Here’s a quick list of 5 that have enhanced my own use of Twitter this year and why:

1. TweetDeck

TweetDeck has become my primary Desktop Twitter client over the last 6 months of the year and has quite literally changed the way that I Tweet on a number of levels.

One of the biggest impacts that it has had is in the way that it builds ‘groups’ into my twitter workflow. This has helped me immensely to manage the noise that is associated with following and being followed by thousands of people.

Groups enable you to select any number of Twitter users to follow in a special window. This means that if you miss their twees in the ‘all tweets’ timeline you are likely to see their tweets in the group you’ve set up.

Also powerful in TweetDeck is the ‘Search’ feature which enables you to track keywords and who is using them right from within your Twitter Client.

I’m also a big user of TwitScoop so having the ability to have it included in a window within the client is handy too.

I guess as I think about it – the reason I like TweetDeck is that it enables me to use a variety of tools that could be accessed by a variety of services – all within the one client. I’m not constantly having to run to a search tool, logging into TwitScoop, checking individuals twitter pages – it’s all happening on my desktop in the one application.

I also love that it can be run quite effectively in a single column view or opened up to a more comprehensive one across the full screen.

The fact that TweetDeck is still only at version 0.20b excites me – there’s obviously a lot more to come!

TweetDeck is my Twitter application of the year!

2. Twitterlator Pro

Another massive change in my use of Twitter mid year was when I started using the iPhone as my primary mobile phone. I’d been looking forward to this for a long time (Australia only got the iPhone with the new 3G version.

Being able to Tweet from the road, local cafe, while waiting for the Train, at the football…. etc was quite a new experience and so I needed an iPhone Twitter client that was up for the job.

I tested them all – starting with the free applications and then progressing to the paid ones. I settled on Twitterlator Pro (itunes url) for a number of reasons.

Perhaps the biggest reason was the ‘replies’ page. Again – my biggest challenge with Twitter is that I am following a lot of people – so to follow the timeline for everyone that I follow is just not practical. When on my iPhone I tend to live more in the ‘replies’ section and Twitterlator Pro has one of the best of these.

I also love that you can manage multiple Twitter accounts from the one application, that you can see Twitpic pictures within messages, that it has a ‘nearby’ feature to find out who is twittering close by – etc. Many of these features can be found within other iPhone Twitter clients but for me Twitterlator Pro simply ‘fits’ with my Twitter workflow.

Note – there is a notable up and coming iPhone Twitter client that could just take the place of Twitterlator Pro.

In the last month or so Tweetsville (itunes url) was launched and while I’m hooked on Twitterlator Pro Tweetsville (website) has been getting more and more of my iPhone Twittering attention because – well, its got most of the features that I use on Twitterlator Pro but just seems more intuitive.

It’s in its early versions so still has room to improve but I suspect will become my #1 iPhone application in 2009 – the only reason I didn’t name it in my main list is because I’ve been using Twitterlator Pro for six months and so it’s really been more useful to me this year than the one month I’ve had with Tweetsville.

3. TwitterBar

I almost overlooked this application when planning this list – simply because it’s become such a part of my Twitter workflow that it has almost become invisible.

TwitterBar is a Firefox Add-on that allows me to share links on twitter from the address bar of Firefox.

As I’m surfing – if I find a site that I like and want to share all I do is simply add a few words that I want to include with the link to the address bar (before or after the URL) and then click a tiny little grey button to the right of the address bar. Doing this posts the URL and my message to Twitter.

If I’m not sure if I have enough characters left I hover the cursor over this little grey button and it tells me how many I have left.

There are other tools for sharing URLS on Twitter and I’ve tested many of them – but this little add-on is quick, easy, quick and unobtrusive…. and I use it 10-20 times a day!

4. TwitterFeed

I know some on Twitter don’t like tools that automatically post links from blogs – but…. well I’m a blogger and my Twittering centers around blogging. Add to that that most of my followers are online when I’m asleep because I live in Australian and I needed a tool that would do what TwitterFeed does.

