SO, WHAT DOES THIS DO EXACTLY?
BirdHerd lets you control your group Twitter account through the use of direct messages (DM's). You can send these direct messages from any Twitter client you currently enjoy - Twitter.com, HootSuite, TweetDeck, Tweetie - If you can send a direct message, you're good to go!
GETTING STARTED
Getting started with BirdHerd is easy! Just click on the massive signup button on the home page and you'll be sent to Twitter.com where you grant BirdHerd access your groups Twitter account. After this step, you can add other Twitter users as "contributors" to your group account. Contributors could be team members, band mates, fellow employees, anything! If your group Twitter account receives a DM from one of your contributors, it will take various actions on that users behalf, such as posting a new message, following a twitter user, replying to tweet, and more.
SENDING/RECEIVING DMS FROM YOUR GROUP ACCOUNT
BirdHerd makes it easy to both send and receive direct messages from your group account. To send a DM just use syntax like the following: d my_group d a_recipient Hey - thanks for the feedback! This will send a direct message from your group account to a_recipient. To receive direct messages, you can check off the "forward DM" check box beside each of your added contributors in your account settings. If ticked, then this contributor will have all direct messages *not* sent from other contributors forwarded to them. Handy!
SENDING PRIVATE GROUP MESSAGES
One of the coolest things about BirdHerd is that it lets you easily send private messages to all your other contributors. If you use the BirdHerd specific command gm (for 'group message'), your message text will be sent - through a Twitter DM - to all your other contributors. This is a great way to keep your team updated, while not publicly disclosing that information. To send a group message, just use syntax like the following: d my_group gm just pushing out a new release to the site This will send a private direct message from your group account to all your other contributors. Neato!
HANDY SYNTAX GUIDE
| Action | Syntax | Example | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Update the group account. | d (username) (content) | d my_group here's a post | "here's a post /via @you" |
| Reply from the group account. | d (username) @(recipient) (content) | d my_group @thebirdherd Wow - this rocks! | "@thebirdherd Wow - this rocks /via @you" |
| Send a DM from the group account. | d (username) d (recipient) (content) | d my_group d cbrumelle this is a dm | "this is a dm" is DM'd from @my_group to @cbrumelle |
| Follow someone from the group account. | d (username) follow (new follower name) | d my_group follow thebirdherd | @thebirdherd is now followed by @my_group |
| Send team members a group message (GM). | d (username) gm (content) | d my_group gm here's a group message | "here's a group message" will be DM'd to all the contributors for this account |