad you can view multiple columns and on top of that we've designed portrait mode for viewing tweet details and user profiles and landscape mode for viewing even more columns at once and "column management." 

A nice added extra for TweetDeck for iPad, which isn't currently available in any other TweetDeck version, is the map view. Simply click on the top of a column and choose "View on Map" and the whole app will flip round to show a full screen map with all geocoded tweets from the column shown. You can also add in geotagged tweets from all your other columns and have a full-on TweetDeck "world view" experience.

As you would expect TweetDeck for iPad is packed with functionality, too much to explain in this post but here's a roundup:

• multiple columns.
• multiple twitter accounts.
• reply, retweet, direct message and favorite from a tweet.
• view user profiles.
• see recent updates and who a person is following and being followed by.
• follow or unfollow and block or unblock a user.
• add All Friends, Mentions and DM columns.
• add Search columns.
• add Trending Topic columns.
• add Twitter list columns - both lists you've created and those you follow.
• cross post updates to any combination of your accounts.
• geotag your tweets.
• shorten URLs.
• access your Twitter contact list.
• upload photos (from the on-board Photo Library).
• rearrange columns however you like and delete those you no longer need.
• view geocoded tweets on a full-screen map.

Over the coming few days keep an eye on the TweetDeck twitter account as we'll be tweeting out details on hidden features, gestures and various tips. 

Enjoy!