In short – TwitterFeed checks the RSS feeds to my blogs every hour (you can change this frequency) and if something new has appeared in the feed it takes the link and tweets it for me. It allows me to customize the tweets so I can add a little message (“New from TwiTip:” for example) so followers know what the link is.

There are options for what is shown (you can show the title, title and description and description only) and you can even filter your tweets by keywords (so that only some links get posted).

TwitterFeed offers you a range of URL shortening services – I use Tweetburner (twurl) which allows me to go to Tweetburner and check what links are being clicked on most (handy to know as a blogger interested in tracking what posts are connecting with readers most).

Again – there are other tools out there including some good WordPress plugins that do it from your blog – but I use TwitterFeed because…. well it works (99% of the time).

5. TwitScoop

This is another tool that I’m constantly looking at (more than I realize). As mentioned above – I use it largely because it is built into TweetDeck but do use the actual site too.

There are a number of things that I use it for including:

1. It’s my newspaper in the morning – one of the first things I do in the morning is to check TwitScoop to see what is ‘hot’. I’m amazed how much news I find through it over my morning coffee.

2. As a blogger is is a fantastic tool for watching for hot trends and topics that are being discussion right now. A number of times I’ve been able to break stories simply by watching what is ‘buzzing now’.

3. Conferences – it’s also quite useful when you’re at a conference, listening to a speaker or tracking a live event to see what people are saying about it.

Other tools that I’ve been using:

There must be hundreds of Twitter Applications and Tools available now so the above 5 just scratch the surface. I’d love to hear your own Top 5 list in comments below.

Before you do – here’s a few others that I use from time to time.

• TweetBurner – as mentioned above, I use this to shorten urls and track what gets clicked on (TwitClicks is another of these).
• Twhirl – I used this a lot at the start of the year and still do on occassion – but TweetDeck has taken it over.
• Tweetlater – I only use it occassionally but it is useful if you need to set a Tweet to go off later.
• MrTweet – everyone’s been raving about this new service lately – it recommends people for you to follow based upon your network.
• TweetBeep – free twitter alerts for keywords
• TweetScan – another alerts tool
• TweetStats – interesting stats on your twitter useage

OK – so it’s over to you – what are your Top 5 Twitter Applications and Tools for 2008?

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



5 Twitter Applications and Tools that Made Me a Better Twitter User in 2008

Twitter, having been quickly adopted initially by key influencers, has grown into a mass-market communication tool, with millions of users.

If you’re publishing content, undertaking online marketing, and looking to keep up with the latest trends in anything web related then Twitter should be featuring highly as a ‘weapon of choice’.

In this article I’ll be assuming you are new to Twitter, and that rather than wanting to use Twitter as a way of simply keeping up with friends, you want to use it as a tool for valuable engagement and maximum effect, avoiding the white noise that Twitter can also create if used incorrectly.

I call this ‘Using Twitter, the Smart Way’.

So, in a nutshell . . . Twitter allows users to post updates (known in the Twitterverse as ‘Tweets’), which consist of text-based posts of no more than 140 characters. A Tweet can include a website link if you wish.

Updates are displayed on the Twitter profile page of the user who submitted the Tweet, or alternatively through a desktop Twitter application, such as Twhirl or Tweetdeck (more on these later), to other users who have signed up to receive them (‘Followers’).

To get you up to speed, before I go into any further detail, it’s worth checking out the Twitter in Plain English video, from the talented folks over at Common Craft.

This will give you a simple and entertaining outline of how Twitter works and how it is most commonly used.

So, Why Should I Use Twitter?

As I’ve mentioned, if you use Twitter smartly, it’s an outstanding tool for engaging with key influencers in your niche and also with your own target audience.

Twitter is immediate, it is fast and it is extremely effective.

Twitter is also invaluable as a means of posting, sharing and recording your own ideas and links, as you have them or come across them (the ones you think others would benefit from hearing about that is!). Think of it as sharing your own virtual notepad.

