“There’s no such thing as information overload, there’s only filter failure.”

This famous quote from Clay Shirky exactly describes the purpose of MyTweetMag: Twitter is a perfect tool for sharing information and links. But on busy days you might get in trouble when you try to filter the rich news out of the endless twitter-stream. MyTweetMag wants to help you to curate the twitter-stream together with your twitter-friends and to create a collaborative newsstream for a certain topic.

And this is how it works: Join the platform with your twitter-account, add some co-editors, select a hashtag and return to twitter.

In the future, MyTweetMag will import all tweet-links marked with the hashtag and transform them into a clean stream of headlines and abstracts. The plattform also provides a plugin to integrate the newsstream into any wordpress-blog.

What to use it for? Use it as a collaborative bookmarking-tool, a social news platform or a recommendation stream for your blog-audience. It’s up to you!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Create Collaborative Newsstreams with Twitter and MyTweetMag

• 24 Free Sets of Twitter Icons in “pixel” style by Eren Emre Kanal.
• TwtMaps – a nifty new web app that allows you to enter your Twitter name and get a map that shows all your friends locations, as well as a little bit of info about each Twitter friend. (It’s cute, but it only shows a small fraction of people. Mine only showed me 59 of the 879 people that I’m following who are following me. I currently have 1665 followers and am following 1115… but it’s cute for a “sample geographic” idea.)
• proxifeed – Per the proxifeed site, “Proxifeed’s fully automated service creates relevant postings and broadcasts them into your Twitter feeds. Lean back and see your follower base grow!” Seems that basically they set you up with automatic tweets in your niche pulled from other feeds determined by keywords or manually added by you. They freely admit that it’s a test bed for contextual advertising on Twitter, however I think there’s some merit in this if it’s used properly. (If you’re using proxifeed, or have tried it, and are willing to write up a full review for TwiTip, please contact us.)
• Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem – Still not sure if the Twitter connection here is intentional or not, but it’s pretty funny none the less! (hat tip – David Halpert of SciFi Watch)

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Sunday Link Love Roundup: Pixels, Maps, and Blue Whales

Since my last post, I hope you’ve had fun playing around with your storyline.  This time, we’re going to look at how blogs shifted away from journaling, and started becoming lists of links.

Initially blogs were few and far between so, having shared themselves by journaling in this new medium, there was a sense of being part of a small community.  Bloggers weren’t all that common still, so when a new blog was found other bloggers would link back to it, providing a way to follow other blogs for people who’d discovered (and liked) reading blogs.

These list posts over time evolved to include linking to other sites the blogger found interesting – creating a kind of filter for all the information on the web, through the lens of someone’s interests.  If you shared those interests, you had a quick way to find things you’d probably like, without having to hunt them all down yourself.  That meant people that weren’t bloggers, friends or family, started coming to visit these blogs, and their popularity grew.

Not all of those blogs continued through this stage of evolution, though.  Some shifted entirely to links and went on to become portals, although not all portals started out as blogs.  The blogs that kept growing were the ones that took a lesson from the last stage – journaling – and maintained that sense of friendship and sharing, putting themselves into their posts and keeping it personal, giving their editorial comments so people could get a sense of what they thought and why.

The blogs that thrived in this stage were the ones that had a clear focus – some particular topic they were passionate about, so you knew (mostly) what you’d be finding if you came back to visit again.  If you were interested in the same topic, you’d make sure to come back.  Having someone filter stuff for you and deliver up your interests saved you time, and with their editorial you had someone else’s opinion to guide you, too.

The rise of url shortening services sparked a similar trend in twitter.  Once your focus changes from what you want to write, to what people want to read – a natural shift after journalling for a while – you’ll want to start sharing the things you’ve found interesting, just like those early bloggers. This is the start of ‘professionalising’ your twitter micro-blogging.  You don’t update based on what you want to say, but on what you think your friends might like to hear about.  In sharing with them, you’re delivering something that means they’re likely to a) appreciate what they get from you, b) come back for more, and c) possibly tell their friends.

There’s two things to remember when you start using link-sharing updates on twitter.  Even though it’s got to be short, people want to know what they’re clicking – don’t waste their time sending them to links that just say something generic like “Check this funny video out.”  Let your friends and followers decide if this is something they want to check out for themselves.  Even better, if you can describe it in only a few words, put a comment of your own to personalise it.  As an example, Chris Brogan recently posted:

chrisbrogan Thanks, Seth. I needed this post on saying no – http://bit.ly/IASR

Your challenge for the next week is to find at least one interesting link to share with your friends (followers) on twitter, and post it with BOTH a description and comment.  They can be combined, like the one above, or you can add your note onto the end.  If you look at the tweets that get most retweets, you’ll find a large number of them do exactly that.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Tips for Beginners: Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Part 2 – Link Lists

• Looking for podcasts about Twitter so you can get your run on while keeping up to date on the latest? Check out Twooting for “The Daily Podcast All About Twitter”!
• Want to be a “smarter, better, twitterer”? Check out 100 tips by Computer Colleges.
• Are you a celebrity stalker? Check out these celebrity first tweets by Net News Daily. (Is it horrible that I don’t know who half these people are?)
• I think I’d probably have laughed myself silly had I seen this Twitter graffiti. It’s a little political in terms of Twitter if you read the comments, but the pic is funny none the less!
• BLVD Status tracks which sites are sending people to your twitter page. You can track conversions to see who subscribes, even! They’ve got a WordPress plugin, some neat reporting tools, and a helpful blog to walk you through using the tool.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Sunday Roundup: Twooting, Graffiti, Celebrity Tweets and More

Like many who publish a blog or read blogs, twitter has become a part of the morning routine. We jump on twitter sometimes before we even open our email programs. What are people talking about and what are the hot conversations taking place is usually what we are looking for.

