Twitter Tools & Resources For Jumpstarting Your Twitter Experience
Feb 4th, 2009 | By Optimal Webworks | Category: Featured Articles, Web 2.0 Business Marketing
We created this list of Twitter resources and tools for a discussion we’re leading at a LA2M lunch on Feb. 4, 2008 @11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m. Join us at Conor O’neill’s Irish Pub in Ann Arbor.
While this is not an exhaustive list of Twitter links, this should serve as a nice resource for getting started using Twitter. For an extended intro, check out tweeternet.
The discussion will focus on more advanced Twitter issues, such as how to use Twitter in business and marketing. Check out the list of topics and the rest of our Twitter resources. You can also print out this Twitter resources post.
Btw, you can follow the Optimal Webworks team! @shawnsmith, @nikkicino and @_samjones
Twitter Topics
1) How has twitter changed the way you network?
2) how has it changed the way your busienss operates?
3) What examples can you share about how Twitter has impacted your life outside of business?
4) Twitter Etiquette: What to do and not to do on Twitter
5) How to fight the noise in Twitter?
6) Best tools for managing Twitter?
7) What ways can you use a Twitter account?
8) How can you monetize Twitter?
Can you think of any other discussion points? Share them please :)
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a social network and micro-blogging service, with one of the fastest growing communities online. It allows people to send public private messages in 140 characters or less via the web, a desktop client and mobile phones.
Many people think of Twitter as the same service as Facebook status updates. And it’s true, Twitter can serve that purpose. But it can also do much more. If you are new to Twitter, watch this video about Twitter in Plain English to get a better understanding of how status updates propelled Twitter’s userbase.
Twitter Etiquette
Twitter etiquette deserves a post on it’s own, but we’ll try to sum it up here quickly.
Think of the conversations you have on Twitter as the same as the conversations at a cocktail party. The party features many conversations occurring simultaneously. Which do you want to participate in?
When you approach a conversation, do you immediately blurt out “I need to go to the bathroom,” or “I need some grapes from the grocery store.” If you did, your comments would likely puzzle the people already conversing. The same goes for Twitter messages and conversations.
The most important goal of updating your Twitter account is to provide value to the conversation, whether that means sharing a link, posting an interesting observation or responding to someone else. Keep that in mind and you’ll do alright.
Now let’s get into the nitty gritty of Twitter.
How to send messages & commands
Replies: @username – send a public message directed at another user. You can send replies to multiple people in one tweet. Example: @username1 @username2 hi
Direct Messages: d username – send a private message to a single user
Retweets: Copy and paste another user’s message and add the text RT or Retweet in front of the pasted message. Include the @username of the person who originally posted the message after RT. Then send the message.
Ways to use Twitter:
- Share links to items of interest to your network
- Re-distribute of content from blog, web site
- Pitch journalists and bloggers
- Personal Branding
- Get Feedback
- Hire People
- Read News
- Make New Friends
- Event Updates
- Find Prospects
- Provide Live coverage
- Set Up Meetings
- Solicit social media votes on content
- Crowd-source questions and answers
- Promote specific content
Sources:
http://www.doshdosh.com/ways-you-can-use-twitter/
http://www.toprankblog.com/2008/05/top-10-twitter-uses/
Best URL-Shorteners for Sharing Links
bit.ly – provides superb tracking on links shared
is.gd – shortest url shortener
Twitter Clients
Best Desktop Clients:
Twhirl – http://twhirl.org/(best for managing multiple accounts)
Tweetdeck – http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/ (best for managing a single account)
Best Iphone Apps:
Paid – Tweetie http://www.atebits.com/software/tweetie/ ($2.99)
Free – Twitterfon http://twitterfon.net/ (search itunes also)
Best Blackberry App:
TwitterBerry – http://orangatame.com/products/twitterberry/
Non SmartPhone
SMS – register your phone number with twitter and text to 40404
Java – http://tinytwitter.com/
In-Browser – Twitterfox for Firefox https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5081
In-Browser – http://twitbin.com/
How to find people to follow
15 Twitter directories compared via Mashable
search.twitter.com – Find tweets based on location, tweeted keywords
http://shortyawards.com/ – top users as voted by other users
http://mrtweet.net/ – analytical report on who you should follow
http://www.twellow.com/ – twitter directory based on interests
http://www.crazybob.org/twubble/ – suggestions of new followers based on your friends graph
Scan others’ profiles
promote your twitter through your other outlets (blogs, emails, etc.)