Some Other Advantages

• Twitter helps you cut down on the clutter created by wading through blogs, newsletters and RSS feeds for the odd gem of useful information, and gets information in front of your eyes with more immediacy, allowing you to filter and favourite ‘on the spot’ (especially if you’re using a desktop application, which you should be)
• It shows you as a keen follower/adopter of the latest tools and apps to your peers and general website audience – always a good thing
• Helps you get your name known with those that matter (to you)

So, how do you get started then?

Here’s the Steps I Recommend:

Step 1

First you need to sign up with Twitter at http://twitter.com

I suggest that you use your name (no spaces) as your twitter account name, but that’s just a suggestion.

Next, you need to track down the people that are worth following. This you can do by using the Twitter search, or alternatively a Twitter directory service, such as TwitDir (listed below). Click ‘Follow’, once you’re on a person’s profile, to follow their Tweets.

Here’s some suggestions (by no means definative) to get you off to a good start. These fit well with TwiTip’s readership, but should also have pretty mass appeal:

• Mashable: http://twitter.com/mashable (blog reviewing all that is web 2.0)
• Scobleizer: http://twitter.com/Scobleizer (web 2.0 commentary)
• Jowjang: http://twitter.com/jowyang (senior social analyst at Forrester)
• Problogger: http://twitter.com/problogger (hugely popular blogging blog)
• Kevin Rose: http://twitter.com/kevinrose (Digg founder)
• Andy Beard: http://twitter.com/AndyBeard (web marketing blogger)
• Maki, DoshDosh: http://twitter.com/doshdosh (blogs about making money online)
• Rohit Bhargava: http://twitter.com/rohitbhargava (social marketing guru0
• John Chow: http://twitter.com/JohnChowDotCom (also blogs about making money online)
• TechMeMe: http://twitter.com/techmeme
• . . . and of course myself, the author of this article, Mark Ramskill: http://twitter.com/ramskill

It’s also well worth checking out the followers of those i’ve listed above as well. Read their profiles, visit their sites, and only add them if you feel they’ll bring value to your Twitter experience.

Step 2

Download a Desktop Client

I suggest Twhirl for light users, or for those who want to make frequent use of Twitter and build up a following that needs more careful management, try TweetDeck.

Twhirl makes it really easy to follow others and post Tweets. This desktop application functions in many ways like an instant messenger, whereby as soon as anyone you are following sends a Tweet to you, it is received in Twhirl and also flashes up in a small bubble in the corner of your desktop, for quick and easy reading.

When I began using Twitter as a light user, I wouldn’t have been able to use it in any kind of useful way without relying on Twhirl.

Once you’ve downloaded Twhirl and opened it for the first time (you may be asked to install Adobe Air), add your Twitter account information in your Twhirl settings (you can add more than one Twitter account if you wish) and away you go! I’ll let you know the four key methods of Twitter communication / engagement in a moment.

TweetDeck

As mentioned, I suggest you start using TweetDeck once you’ve built up a following. I moved across to TweetDeck when I reached 100 or so followers, although you may wish to use it straight away.

At a certain point users find that Twhirl becomes harder to manage, requiring a need to think about grouping people, according to what they do or their relationship to you, with replies and direct messages filed separately.

TweetDeck provides all the functionality you need to adequately manage posts, groups of followers, replies and direct messages, however many followers you may have.

TweetDeck, like Twhirl, is an Adobe Air based application, so as part of the installation process you make be asked to install this as well.

Step 3

The four key methods of Twitter communication / engagement

Ok, so you’re set and ready to go. However, before people will be prepared to follow you (barring those that add anybody) you need to start posting Tweets that others will find useful and that relate to your niche or your interests.

1. For general posts, simply either log in and type your Tweet in the message box on the Twitter website, or use the message box in your desktop app (140 characters is the maximum length of message).

2. To reply to someone, use the ‘@’ symbol, then their Twitter username, e.g.

eg: @ramskill your message, whatever it may be

Bear in mind that this reply can be seen publically, by your followers and the followers of who you are replying to.

