Twitter introduced the concept of lists about 16 months ago to enable the manual grouping of people into categories.

If you visit Formulists or Listorious you can type a keyword and see the different lists that people maintain. Searching for the keyword apples, for instance, you can read Twitter biographies of the 491 people who someone added to a list about honeycrisp apples. You can either follow the list or follow its members individually.

Any Twitter user can create his or her own list, or follow an existing list — such as the above one about apples.

I used to love creating lists. I embraced lists with passion and for the better part of two years I followed few people by way of the “follow” button and followed everyone else by lists instead. Because I kept changing the names of my lists and the people in each list, I also kept following and unfollowing different people.

But the passion is gone. I still like the concept and continue to follow some lists around government and public relations, but I’m tired of having my own lists. And, in fact, short of a local community list and a humor list, I deleted the other dozen lists I’d managed.

Because I use twitter.com as my primary view (and not third-party tools like Tweetdeck or Seesmic), it was time-consuming and unproductive to click a different list’s link every time I wanted to view its members’ recent tweets.

Which leads me to announce a new tactic in my ongoing quest for internet enrichment and resource productivity: I am once again following people outside of lists. It’s a tactic I once employed. I count 700+ people today (up from a mere 12 only two weeks ago). I don’t care about Klout scores and I don’t care if anyone I follow chooses to follow me back.

Do I look at twitter all day long? No.

Am I more productive since following people outside of lists? Yes.

Am I seeing more people’s names flow by quickly? Yes.

Will I see everyone’s tweet? No.

My purpose to tweet today has not changed since creating an account on day one. I tweet to enrich myself, to learn, and to share. Twitter lists, as helpful as they are to showcase people around categories, are less effective (to me) as a means of following and conversing with people.

But these are my thoughts about lists. How do you use lists?

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Why Twitter Lists are Less Effective

I’ve previously written about Twitter’s behavior towards its third-party developers and the risks they’re taking if they focus only on developing Twitter-based tools (See Twitter Commits Suicide and Twipocalypse Now). The bottom line is that building a business that is entirely dependent on a single partner isn’t a safe model to follow.

Surprise, Surprise?

So, should Twitter’s actions come as any surprise?

Yes! And, No.

Yes, because Twitter was built on the backs of tens of thousands of third-party developers who added much need functionality and played a key role making Twitter what it is today. These third-party developers, along with the broader Twitter community, were the ones who implemented hash tags, RTs, @ replies and many of the features that Twitter now takes for granted. Even Evan Williams, one of Twitter’s co-Founders, admitted as much at the 2009 TED Conference. See the embedded video below (thanks to Tac Anderson reminding me about this in his post Twitter Grows Up Figures Out Its Business Model And Doesn’t Need You Anymore).

And, No, because there has been ample warning about the risk of developing for Twitter – just read my posts mentioned above, and I certainly was not alone. Also, in their announcement, Twitter stated that enterprise tools such as Seesmic and HootSuite and special-purpose apps are welcome.

So, why is Twitter doing this?

For some insight, consider the following:

• Usage: While Twitter claims that 90% of users are using official Twitter apps, the blog Mashable disagrees claiming that only 58% of Twitter users access the service through official Twitter apps. That leaves a whopping 42% who never see the Twitter home page or those Twitter apps. This means that 42% of Twitter’s users may never see any of the various advertising features that Twitter has been counting on to actually justify its valuation.
• Money: Investors have poured $360 Million into the company over the past 5 years and it’s easy to understand why they might want an out. While these investors certainly could find eager buyers for their shares, they want to maximize their returns. That means pumping up the valuation of the company and finding an appropriate buyer who can afford it.

Buyer Beware

Unfortunately, there aren’t too many adequate suitors for the company, especially when it has a rumored price tag of $8-10 Billion. In order to justify that valuation Twitter needs to do the following:

• Work the kinks out of its advertising model so it can maximize ad revenue. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Increase the number of people who use Twitter properties, thus maximizing exposure to those ads. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Get those users to stop using third-party apps and “come home.” To do this it needs to…
• Kick those third-party apps out of the loop. This ultimately means putting an end to the Twitter ecosystem. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Prevent third-party app developers from getting into the game and making conditions for those who are already there too difficult for them to operate, thus they’ll be forced to close down. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Add more features to its properties. Something it’s already been doing.