Most Followed 10 Twitterers in Ann Arbor (via Twitterholic)
http://twitter.com/_samjones/
http://twitter.com/megatokyo/
http://twitter.com/pfanderson/
http://twitter.com/cjuon/
http://twitter.com/toddwaller/
http://twitter.com/vielmetti/
http://twitter.com/llaurentsmith/
http://twitter.com/GirlyDrinks/
http://twitter.com/shawnsmith/
http://twitter.com/behindthejersey/
Notable Twitter Tools
http://twitterfeed.com/ – Syndicate RSS feeds to Twitter accounts
http://www.twitscoop.com/ – What’s hot on Twitter right now
http://tweetgrid.com/ – Monitoring tool
http://twinfluence.com/toplist.php?sort=reach – Most influential twitterers list
http://monitter.com/ – another monitoring tool
http://citytweets.net/ – Tweets by city (sorry, no Ann Arbor yet)
http://twist.flaptor.com/?tz=-5 – Trends monitoring (a little behind)
http://www.tweetlater.com/ – Set auto-follows and auto DMs
http://twitter.grader.com/ – grade your Twitter profile
http://tweetbeep.com/ – set up alerts via Twitter
http://twittercounter.com/ – Get your Twitter stats
http://twitturly.com/ – Most-shared links on Twitter
Long lists of more tools:
http://twitter.pbwiki.com/
http://wtips.blogspot.com/2007/04/twitter-tools.html
Top Twitter Blogs & Posts
http://www.twitip.com/
http://mashable.com/2008/10/23/how-to-improve-twinfluence-and-twitter-grade/ – How to improve your Twitter grade
There You Have It!
The world of Twitter is always expanding and more and more of your friends and customers are joining it every day. Give it a twhirl (cheesey we know) and see what happens. You might just make some new friends.
If you have other thoughts about Twitter, please share in the comments. We’d love to see how you are using Twitter.
STILL NOT CONVINCED???
If you’re still not sure what Twitter is all about and why people find it so useful, check out this excellent slideshare by @paulbradshaw.
[slideshare id=1012050&doc=twitterforbeginners-1234274656998600-3]
http://www.slideshare.net/onlinejournalist/twitter-for-beginners-1012050
p.s. awesome twitter dog image by tashmahal
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Shawn – great job leading the discussion today. This is a comprehensive list of Twitter ideas. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Shawn. Which monitoring tool in the above list do you use? I’ve also used Tweetscan.
I’ve used twitscoop the most, but I think monitter looks pretty good too. different tools have different purposes, but twitscoop is the one I use the most. I know tweetscan is the tool of choice for many, i just don’t think i’ve gotten into it
Nice list .
my favorit at this moment are:
-> itweet.net/web
-> mytweeple.com
I’ve tried TwitterBerry, but I have to say I like twibble for the Blackberry better. TwitterBerry shows you profile pics, but you can’t see the whole tweet without clicking on it. In twibble, you don’t get the profile pics, but it’s easy to scroll down the list and read all your tweets.
Great post, nice summary of tools, very helpful for new twitters like us!
Thank you!
[...] Twitter. Shawn Smith lead the discussion and it was a good one. You can view Shawn’s post on Twitter here. Here are the topics we discussed in this [...]
Shawn – Excellent list. Really a huge amount of info. Very useful. I’ll check out Twitscoop and compare it with Tweetscan which I use now. Thanks.
Great intro to twitter and the low down on some of the basic tools. Looks like I’ll be twittering even more!
Thanks guys. SBS
Shortly after creating my site I discovered Twitter and found it a wonderful addition to aid in my marketing and updating my visitors to the site. By placing a feed directly onto the front page of the site.
One thing about Twitter I have noticed, it has indexed my site and twitter updates on Google in various places based on various keywords which even included ‘Valium’…lol …This happened to be a song title by an artist listed in my site directory.
I have become a great fan of Twitter and will continue to use it as a tool for updating music fans and marketing my site. Thank you for the list of notable Twitter tools. I appreciate your post on the subject. So far, I have already found my listing in Twellow and updated my account there.
Cheers!
I believe both Twitter and LinkedIn are building more professional minded social networking communities. At my age, I would never consider using Myspace or Facebook but LinkedIn and Twitter are unbeatable.
Me gustó mucho los tópicos para usar tuitter. Saludos!