3. To ‘Retweet’ / repost a Tweet from someone else, use ‘RT’, a space, the ‘@’ symbol, then their Twitter username, e.g.

eg: RT @ramskill your message, whatever it may be

4. To send a private direct message to someone, use ‘D’, a space, then their Twitter username, e.g.

eg: D ramskill your message, whatever it may be

That’s all there is to communicating and engaging through Twitter . . .

Step 4

Don’t forget to tell others that you have a Twitter account!

Now you’ve started following people yourself and you’ve begun Twittering, it’s now time to post about your Twitter accounts’ existence (www.twitter.com/yourusername) on your website or blog, email friends/collegues/relatives that share your interests and generally get people to follow you (remember: you don’t necessarily have to follow them back).

Don’t forget to link to your Twitter account on any other social sites you use, such as Facebook (most of them have functionality to add a link to your Twitter account or even take live feeds from it).

Step 5

Remember the importance of Twitter Etiquette!

A rapid way for Twitter users to unfollow you is if you spam them constantly, don’t respond to replies or direct messages, act obnoxiously or generally fail to bring value by Twittering about ’stuff’ that is of no use to them.

Think of your audience at all times. Act as you would if you were dealing with them face to face in a business situation, or sitting down for coffee with them. Respect is key.

Most importantly, remember that new people are viewing your Twitter profile constantly, and making a decision about whether to follow you, based on the Tweets and replies they see.

By all means Tweet about your website, blog, service or product, but also try and add value by making this just a part of your communcation. If you come across a website or service that could benefit others Tweet about it. You’ll soon build up a positive reputation as someone worth following and recommending.

What you give is what you get back. Apply that mantra and you can’t go far wrong!

That’s it. You’re set!

You now know how to use Twitter, begin following others and build up your own posse of followers. Most importantly you now know how to use Twitter effectively to communicate and engage with others.

Twitter Tools

So . . . now for the hot stuff! The Twitter tools . . .

The following is a list of the key sites or apps I have used, and continue to use, to enhance my Twitter experience:

• Mr Tweet (makes recommendations on who to follow)
• Tr.Im (url shortening service for Twitter, with stats)
• Tweetburner (alternative to Tr.Im)
• Tweet Later (schedule Tweets over a period of time)
• TweetBeep (track who is mentioning you)
• TweetGrid (live updates for any keyword on Twitter)
• TwitDir (a Twitter directory service)
• Quitter (emails you when someone stops following you)
• Twitter Grader (see how you rank on Twitter)
• TwitStamp (create a personalized Twitter badge)
• Twitterfox (Firefox Twitter status Add-On)

And if you want more – 27 Cool Tool and Resources for the Twitter Addict

In Summary

Hopefully, i’ve given you enough information to fuel your imagination and make you want to get started with Twitter and its associated apps and services.

In this new web 2.0 world, immediate access to information, and easy engagement with those that post it, is a necessity.

Twitter, if used smartly, helps you do just that!

Remember, i’m here to help.

Add me: http://twitter.com/ramskill

And feel free to ask me questions, or just say hello!

Mark Ramskill is the Marketing Specialist for SubHub, a revenue-ready content publishing platform.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Using Twitter… ‘The Smart Way’

Whether you’re a startup or an established company, your customers are probably on Twitter. And whether you like it or not, they’re going to complain and praise your company and products on Twitter. Let that sink in a for a second: they’re going to complain and praise your company and products in a very public forum. There is no escaping that your reputation can be, rightly or wrongly, negatively or positively affected because of a handful of tweets.

But I’m not here to scare you into creating a Twitter profile. What I’d like to do is tell you how wonderful an opportunity this is to engage with the Twitter community, in public, and win the hearts of this community.

The Key to Community Engagement is Monitoring

To know which members of a community you need to be talking to, you need to know who’s talking about you. On Twitter, that’s quite a feat. Think about the challenge you have: Twitter has millions of users. Some are very popular with thousands of followers (i.e. very influential) but most are not that popular. Some tweet very regularly and some tweet very rarely. Some simply whine about your product, some post wishes for features, some express frustration, some give constructive feedback, and if you’re really lucky, some sing your praises. How would monitor all this activity?