My Prediction

I could go on, but to me the path is clear; within the next 12-24 months, as Twitter slowly improves its mobile apps and website, it will eventually cut off ALL third-party apps including TweetDeck and Seesmic. Then, once its numbers (traffic and review) demonstrate clear upward momentum, it will be sold to the highest bidder. Perhaps after that, Twitter’s new owners will remember the goldmine of innovation that Twitter’s third-party developers provided the company and invite them to return

One can only hope.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Neal Wiser is Vice President of Digital Strategy and Operations at The ODM Group where he leads teams in the creation and execution of digital marketing campaigns. You can follow Neal on Twitter (his handle is @NealWiser). Neal is also the Cofounder and Co-host of the Addicted to Social Media podcast.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter’s Black Friday Signals an Exit Strategy

The difference between marketing methods of old and social media marketing is that customers have a say. The success of a social media campaign is dependent not upon how much money is spent, but upon the people being marketed to. If the message works and they like the product, the masses will Tweet it to the rest of the masses. If it doesn’t, the campaign might not even get past the initial push, and will likely spiral into oblivion.

It’s All about the People

There’s one factor that you can’t control, and that’s people. Knowing that, you have to make the most of what you can control, which are the tools at your disposal. In this case, we’ll be talking Twitter, but it also works for Twitter, Facebook, Email Marketing, and video.

So how can you use Twitter for a product launch? Well, there are the obvious methods, such as using the TweetMeme plugin on your blog and product pages. People love to click these because it’s so simple, and I’m really amazed when I find a blog that doesn’t use it.

Forcing Your Hand

Another option is to create your own banner, with a built in link pointing to your launch page. Again, this works well because people can simply click and go…there’s no work involved. My friend Mike and I implemented this recently for our launch and within just a few days have noticed a huge difference in the buzz around our product.

But just creating the banner might not be enough. If you want to create a contest or track the amount of ReTweets, you’ll need a hashtag or custom URL. We created both, so that we could track each message that we create. This is an example of setting a control, so that you can not only track the results, but split-test what works best. If one hash tag isn’t working well, you can try another. If one of your URL’s isn’t seeing the amount of on-page action that you’d like, you can adjust your copy to fix it.

Real Time Tracking

Once you have your campaign in place, and you’ve set the parameters, you need to find a way to track the activity. This is where Twitter Search comes in quite handy.

However, since I’m not a huge fan of Twitter’s interface, I prefer to use clients like Tweet Deck or Seesmic to create custom searches. Of course, I’ll create a panel for my hashtag and possibly my URL, but I don’t stop there.

The next step is to set up a Google Alert, using those same queries, so that you can catch any instances that Twitter Search might miss. This also allows you to capture the activity of sites like Topsy, which republish popular Tweets. Although Twitter Search will capture most of your action, Google Alerts will pick up the stragglers for you.

Real Time Display

Lastly, if you really want to take advantage of Twitter to capture the buzz and hype around your product launch, then it’s time to show the world what everyone is saying. You can do this easily by creating a custom search (they call them groups) in Tweetizen and then embedding the results on sales and contest pages.

This does a number of things for you:

• It provides social proof
• It creates scarcity, which is a great way to capture a buyer’s attention
• It creates a sense of belonging when people see their name in the results

I’ve seen a number of products use this recently, and even as someone that’s used to seeing this sort of thing, I was impressed by the sense of belief I had when viewing the results.

The Total Package

If you implement these techniques in your launch, you’ll have a set of controls that you can test and manipulate, which will help you know very quickly if your launch is going to be a hit. If you don’t see the activity you were hoping for, then you can either adjust your campaign or scrap it for another.

If you pull it off, and the launch builds momentum, then you might get lucky enough to make the Twitter Trends list or get featured on a social media blog, like Mashable.

The great thing about strategies like this, is that you don’t need any cash to get started, yet you can compete with anyone on the Web. Now that’s power.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How to Use Twitter for a Product Launch

Twitter only allows 140 characters. There is an infinite amount of things you can say, but only so many ideas to pull from. It’s hard to keep people entertained with your tweets.

