There are a couple of avenues you can take to get a handle on this twitter overload. Probably more than a couple, but I will cover two of them right now.

Group your tweets with TweetDeck

If you haven’t heard of TweetDeck, then it is worth investigating. TweetDeck has a neat feature for creating groups. Once a group is created, then you can add any of your tweeps to the group.

I have a few groups. One in particular is a group that I labeled uber-friends. This group displays tweets from people that I really want to follow daily.

Another group I have for technical Php broadcasts from places such as Zend and other noteworthy people or sites. This type of group is just great for daily goings-on in the Php sector.

I have other groups, but I think you can get the idea of how groups in TweetDeck can work to your advantage.

Filter your tweets with Twitter Throttle

If you are used to your web based Twitter home page and want a viable solution for filtering out the noise, then I would suggest a new GreaseMonkey script for Firefox called Twitter Throttle by Jon Fox.

Twitter Throttle hides multiple tweets from the same person. Hidden tweets have an ‘expand’ link so you can still view the tweet if you wish.

If two or more tweets in a row are from the same person, then it will group all of those tweets into a single hidden, and expandable, box. If this is the case, the leftover room from the consolidated tweets are filled in with previous tweets until 20 lines of tweets are filled.

Setting up Twitter Throttle is fairly easy, if you are used to working with GreaseMonkey scripts. The only thing you need to edit in the script would be your username and password.

How do you filter through the noise?

If you have any hints or tips on how you use Twitter more efficiently and filter through the noise, drop a comment below. I would be interested in knowing your thoughts.

Via xkcd – A Webcomic. Hat tip to Matthew.