If you use Twitter the way Mack Collier does, you might feel overwhelmed as you try to keep up with the constant stream of conversation, and stay connected with actual friends and colleagues.

In an attempt to get a handle on his situation, Collier decided to cut back on the number of people he followed. "[But] while this made it easier to keep up with my friends on Twitter, it created a new problem," he says. "Many of the new followers I would pick up would unfollow again if I didn't follow back. Which is understandable, and I do the same thing."

Fortunately, Collier found Twitter salvation in TweetDeck, a tool that enables users to organize tweets in multiple columns. "I have one column with all the tweets from all the people I follow," he says, "a second column with tweets from the people I am friends with, a third column for my replies, and a fourth column for DMs."

Collier also recommends it for business applications. In a screen shot at his blog, he illustrates his point by showing how Apple, for instance, could monitor conversations about the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod and iPod Nano on a single screen. "They can see which features are popular with customers, and which ones are not," he notes.

Any tool that makes Twitter even more effective is Marketing Inspiration in our book.

More Inspiration:
Beth Harte: Want to Figure Out Your Social Media ROI? Consider a Plan.
Paul Barsch: Don't Forget The Turkey!
Paul Dunay: Statistics on Advertising During a Recession

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