The best way to keep from burning out and giving up is to have a brilliant plan that will allow you to reach your goals and meet amazing people.

1. Stay Creative

Tweeting looks so easy, but we all know it’s not. There is a lot of thought that goes into each tweet. Penelope Trunk of Brazen Careerist (@penelopetrunk) has each tweet reviewed by an editor before she sends it out. Well that’s what she told us.

You need to find new ways to get onto other tweeters’ radars. Don’t be afraid to switch around words. Tweeting is an art and sometimes you need to stand out by being different. Don’t be afraid to disagree. Don’t do this too often, but every now and again you can spur on an exciting conversation.

It’s the routine that kills the most tweeters. All they do is link back to their blog and they wonder why they aren’t meeting cool people and having fun connecting with other tweeters.

2. Find a Brilliant Quote to Share

I love finding really cool quotes and posting them on Twitter. It’s amazing how many people will retweet a good quote.

I posted a quote from Gandhi that said, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

The CEO of Zappos (@zappos) liked it and retweeted it to his billion + subscribers. I gained over 200 subscribers in one weekend. I was lucky, but any of you can get lucky too; you just have to keep tweeting stuff you believe in and people will want to follow.

3. Just Listen

When I first got on Twitter I wasn’t very active. I just read and listened to others. I began to see what I liked and what I thought would work well for me. After a little while, I jumped in and began tweeting.

I learned the value of just listening to other tweeters. Instead of just getting on there and posting my tweet and leaving, I hang around. I notice when some people are jerks or humble or fun. It’s during these ten or fifteen minutes that I become more attached to the people I’m interacting with.

You’ll burn out quickly if all you do is broadcast your stuff and you don’t listen to the other brilliant people out there. Believe me, there are some smart people using Twitter.

4. Ask a Question

You may want to know what it feels like to stand at the top of the Eiffel Tower, or if anyone has a long commute to work and how they pass the time. The questions you can ask can be crazy, fun, or serious.

I would suggest that your question stay in the theme of the tweets. People like routines and expect to receive a certain type of tweet from you. If you shake it up too much, they may not stick around.

I’ve put out plenty of questions that were never answered. Don’t sweat it. Just post it again in a few hours. If you still don’t get a response, move on and try a different question in a few days.

5. Top 5 Tweeters to Follow

Darren wrote an excellent post about creating niche lists of tweeters that you should follow. For example, “top 5 marketers on Twitter” or “top 5 most interesting people on Twitter.”

When you send out some tweet love you might get a follow from a really cool person. I know that I would love to be included in the top 5 tweeters in the business category.

Don’t be afraid to give other people attention because it’s all about Twitter Karma. The more you give the more you will eventually be given back. The more people who love your style of tweeting, the more motivated you will be to connect with other tweeters.

6. Take a Break and Recharge

There will be some days when you just don’t feel like typing even a tweet. Then take a break and just let everyone else tweet their hearts out.

Stress occurs when we push too hard to accomplish something we aren’t ready for. If you don’t feel like tweeting then don’t. It’s better than sending some big sour puss of a tweet out there and everyone reading it and thinking “Man he is having a bad day.”

That’s when people decide to unfollow you.

7. People Will Unfollow You

Some people aren’t going to like your tweets. Just like every guy or girl doesn’t think you are hot stuff, there will be tweeters that just don’t like your personality.

Don’t take it personally. Your thoughts are not everybody’s cup of wisdom. Even Kevin Rose (@kevinrose) has people who stop following his tweets. He is in a position to add way more people than he loses, so his numbers keep growing anyway.

8. Be Yourself

Don’t try to be like @problogger because you’ll fall flat. I fell into this trap when I first started blogging. I tried to be like @stevepavlina. I only started succeeding when I let go of trying to be someone else and let my true personality come out.

I’ve taken a lot of great ideas from fellow tweeters, but always incorporated them into my own style.

You have to trust that your interests will excite other people. As long as you are authentic, people will catch on. I promise.

9. Copy a Leader

To step on my own advice, I’m going to tell you to copy a leader and his/her style for a day. See what happens. Are you getting more attention?