For me and others, twitter has become a major source of what we read throughout the day. I have actually discovered recently, not only do I go to twitter some days before I open my email program. Twitter is scrolled through before I open my RSS reader, NetNewsWire.

Collecting Links to Read on Twitter

Over the last few weeks, I have found a large chunk of what I read being provided by the links of those I am following on twitter. Many of those I follow tweet links to blog post or articles they are reading. And most are sending their own blog’s RSS feed to twitter.

The great benefit of or perhaps the natural evolution occurring by the growth of twitter is the fact most of those blogging are also on twitter. And we are using twitter as a way to publish what we are writing about.

• How do you as someone on twitter collect links to read?
• How do you find the hot topics on twitter to read?

Just as twitter has evolved into a great social tool. We are seeing new twitter apps being pushed out developer’s doors daily. And some of the best apps are those which help you find what to read on twitter.

Twitter Search

Twitter Search works a lot like some of the other search tools in your browser.

Simple type in your search query and Twitter Search will go and find the tweets matching your query.

You can then continue to follow updates as it refreshes to bring in new tweets as they come in on your search term(s).

Tweet Scan

This app reminds me a lot of Google Alerts for twitter. You can setup your search terms which you want to follow and your results will be sent to you via email, RSS, JSON, and Twhirl. Smart businesses are using this tool to follow what is being said on twitter about them too.

TweetBeep

Similar to Tweet Scan, TweetBeep alerts you by email of conversations taking place which discuss your search terms on twitter. You can then use the results as you see fit. You might want to follow those discussing the topic or you might want to respond to them on twitter. You can even keep track of who’s tweeting your Web site or blog, even if they use a shortened URL like tinyurl.com.

Not only are the above mentioned apps available to feed you information to read, those you follow will do so too. Which is why it is important to follow those who will add to the conversation and provide relevant information on twitter. Many of those you are following will do what is called “retweet” tweets they have found on twitter they think their followers may be interested in. And many of those you are following will feed their RSS feeds from their own blogs to twitter. And that is why I have found twitter has become a huge source of my RSS feeds each and every day.

I know each morning when I first go to twitter some of those I follow will have either retweeted some great links they found interesting. Or they will have tweeted new blog post they have published, either the night before or during the day.

Feeding Your Own Links (and RSS feed) to Twitter

As a blogger, one of the ways to use twitter is as a “micro-blogging” tool. I have found I get involved in more conversations taking place since I am using twitter. And there is no way I can blog about them all on my blog. Another way to keep your followers informed and a way for you to provide information to those who are following you is to tell them what you are reading and what you are blogging about.

Like the search tools mentioned, there are a number of twitter apps which make this easy to do.

TwitThis

This is an easy way for you to send tweets about what you are reading, listening to, watching and more. And to make it even easier to use, you can put the bookmarklet in your browser tool bar and whenever you are reading something you want to share, you simply click the bookmarklet. TwitThis then shortens the URL for you and you click send and it goes out to those following you on twitter. It also includes the title of the blog post you are reading.

You can also put TwitThis on your own blog as a way for your readers to share your content on twitter. TwitThis makes it easy for your readers to share.

twshot

An application very similar to TwitThis in that you can use it to share what you are reading on the Internet. However it has the added ability to allow you to add your own take on the post or article within the limits of twitters 140 characters.

Easy Tweets

“EasyTweets is a set of tools that can help online marketers leverage the power of microblogging. You can use it to post to and switch between multiple Twitter accounts in seconds, check replies, and track new followers. EasyTweets interfaces through Twitter’s API.”

This is the one twitter app I have come to use a lot. It not only allows you to feed to twitter what you are reading. You can use it to feed your own blog’s RSS feeds to twitter when you update your blog with a new post. You can set it to send your updates immediately. And you can set it to send tweets to twitter at specified times during the day.

Easy Tweets also gives you the ability to tweet to your followers what you are reading. Just use the available bookmarklet and it will shorten the URL for you and give you a space to add your thoughts on what you are reading too.

Twitterfeed

Is another twitter app you can use to feed your blogs RSS to your twitter followers. Twitterfeed works completely in the background once you set it up for your blogs RSS feed. Each time you post something new to your blog, it will send a tweet out to your followers.

One word of caution on feeding your own RSS feeds to twitter. If this is all you are going to use twitter for, you will quickly find you will have no followers. While I would agree it is important to share with your followers what you are blogging about, don’t make this the only thing you contribute to twitter. Key to twitter are the conversations taking place. And the key to having a successful twitter experience is to engage in these conversations. More is involved in engaging in these conversations then just feeding your own RSS to twitter.

One of the keys elements to remember is that twitter is about interacting and learning from those you follow and who follow you. Finding the conversations, entering into those conversations and engaging in them is important. You can use the tools and apps mentioned above to find and engage in those conversations. And you can add to the conversations by providing your own RSS feeds to twitter.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Links – How to Find Them and Share Them on Twitter