The answer begins with Twitter search. This is a relatively new service from Twitter. It used to be a startup called Summize that Twitter bought and integrated. By far, this is the best way to monitor Twitter. Type in a search and you get 15 hits per page (remember this number). I tend to keep the search’s tab open because the results update once a minute using AJAX: if there are new results, you get a message saying “X more results since you started searching.” Refresh the page and you get the new tweets. Also, when there are new results, the page’s title is updated to tell you how many new results there are so you don’t have to keep checking the page. How is that for real time monitoring?

The other neat thing about Twitter search is the RSS feed. Every search can be turned into an RSS feed; you can find the icon at the top of the sidebar on the right. You can subscribe to this with your favorite RSS reader, but think about what you can do if you write monitoring programs that pull the RSS data and then analyzes it. So set up searches of your brands, products, etc, and watch them!

However, once in a while Twitter search will break, especially during peak hours when you see a delay in results coming in. More seriously, sometimes it misses tweets that clearly match the query. So make sure you don’t depend on it 100% but open up other communication channels like direct messages (more on that in a bit).

For completeness, there are other ways to monitor Twitter:

• Use advanced desktop clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl.
• Use tweetbeep, which bills itself as “like Google Alerts but for Twitter”, and be sure to read TwiTip’s own Tweetbeep for Beginners guide.
• Use the search engines: Use the [site:] operator in Google or Yahoo!; example: [google site:twitter.com] to search for all mentions of “google” on Twitter. Also, if you have a Google Alert set up for your brand, it will pick up some tweets.

Talk to Them!

OK, so you know who you need to talk to, now what?

The first thing to realize is that most of your talking on Twitter is in public: everyone can see what you’re saying. Yes, this does mean that you must never make your updates private if you’re engaging with others on Twitter. Direct messages (DMs) are to be reserved for specific uses as I’ll explain below.

Here are the different ways you talk to people:

• Thank those that praise you and extend a welcoming hand saying you’re here if they need any help, got any questions, feature requests, feedback, etc. Basically, tell them how they can talk to you if they so wish. A good way to thank people on Twitter is to also follow them, and this opens up the possibility of them sending you a DM if they so wish.
• Publicly @reply to the people that speak negatively about you offering them help. The simplest offer of help is to give them an email address for them to contact you. If it’s a problem you’re working on, tell them a fix is coming soon. If it’s a new problem they’re reporting, thank them wholeheartedly and promise a fix soon (it’s a free bug report your quality assurance people missed). Don’t be afraid to ask them to contact you privately so that they can give you a better description of the problem and have them help test the fix. And of course, follow them. They might want to DM you something private, like their username.
• Give your community a way to contact you outside Twitter. We just talked about email, but your profile page should at least give a link to a website. I can’t decide what’s the best page to link to as your website on Twitter, so I’ll give you suggestions:
• • Your website’s home page
  • Your contact page
  • Your blog’s home page
  • A custom landing page
• And don’t forget to say something sensible in the Bio field.

One last tip: don’t use services to automatically follow all your new followers. It’s impersonal, and it’s obvious. Instead, get Twitter to email you every time someone follows you (or you can check your followers periodically), and follow everyone who’s not a obviously a spammer and send them a personalized DM thanking them for the follow. You can easily personalize it by finding out their name. It take 15 seconds to do this and it’s a good thing. Don’t expect any replies though.