There is nothing wrong with learning form the masters of Twitter, such as @guykawasaki, and trying to incorporate their style into yours. Be very careful of taking this too far though, because in order to get people who want to follow you and stick with you, you have to be you.

10. Retweet Great Tweets

Retweeting other people’s thoughts is a great way to connect and share with your readers. I retweeted a @lizstrauss tweet and she sent me a thank you note. The more that you connect with talented people, the more likely they will be able to help you in the future.

If you’re not sure exactly what you are trying to accomplish then you must ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” When you figure out the answer, avoiding burn out will be much easier.

11. Know Your Goals

When you know what you want to accomplish with Twitter it’s much easier to justify using your time and energy on it. If you have a blog, static website, or an offline business you can define your goals and start to make your dreams a reality.

I want to be the one person everyone thinks about when they think about work happiness. Twitter is just another tool that I can use to leverage my expertise.

The best part is that it’s easy to see what is working and what isn’t. If you are sending out the tweets and no one is following then you have to change strategy.

If you are only on Twitter to pass the time and only want to make friends then that’s your goal. Understanding your needs is the most important way to avoid burning out and giving up.

12. Start a 30 Day Challenge

The more compelling the story you tell, the more likely people will want to follow you. One of the best ways to get people involved in who you are and what you have to say is to challenge yourself to become a better person.

I created a “No Complaining” challenge that lasted for the whole month. I blogged and tweeted about it. Fellow tweeters gave me advice and empathy. This is when my tweeting became more personal and more compelling.

People want to know how the situation makes you feel. The Twitter society on the whole is very caring and supportive. So let them know what you are trying to accomplish and let them help you succeed.

13. Remember Twitter is Supposed to be Fun

Twitter should never feel like work and when it does then you know you need to change your habits. I’ve seen some tweeters adding new friends by the hundreds, just trying to get as many friends as possible. They burn out quickly because it stops being fun. They are more worried about how many people are following them instead of the value they are giving and receiving through Twitter.

Let your personality come out because that’s the person people want to see.

At first Twitter can be daunting and confusing, so find the right tools that fit your needs. Darren has plenty of them on this blog. I would suggest Tweetdeck to anyone who hasn’t tried it. It organizes all the tweets making the experience much more enjoyable and less overwhelming.

14. (What would be your number 14? How have you avoided burn-out or overcome it and came back better than ever?)

I’ve posted over 1,500 tweets and I feel like I’m just grasping the art of tweeting. The more that I tweet the better I get and the more fun it becomes. I felt close to burn out a few months ago, but I realigned my goals and I’m back to tweeting up a storm.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



14 Ways To Fight Twitter Burnout

So this is an official request to our dear readers to send in your best Twitter tips and suggestions – be it about external tools, tips for productivity on Twitter, or even reader questions that you’d like to have answered by the community. You can feel free to submit them either in the comments of this post, or by using our handy-dandy contact form.

We’re also openly accepting guest posts to be published here on TwiTip. You’ll receive a link to both your blog and your Twitter ID. Submit your pitch and I’ll send you the guidelines.

Let’s work together to make TwiTip an even bigger and better resource for Twitter users!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Call For Community Content!

Let me know what you think if you’ve tried any of these tools, and if you have any you’d like to share (or any posts you’ve written on your own blog related to Twitter) please don’t hesitate to let me know about them!

• Twitoria – Many people seem to have re-discovered this one recently, as it’s been mentioned here on TwiTip before. You simply enter in your Twitter username, and select a time frame from the dropdown. You then see the number of people you’re following who haven’t updated their Twitter stream in that time. Fortunately most of the people I follow are regular updaters, but this tool is helpful in trimming down your list if you’re so inclined.
• Tweet4Blood – An interesting concept, for sure. “Using tweet 4 blood you can tweet your blood requests to followers @tweet4blood who are donors. Tweets are also hashtagged city wise for easy finding. You don’t have to login to tweet it from here. But make sure not to spam the community.” Currently seems like it’s mostly used in India, but I can see how it would be easily spread around the world.
• Print Your Twitter – Since Twitter’s archive only goes back so far, using Print Your Twitter allows you to save the history of your Twitter account, favorite hashtags (#topic), and so on, right down to your computer. What were you doing a year ago on Twitter? Find out by checking your own personal archive.
• Followformation – Helps users quickly follow dozens of categorized Twitter users. This tool is meant for Twitter users that would like to make sense out of following. For new Twitter users, this can be especially intimidating. Followformation helps the social media newcomer simplify the first few steps by dividing the top people on Twitter by categories, and automating the entire following process.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Sunday Link Roundup: Blood Donors and New Tools

