If you are not trying to market something and using Twitter to be social, the 140 character limit can be a pain sometimes. Tweetdeck has added a feature called Deck.ly. The long and the sort of it (pun intended), is you can create longer tweets through Tweetdeck.
How Deck.ly works
Here is a rundown on how Deck.ly will work. The pictures were taken of the Tweetdeck desktop application. Below there are other options which work in a similar way. As you are typing and using up your allotted 140 characters, you will see a notification like this.
You can continue to keep typing and post your update like normal. When you send your update, you will see a tag at the end of your tweet saying Read More. If the people viewing your update are using Tweetdeck, they will see the same thing.
If they are viewing your update from a different application or a site like Twitter, there will be a Deck.ly link at the end.
When they click on that link, they will see a pop-up or a new page showing the longer message. In this page, there is an option to post a comment and see other people’s comments.
Where is Deck.ly?
There are several ways to use Deck.ly. Below are the 3 options you have to choose from. All of which will have the same end result: Desktop Application The first method, as you would expect, is within the Tweetdeck desktop application. As long as you have the most recent version, you do not need to do anything special to use Deck.ly. All you will need to do to use Deck.ly is type more than 140 characters into the status bar. Once you reach 141 characters you will see an option box for Long Update.
When this box is selected, the tweet will not be cut off or split up into several tweets. As mentioned earlier, you will see a Read More tag or a Deck.ly link instead. Chrome The Google Chrome extension is a great option for those of you who don’t want to want to install anything on their computer. The Chrome extension works in the same way as the desktop application. Type everything you’d like to say, then the Long update option will automatically appear.
Android The Tweetdeck for Android application works like the Google Chrome web application does. There is nothing you need to do to activate Deck.ly. You will be able to type and type and type then post your update.
Conclusion
Using Tweetdeck by way of the desktop application or the Google Chrome web application is very user friendly. Adding in a longer tweeting option is great for those posts that I want to RT but there isn’t enough room with hashtags, giving credit and adding in a comment. As for Tweetdeck for Android, I do not use it regularly. The reason I prefer other applications is Tweetdeck for Android does not allow scheduled tweets. If it offered that feature I would use all three versions religiously. What are your reasons for needing more than 140 characters? image credit: jm3