Brand Your Profile Page

Yes, it’s a way of talking to your community as it shows effort and that you care. It’s also a quick confirmation to a new visitor that they’re viewing the right profile. Some tips to get you thinking, and you really should read Sara Rosso’s post here on TwiTip for more details:

• Change your icon/avatar photo. Upload a small version of your logo. Twitter will automatically resize that; it will not look perfect unless what you upload is a square because the photo is a square. I usually use a large version of the website’s favicon as that’s the correct brand and is also a square.
• Change your background. I’ve seen many approaches to how this gets done: some theme it exactly like the website; some create a custom theme but using the same color palette as the website, and some just choose a color. I suggest the following: the current Twitter design is centered on the page. So use the left hand side space to put some useful info: your logo at the very top, contact details, interesting web links, etc. I did mine (for @cligs) manually, but The Closet Entrepreneur has Powerpoint and Keynote Twitter background templates to help you. A rough rule of thumb for the space on the left is 150-200px.

Get Your Blog to Work With Your Twitter Profile

The root of this tip is that how you engage with your community is not a one-off or one-channel task, but an integration of multiple channels. To this end, blogs are a natural fit to complement your Twitter efforts. So how do you integrate blogging with Twitter? Some ideas:

• Promote your Twitter profile on your blog, and link back from Twitter to your blog.
• Automatically post your blog posts to Twitter. There are many plugins that do that automatically. For Wordpress, I recommend Alex King’s Twitter Tools or WP-To-Twitter.
• Integrate Twitter profiles into your blog comments. This is easy to do using Sean Walberg’s easy instructions on Problogger.

So Does it Work?

Short answer: oh yes it does! I’d like to illustrate this with three examples.

• Comcast: The prototypical example of using Twitter to engage with your community is Comcast. The “Comcast Guy” is Frank
  Eliason @comcastcares and he can work some magic apparently. Michael Arrington (of TechCrunch) wrote up his experience of publicly complaining about Comcast on Twitter back in April, and how Comcast responded (by very quickly fixing his connection). And that’s not unique: googling brings up a lot of stories, some even proclaiming new love for Comcast. Now that’s magic.
• Google: There is a great write-up about a Google Webmasters Tools user, Gary Cope, having a problem. Gary blogged about it and that got automatically fed into his Twitter account and that got picked up by Sagar Kamdar (@skamdar), the new Webmaster Tools PM. Sagar publicly notified Gary on Twitter that the problem is being looked into, and then personally replied to Gary’s blog post the next day saying the problem is fixed.
• Tweetdeck and Twhirl: These are my favorite examples of one person making a big difference using Twitter. Tweetdeck is a popular Twitter client written by Iain Dodsworth. Iain uses Twitter as a very powerful support channel. To see it in action,
  just look at the @tweetdeck feed. Likewise for Twhirl, another popular Twitter client, the @twhirl feed is just awesome.

And these are not the only examples. ReadWriteWeb has more, and just search using your favorite search engine.
It really is amazing what a good Twitter engagement can do to your business. It builds good will, gets you rave reviews, makes people like you more (or hate you less ), not to mention creating buzz and generating links. Comcast hit it spot on when they named their account ComcastCares, because that’s what you should be doing: caring. If you care enough, a community will build itself around you. And Twitter is a very easy channel to demonstrate that you care.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How Your Company Can Build A Community on Twitter

Tweetbeep is a free web-based service that lets you get notified via e-mail whenever someone mentions a word, name or phrase on Twitter. Find out immediately when someone tweets (posts) your name, company, or website address on Twitter, even if they use a URL-shortening service like TinyURL.

Step 1: Signing Up for Tweetbeep

Getting started with Tweetbeep is as easy as filling out a simple form right on the first page of tweetbeep.com. Enter any username you want for the first field – the last one is for your Twitter username.

The first page of Tweetbeep.com lets you
create your account instantly.

Once you’ve pressed the Submit button, you’ll be taken to a page where you can customize just about anything regarding the notification(s) you want to receive.

Step 2: Creating a New Alert

Your first choice is whether or not you want to be notified when a certain word is used (Keyword) or when someone links to your website (Link to Domain). Keep in mind that you can create an alert for both items if you want (so you could be notified whenever someone uses the word TwiTip as well as TwiTip.com)

Let’s say we want to start with a Keyword alert. Type the word or phrase you want to be notified about and decide whether you want Tweetbeep to notify you hourly or daily if it finds a match.