Part 1 – Journaling
Part 2 – Link Lists
Part 3 – Conversations
Part 4 – Thought Leadership
Part 5 – Monetisation

Please share in the comments how you felt about this series! Would you like to see more series posts like this, or do you prefer the shorter, one-off posts?

Twitter Tips for Beginners: Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Part 6 – Corporatisation

Corporate Blogs only started really emerging within the last few years.  Apple, in particular, used blogging effectively in the launch of the iPhone – and it put them in a unique position to deal with teething problems when it first came out.  After their notable success, I saw other corporations start following suit.

Corporations only tend to adopt a trend once they are convinced it’s gone mainstream, or unless it’s going to give them enough of a competitive advantage to offset the ‘risk’.  When corporate blogging started emerging, the conventional media changed how they portrayed blogs – from thinking that blogs were a fringe element, to almost an unspoken assumption that this was a solid trend.  More stories about blogging started hitting the papers and radio, especially of the “blogging is dead” kind (that usually only happens when a trend is alive and well, and just taking off, funnily enough).

You’d have seen the same thing recently with twitter.

Of course some journalists had been writing about blogging for years, or even running their own blogs, but when huge companies that employ thousands (which usually means changes in policy and processes are incredibly slow) start making changes to incorporate a new technology like this, then the arguments about whether it’s worth doing tend to stop, interest spikes, and those who haven’t already adopted it start to massively jump on board so they’re not left behind.

That kind of mass entry, though, is bound to result in a change in user demographics.  With a change in the type of users and their focus, there was a change in the nature of blogging.

When blogging was about people and personalities, it attracted people and personalities. It was a form of remote friendship – hence the term ’social media’. Even when bloggers got big enough that their followers were more along the lines of fans than close friends, the relationship was still person to person.

Once blogging started including companies and corporations, it shifted away from that.  After all, a corporation doesn’t tend to have much of a personality. Instead, corporate blogging tends to be about communication strategies and customer relationships.  Where bloggers developed business plans, corporate blogging came in from the other end, and was designed to fit into their already existing business plans. It had to play nicely with other strategies and business methods already in place.  Corporate Blogging is an add-on part of doing business, where personal blogging was a form of business in itself.

Some early efforts tried to use blogs as a method to broadcast their catalog, exactly the same way some companies first thought to use twitter.  Most of those have learnt that online users want interactivity, not just advertising. Now, both blogs and twitter are being fit into the communication strategy as a two way means to provide support, as well as to broadcast notices.

Online computer and technology companies, of course, were the first to jump on board both trends. Dell computers, for example, has a whole page listing the twitter accounts for their various branches and departments. If you look at those, you’ll see that most of these twitter streams are about dialog (customer support and brand management) as much as about special offers – and that they also tend to point people off-site.  Interestingly they link not just to Dell pages, but include other social media, like facebook.

To a corporate brand, the twitter audience is only part of the customer equation.  Sure it’s important, and needs to be valued, but their objective is to connect with customers from anywhere and everywhere, AND cross link each segment to the others, to maximise the reach of their communication strategy.

The lesson to be learnt from this is a simple one.  Raise your sights.  Twitter is a means of communication, but should only be a part of your business strategy, not the entirety of it.  If you want to build a business online, don’t limit your focus to just your site and twitter – there’s the whole web out there, and to maximise your reach and credibility you need to be tapped in to more of it than just one tiny part.

Twitter Tips for Beginners: Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Part 7 - PR and Politics

As you know, the emergence of corporate blogging led to a shift in focus – and a similar thing is going on now with twitter.

