Things I've learned about Twitter since May 13th
Today marks three weeks to the day since I joined Twitter. I've gathered a lot of information about it during that time. This will not surprise anyone who knows me well: if something really sparks my interest, I immediately enter full-on research mode and must obsessively devour completely immerse myself and learn everything I can until I feel like I have a handle on it.
I know some of y'all use Twitter, but maybe haven't had the time to delve into what's out there. I thought I'd share my list of what I've found useful thus far just in case some of you might find it helpful.
Account management tools:
Business use:
Community use:
Customization:
General social media sites:
Integration with other social media:
Instructional resources:
Twitter tools:
And yes, mumpish, I know, I know -- you're still not following me on Twitter. :)
I know some of y'all use Twitter, but maybe haven't had the time to delve into what's out there. I thought I'd share my list of what I've found useful thus far just in case some of you might find it helpful.
Account management tools:
- HootSuite
Right now, I'm using two different applications to get all the features I want. This is one of them. It's web-based, handles multiple accounts, and has the significant advantage of being able to schedule tweets for later. - Seesmic Desktop
This is what I use most frequently. It's a desktop app based on Adobe AIR, and with one exception (tweet scheduling), it does everything I want it to do. It also handles Facebook. It's as close as I've been able to get to having all my social media right in one tidy place. - TweetDeck
This is the most popular Twitter desktop app so I feel compelled to mention it, but I found that it was missing features I wanted and had several that I'd never use.
Business use:
- 10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy
Business use is arguably the most comprehensible reason to use Twitter, in terms of establishing direct relationships with customers and clients. See the Twitter tools section at the bottom of this post for apps that can assist businesses in leveraging Twitter.
Community use:
Customization:
General social media sites:
- Mashable.com
This web site covers various social media, but Twitter is a frequent topic.
Integration with other social media:
- My Twitter (Facebook app)
I haven't used this yet, but it enables updating Facebook with tweets. - Ping.fm
Post to as many social media sites as you'd like in one fell swoop, at least in theory. It's a mite kludgy - I haven't been able to get it to work for LJ yet.
Instructional resources:
- Top Twitter Tools Exposed & Explained
YouTube video. The guy sounds like a cheesy television salesman, but he does provide a good, fast overview of hashtags, Ping.fm, HootSuite, TweetLater, Twollo, Twitter Local, and TweetDeck. - A 20-step starter’s guide to using Twitter efficiently
- My Twittonary - Every Twitter Term and Tool I Can Find
Some of the links here are outdated (Twitter moves fast), but some of the terminology is helpful. Personally, I find all the "tw" prefixing cutesy and hard to take seriously. - The Ultimate List of Twitter Tools
I can't believe how many apps exist for something that's been around for as short a time as Twitter has at this point. While the post's title is already dated given the rate at which new apps are developed. it's still a handy list. - Ten Awesome Ways to Integrate Twitter With Your Web Site
I don't need this yet, but at some point, I might. - Useful Links to Twitter Statistics
A blog post listing sites that process your tweets and provide data about them. I personally found HappyTweets.com rather amusing. Apparently, I'm Ridiculously Happy. :)
Twitter tools:
- Almost.at
As-it-happens coverage of everything from concerts to breaking news stories. - BigTweet
Enables posting up to 240 characters. I haven't tried it, I guess because if I'm going to write that much, I'll just blog it, but some folks might find it useful. - Bit.ly
An url-shortening tool. There are several out there, such as FitURL and TinyURL, but this is the one I use most frequently at this point because I have a nice little Firefox plug-in, but this could change. HootSuite offers built-in URL shortening as well. I also really like u.nu. - JustTweetIt
Voluntary directory of Twitter users. I haven't used it yet, but could see myself doing so if I had a Twitter account for business. - LoudTwitter
For tweeting to your blog. Works with LiveJournal. I haven't tried it, but it seems like a significant number of people on my LJ friends list rely on it. (Sometimes a little too much, folks. You can come to LJ and post a real post from time to time, y'know.) :) - MultiURL
Combine multiple URLs in a single link! Nice way to avoid spamming Twitter with this link and this link and oh, hey, did you see this link ... :) - Plook
Set reminders for yourself via Twitter. I haven't tried this one because I already do my reminders with Google Calendar. - PollDaddy
Create a poll and share it with your Twitter followers. I haven't needed to create a poll yet, but this one looks more polished than Check yes or no, so I'd probably be more likely to use it. - Tweepler
A means of processing one's Twitter followers. It might not seem useful in the beginning, but as one begins to accumulate followers, I can see how it could help to sort things. - Tweeting too Hard
Humor site mocking self-important tweets. - Tweetstats, Twitter Analyzer, and Twitter Grader
All three are analysis tools displaying information like how frequently you tweet and so on. - Twibes
Groups of Twitter users interested in particular topics. I joined, but I can't tell that it's working so far. Then again, the group I joined could just be quiet. - TwitDoc
Facilitates file sharing via Twitter. Not just for Word documents. - TwitPic Pretty much the default for sharing pictures via Twitter.
- Twitterfeed
Automatically updates your Twitter feed with links to your new blog posts. I haven't used it at this point, but it looks a little more promising to me than PingTwitter. There's also PingVine. - Twitterholic
Ranks Twitter users by number of followers. I find WeFollow more useful for actually finding content, but this will tell you where users are in the hierarchy. - Twitterless
A tool to track followers; includes graphs and stats. Probably more useful for a business Twitter account. - Twitt(url)y
Tracks and ranks the stories people are talking about most on Twitter. - TwitterVision
Sort of entertaining -- novelty app that retrieves recent tweets and integrates them with a Google map of the world, so you can see little twinkling points of origin. - Twubble
A useful tool for those getting started on Twitter. It makes it easy to find people tweeting content of interest by sifting through those you currently follow to find commonalities. - WeFollow
My favorite voluntary directory so far because of its nice organization and fast response.
And yes, mumpish, I know, I know -- you're still not following me on Twitter. :)