Twitter is an excellent, addictive tool for getting connected socially and building your personal brand. It’s also a simple tool, but there’s a lot you can do to improve upon it. Make use of these tips, tools, and other resources to make your Twitter experience better than ever.
Tips
Put these tips to work, and you’ll find that Twitter is easier, more fun, and more rewarding.
- Flag words: You can highlight words with a # to mark them as searchable keywords.
- Track words and phrases: Twitter allows you to track words and phrases much like Google Alerts, so you’ll get a notification any time your search term comes up on Twitter.
- Don’t send useless tweets: Although it’s tempting to say it, none of your followers really want to check Twitter updates just to see that you’ve said, "Good morning, Twitter!"
- Claim your Twitter Technorati page: You can monitor who links to your Twitter in posts by signing up with Technorati.
- Keep an eye out for friends who Twitter: If you see your friends and acquaintances throwing around anything that starts with @, there’s a good chance they’re using Twitter, and you should find out what their username is.
- Allow users to comment on your blog through Twitter: Set your blog up on Yahoo! Pipes so that people can reply through Twitter.
- Choose your avatar wisely: Your Twitter avatar will follow you around, so make sure that the one you choose has an impact.
- Keep up with the Twitter blog: You can find out the latest and greatest news and developments on Twitter by simply reading the blog. It may also be useful to read the archives.
- Don’t overdo it: Your followers don’t want to read inane tweets all the time, so take it easy.
- Practice balanced linking: Make sure that not all of the links you tweet about are yours-promote others as well.
- Promote your Twitter following outside of the service: Add your Twitter address to your email signature, profiles, and business cards to let people know you’re out there.
- Be active: Join conversations, share links, and ideas to be an active Twitter user.
- Follow Twitter grammar rules: Avoid irritating abbreviations, but make use of shorthand symbols.
- Follow the right friends: Consider what kind of information and relationships you want to get out of Twitter before following someone.
- Keep your tweets in balance: Don’t reply too much and add noise to the Twittersphere, but avoid not replying enough, which can make you miss out on interaction.
- Don’t spam: Avoid sending too many messages about your blog posts and events, and focus on information that your followers want to hear about.
- Make use of direct messages: Keep your Twitter noise down by sending messages directly to followers.
- Ask questions: Ask your followers for advice on Twitter, and you’ll get a lot of helpful responses.
Apps
Use these apps to automate Twitter postings, read tweets, and more.
- Google Talk: Configure Google Talk on your Twitter Devices, and you can update your Twitter using the app. It will even archive your tweets to your Gmail account.
- TwitterFeed: Automatically post blog updates to your account using RSS with TwitterFeed.
- Slandr: With Slandr, you can tweet from your mobile browser.
- Digsby: Store multiple social media accounts, including Twitter in this one app for convenience.
- OutTwit: Integrate Twitter with Outlook by using OutTwit.
- PocketTweets: Use this web-based Twitter client to update and read Twitter from your iPhone.
- Jabber: With the Jabber app, you can easily and quickly update your Twitter.
- TwitterIM: Add Twitter to your IM contact list and update from your IM client with TwitterIM.
- Twitter-Sync: Twitter away right in Yahoo! Messenger by making use of Twitter-Sync.
Bots
Make use of these Twitter bots to get the news, or just confess your sins to Twitter.
- Breaking News: This bot delivers breaking news headlines, often sharing news before it makes mainstream headlines.
- Timer: The Timer bot will send you a future reminder through Twitter.
- Plusplusbot: Send Twitter karma using this simple bot.
- GCal: Use the GCal bot to update your Google Calendar on Twitter.
- Wordbot: Wordbot will help you with crosswords and Scrabble.
- Stock: Check stock quotes any time by sending this bot a tweet.
- Forecast: Get the weather forecast any time for your zip code with this bot.
- TwitterSecret: Have your secret posted to Twitter anonymously with this bot.
- iwantsandy: Use this personal email assistant to keep up with all of your details.
- RUWTbot: RUWTbot will give you sports news, scores, TV listings, and more.
- eventtrack: Stay on top of local events and more through eventtrack.
Tools
With these useful tools, you’ll be able to monitor conversations, clean out your followers, and more.
- TWhirl: Install this software on your PC and you can stay up to date with Twitter on your desktop.
- Twitthat: This browser tool allows you to share web page links on Twitter, and will collect the links you share.
- Tweetscan: Find out who is talking about you on Twitter by searching on Tweetscan.
- Twitter Link Monitor: Find Tweets in your feed that contain links by using this tool.
- Twitterdoodle: Share relevant information with your blog readers using this WordPress plugin that creates mashup posts based on Twitter chatter.
- Quotably: Using this tool, you can track conversations in threads so they are easier to read.
- Google Alerts: Often, Twitter conversations are continued on blogs, so set up alerts for your Twitter name to find out what people are talking about.
- FriendFeed: Get set up on FriendFeed, and you’ll get updated on multiple properties like Twitter, Flickr and del.icio.us at once.
- Twitter Twerp Scan: Clean out your Twitter friends by identifying the twerps with this tool.
- tweetburner: Track what people do with the links you’ve shared on Twitter with tweetburner.
- Summize: Summize is a search engine for Twitter that even offers a local search.
- Twitterlocal: Set up a Twitterlocal feed to find tweets based on location.
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