Step 3: Set Your Options

The checkbox “only if includes URL” is usually for notifications that mention your site name and the URL – such as “Visit TwiTip at www.twitip.com for great Twitter tips”. Unchecking this will notify you only if someone uses the word and not the web address.

The checkbox for “search only text, not @reply name” is ideal if the word or phrase you want to be alerted for happens to be a common word or name. So if you want to be notified whenever someone searches for Twitter tips, but doesn’t have the word “twitter” in their username, you’d want to keep that box checked.

You can also choose what words to have Tweetbeep ignore, only be notified of a certain twitter user posts something with your name or company in it, or even narrow down posts to a certain geographic area. Once you’ve got your options set, it’s time to click Save Alert.

Step 4: Rinse and Repeat!

Once you save the alert, it will show up in your Tweetbeep account and you’ll get an email any time that word or phrase is used (depending on the options you set). You can then create more alerts if you’d like.

The simple user menu on the left side of every page lets you view (and optionally delete) alerts you’ve created, update your profile (change your password or update your email address) and logout.

Now you no longer have to check Twitter compulsively to see who’s talking about you or your company. Let Tweetbeep bring the notifications to you!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Tweetbeep for Beginners: Get Custom Twitter Alerts in Your Email

Image by me and the sysop

If you’ve been using Twitter for a while, you might notice that some of the most successful folks on Twitter make a concerted effort to help out their friends / followers. And they seem to ask for nothing in return!

Many folks believe, including me, that this practice of selfless giving is central to all success, personal and professional.

The problem is that no matter how helpful you want to be, no one’s invented a way to get 25 hours out of a day.

Until Now

Using a combination of Twitter tools, you can practice enlightened self-interest without the need for prescription drugs.

Following are examples of how to save time with Twitter tools to find out 1) what your friends need, 2) collecting that information, and 3) giving them that information.

Note: Don’t try this with ALL of your friends, just a few – or you really will go mental!

What Does My Friend Need?

Most of us have a general idea of what our friends need, but may have missed the few tweets about problems with a client project or thesis.

TweetStats can be used to find out details about your friend (in a non-spying way, of course . After you’ve entered your friend’s twitter ID, Study the TweetCloud:

Mousing over the tweetcloud shows 49 mentions of “coffee” in Darren Rowse’s twitterings. Is this useful information? You decide.

How Can I Find It?

Once you know what your friend needs, use a combination of the following automated search methods:

• Test Keywords With Monitter.com – This snazzy tool let’s you compare the frequency of three different keywords. In Melbourne, Australia, “coffee” occurs more often than “cappuccino” or “tea”:

You can then subscribe to updates on your search using the RSS feed.

• TweetBeep works much like Google alerts, but you can combine keyword searches with location criteria. It also allows you to be alerted whenever a particular web-site it tweeted, even if the URL is shortened!

• Don’t Forget Google! Google alerts will pick up anything outside of Twitter. Set the alert to “as it happens” so that you can quickly send any valuable content to your friend.

How Can I Get It To Them?

Beyond TweetDeck, iTweet, Twhirl and Twitter.com, here are two pain-free ways to get information to your friends:

TwitThat: This is a firefox add-on that lets you quickly post the URL of a website you’re reading. The cool thing is that you can create a “reply list” of your friends in a drop down menu:

Clicking “twit” automatically posts the webpage in twitter as “@Problogger – found this:” Saves much more time than copying and pasting URLs and headlines. Also, having your friends listed in this drop-down keeps them foremost in your mind.

TwitterFeed is a utility that automatically posts updates of any RSS feed. Like TwitThat, you can also create a “reply to” prefix of tweets. In our example, we could post updates from the Starbucks blog and post them with “@Problogger – Coffee News:” at the beginning of the tweet.

This is perfect for those situations where someone is working on an urgent project and would love to receive helpful information from you, even while you’re sleeping!

If used thoughtfully (in a non-stalking way ), these techniques can help you be useful on Twitter without going mentally insane.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How To Be Useful On Twitter Without Going Crazy

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