When a person is building up their readership or follower numbers, they usually consider that an end in itself. The goal is to get the biggest score, right? For a corporate blogger or twitter account, though, it’s part of an overall strategy called “brand management”.  It’s not just about letting more people know about your company, it’s about controlling what impressions people associate with you – reversing any damaging publicity, building positive public relations, and turning bystanders into customers and then into raving fans who’ll go out and get you more customers.  Selling has already been covered under the post on monetisation, but the rest of it comes under the heading of “Branding”.

The professional bloggers had already picked up on this, and some were doing it even before the corporatisation trend hit.  Their blogs had become businesses, which meant that they had to include branding in their strategies.  Blog names became brands instead of individuals, even though we knew the individuals.  You subscribed and followed Problogger, Copyblogger, or the Fake Steve Jobs – even though you knew that you were respectively reading the work of Darren Rowse, Brian Clark or Daniel Lyons.

Once you create a brand, though, you need to protect and grow it.  I’m not just talking about legal actions here, either.  Brand managers use advertising and other online tools to keep growing brand awareness, and just as importantly, damage control any negative publicity.

This is where the dialogue side of blogging came into it’s true strength.  In the old days, if you bought, for example, a stale pack of potato chips, you MIGHT call the free customer number on the packet, and let the company know – especially if you thought they might refund or send you something in return.  Then again, you might have just gono over to a competitor brand and told all your friends about your bad experience, so they shifted too. The company had no way of knowing, let alone doing anything about it.

These days, besides the customer service phone lines, companies can actually seek out & respond to those conversations with your friends.  They can see that you’ve just written a post about how your latest juicer didn’t include the right attachments, and comment back – putting their customer relations out there for the world to see.  Facebook made the process faster, and of course twitter pushed it right up to real-time.

It’s probably this aspect of blogging, and then social media, that made politics jump into using it.  After all, I can’t think of a group more concerned about managing public opinion, perceptions and publicity than politicians. Can you?

Blogging – and twitter – are not just about responding to bad publicity – although they have empowered brands to do that as never before.  They also have a fantastic ability to generate positive publicity as never before.  It’s generally called “going viral”.

Here’s where the warning comes in.  Going viral is a great thing – IF it’s done correctly  (it can go horribly wrong) and if you’re prepared to take advantage of it (ask the numa numa guy).  If it happens accidentally and you aren’t set up to cope, you can end up looking worse than if you’d just grown your brand the slower, surer way.  Same if you try too hard, and it doesn’t come off.  Like fire, it’s not something you should play around with.

The main lesson you should probably get from this post is that if you’re building yourself as an online brand, you need to start nurturing it – monitoring & controlling the impressions people have of you. Social media is a great way, maybe even an essential way, to do it.

If you want to use blogging or twitter for explosive growth, you can take the risk and turn to the viral side. I do, however, highly recommend you learn the skill from the master, first. There is really only one world class expert on the ‘how to’ of going viral, and that’s Seth Godin. Yes, he’s on twitter too.

Twitter Tips for Beginners: Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Part 8 (Final) –   The New Cycle

Blogs have been around for a while now, and there’s one aspect that keeps on recurring.  Before blogs the same trend was happening with websites.  Since it ties in so very strongly to a blogger’s success & reputation, even though it’s not noticeably happening within twitter, I believe that given time, it will.

I’m talking about the cycle of specialisation.

Yes, if you’ve been reading along, I have already started covering this in post 2 on link lists.  Developing a successful topic niche, though, is also tied in to a bigger cycle, and that’s what I’m going to talk about in this final post.

The big name bloggers all had topics they became known for writing about.  In the beginning, these topics emerged as the internet was evolving.  Being a webmaster used to be a topic, as did Internet Marketing, and Traffic Generation.

As each of these fields developed, they grew to cover a range of subtopics.  The field of Internet Marketing, for example, split to cover Copywriting, Article Marketing, Ezine Marketing, Pay Per Click Marketing and many others.  Each of these sub-fields then became niches that the next generation of writers adopted and became the go-to experts for.  The cycle has continued and now, as an example, the field of Pay Per Click Marketing is way too broad, and you look for someone like the Google PPC expert instead.  In another few years, that will have further developed into a new level of niche experts – and so the cycle goes.

Twitter, for now, is mostly seen as an add-on strategy for bloggers or webmasters, and the names already well known are expanding into offering content via twitter.  There will come a time, (provided it sticks around, of course) when it will have it’s own range of experts – microbloggers you go to for answers on emerging niche topics that blogs haven’t yet started to cover.

The strength of twitter as compared to blogs is its immediacy.  You look to twitter to find what’s happening right now.  We saw it come into its own in big events like the inauguration of Barack Obama, or even the Victorian bushfires in Australia.  It’s fantastic for covering breaking news, and if you happen to be the one breaking it, you become the celebrity go-to person instantly.  Of course, since everything happens so fast, that celebrity isn’t going to last very long once the next news item comes along, but that cutting edge of emerging niche areas is where the twitterati are going to emerge.

Researchers in specialist fields can get their results out instantly, and get the jump on others doing similar research by being the first one published.  Similarly, as new online niches develop, and search engines fail to find sites or blogs that cover them, it will be services like twitter that jump in and deliver up the names that are already talking about them, as well as what they have to say.

That’s where the window of opportunity lies.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Parts 6, 7 & 8

• 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

• Twitter used for DoS Attacks in Iran (nytimes.com)
• Profiles.im – Tool to create a more detailed Twitter profile. Create your account, edit the information, and use your custom URL in your Twitter account profile for a great landing page that mimics your Twitter page. It even pulls your Twitter background, RSS feeds, and offers you much more than 140 characters to talk about yourself! Here’s mine (still in progress): Lara Kulpa
• Fixing the Twitter Reply Black Hole (blogherald.com)
• Mainstream Media Still Has Eyes Wide Shut (techcrunch.com) – Twitter search was “broken” by the news of the death of King of Pop Michael Jackson.
• 5 tools to measure Twitter success (lansner.freedomblogging.com)
• Twittering adds up to home sales (lansner.freedomblogging.com) – Great tips for real estate agents on Twitter.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Sunday Roundup: Replies, Breaking Twitter, and Profile Expansion

Finding your community in Twitter can sometimes be a challenge, especially for Twitter beginners. Social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and NING have flourishing and established communities that are easy to find. Twitter has some growing and thriving communities too but it’s often a best-kept Twitter secret.

Enter #hashtags and Twitter chats.

Twitter chats offer an effective way to meet people with similar interests and share insights into specific topic. Currently there are more than 35 weekly scheduled Twitter chats on certain days and times with like-minded professionals discussing a variety of questions. Here’s how you can find your Twitter community and participate in a Twitter Chat.

Step 1: Find And Use The Hashtag

Using a hashtag, a symbol – # – followed by a name or abbreviation, people broadcast their tweets to a specific group and follow others tweeting with the same hashtag. The hashtag is one of the keys needed to engage successfully in a Twitter chat. Use the list below to find the Twitter chat and subsequent hashtag that interests you.

Step 2: Use A Twitter Chat Tool To Monitor The Conversation

Twitter veterans know that the second key to successful twitter chat participation is to fine-tune their Twitterstation to remove all the Twitter noise. Like dialing into your favorite radio station and removing all the unnecessary static and chatter, these tools help you follow the conversation without being bombarded by other unrelated tweets. A list of ten Twitter chat tools is listed below. Following a conversation with Twitter’s main Web page is difficult and by the time you hit refresh and find tweets with the hashtag, you’ve missed most of the conversation.

Step 3: Tweet Using These Twitter Chat Basics

Once you’ve identified the hashtag for your community and the Twitter chat tool that works best for you, it’s time to get involved. Login to Twitter and your Twitter chat tool at the appropriate date and time, and watch for the moderator to announce the start of the chat. Now that you know the hashtag, remember to include it in your tweets so others can see your comments and questions.

Most Twitter chats, like #journchat, have some type of established ground rules and culture as people discuss specific topics or questions. Many chats have a moderator to help guide and facilitate the discussion. For example, #eventprofs has a moderator for each chat and established moderator instructions and guidelines. Some Twitter chats allow participants to post random questions and some suggest that the group stay on topic. I’ve seen some Twitter chats with guest experts leading a discussion and answering questions. Some groups archive their weekly chats on a wiki, in their Linkedin group, on a website or on wtHashtag.

Step 4: Now Go, Tweet And Participate

With some practice, hashtags and one of these third party Twitter applications listed below, even beginners can tune-in and participate in a robust Twitter discussion. Here’s to finding your Twitter community and I hope to tweet with you in a Twitter chat in the future!

Twitter Chat Tools

Tweetchat

Tweetchat, a web-based interface, recently made some upgrades and you can use the upgraded version or old one. Login to tweetchat with your Twitter username and password. Once your login has been authenticated with Twitter, enter the hashtag. This will take you to the tweetchat room with your custom Twitter background where you’ll be able to follow the conversation. Tweetchat settings allow you to pause the chat, set the refresh rate, and feature or block specific users. Each tweet you enter into the box will automatically be tagged with the official hashtag. Note: If your username is not showing up in Tweetchat, contact the developers and let them know. (Tweetchat is my personal favorite.)

Tweetgrid

Tweetgrid, a web-based dashboard that allows you to search and view up to nine different hashtags at once. Unlike other Twitter chat tools, you do not need a Twitter account to follow a conversation but you will not be able to tweet without a Twitter account. Open Tweetgrid, choose a grid layout, enter your username, password, hashtag, and enter your tweet in tweet box. Tweetgrid offers settings, photos and DM. If you’re following more than one conversation, you’ll have to enter the hashtag in the appropriate box each time each time you tweet.

Tweetdeck

You’ll have to download this free application to your desktop in order to use. Once downloaded, you’ll need to set one column to search the hashtag by clicking on the magnifying glass and entering the hashtag. You can move that column to the right or left in your Tweetdeck dashboard. You can also change the settings such as background color, font color, refresh rates, etc. Each time you tweet for the specific conversation, you’ll need to add the hashtag. (I use Tweetdeck as my normal Twitter interface and keep columns for following specific hashtags open always. That way I can connect with people in those communities outside of the scheduled Tweet chats.)

Twubs

A newer web-based interface that integrates a variety of media including photos and videos. Unlike tweetchat, tweetgrid and monitter, it also incorporates a URL shortening tool. Sign in to Twubs with your username and password, and enter the hashtag. Twubs automatically adds the hashtags to your tweets, allows you to filter users and has real time refreshing. Twubs also has a widget that you can embed on your website or blog.

Monitter

A web-based interface that allows you to follow up to three hashtags at once. You can only tweet to @replies or send retweets, and you’ll have to enter your username, password and hashtag each time you send a tweet. (This is my least favorite of all the Twitter chat tools.)

WhatTheHashtag (wtHashtag)

A web-based user-editable encyclopedia for hashtags; wiki of registered hashtags. This interface includes a variety of information about specific Twitter chats including a description, schedule and moderator, planned topic queue, stats and top contributors, the ability to view and save a transcript of tweets within a certain date and view the Twitter chat via Monitter. You cannot tweet from wtHashtag. Tip: If you want to know what a specific hashtag stands for, follow wtHashtag. Once they are following you, DM them the hashtag and they’ll reply with the definition on file.

RSS Feeds

If you like reading feeds, you can grab a feed for your hashtag group in Twitter search. Enter the hashtag and then copy the link in “Feed for this query” into your feed reader. Using RSS feeds, you can’t participate in the discussion and send tweets, but you can follow the chat.

TweeTree

Web-based interface that monitors hashtags. Login with username, password and enter hashtag in search function. TweeTree pulls in some additional content like photos, videos, blog posts of some approved vendors so that you can see the link’s content in your stream without clicking the link. You’ll have to remember to add the hashtag to your tweets when participating in the discussion in TweeTree.

Roomatic

Web-based dashboard. Login with user name, password and enter hashtag. You’ll see the tweets in a horizontal grid format with a very small font. Roomatic does not have any settings that you can change to make the font size bigger or change the refresh rate. It does automatically include the hashtag of tweets. You cannot send a reply or DM through Roomatic.

Twemes

Web-based interface that lets you follow hashtag and conversation. You cannot tweet from Twemes.

List of Twitter Chats

Editable Google Doc list of Twitter chats created by Robert Swanwick @spkrinteractive.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Tweeting With Your Twitter Community: How To Participate In A Twitter Chat