MEGO: My Eyes Glaze Over

The Best Twitter Tools

Jan 9, 2009 Digital Marketing & Metrics, Microblogging, Social Media, Web Tools & Applications, social networks

I have written a few times about Twitter, just take a look in my Microblogging Category or search “Twitter” in the search function on my blog.  I am a fan. Want to know what Twitter is? The Do’s and Don’ts of Corporate Tweeting? Just to point you to two of my previous posts on the subject.

I have been on Twitter for nearly a year and a half now. Since that time there have been many introductions of new tools to use to follow, search, and Tweet. Here are my current favourites:

For almost everything on Twitter

Tweetdeck: This is a desktop application that allows you to follow, tweet, search, group your friends, keep a list of “favourite” tweets, and even see what the hot topics are on Twitter.

Let me run you left to right to show you what this program can do!

Note: this is how I have my columns currently set up, you can have them in any order you like, by using the arrows at the bottom of the column, or by simply opening them up in the order you prefer.

1st Column: This is the running feed for the people I follow.  In real time it changes as your Tweeps send out their Tweets! If you minimize the Tweetdeck an alert, and a small box will pop up letting you know of Tweets and Replies.

2nd Column: I have a search running currently in this column. If you are Tweeting for work,  searching for information on a particular topic, or interested in following a particular #hashtag you can use the search function on Tweetdeck. It will pull, again in real time, the tweets containing your search term.

3rd Column: These are my @replies. If someone on Twitter wants to contact you directly they can do so in two ways – by Direct Message (private) or by an @reply (can be seen by everyone). These @replies can be sorted to the reply column.

4th Column: This is Twitscoop a tag cloud including the trending terms on Twitter “right now”. Must be a game on since two of the biggest words are Panthers and Giants!

The other things I love about Tweetdeck:

In this upper dashboard you can type your Tweet, add columns (All, Replies, Favorites, Search, Group, DMs and Twitscoop), and shorten URLs which is a necessity in Twitter since you only have 140 charactors. Once shortened it automatically adds the URL to your Tweet.  The Group function is nice if you follow a lot of people and want to occassionally focus on some key people at a given time.

If you run your mouse over the image of the people you follow this box will appear with four icons. These icons let you reply (automatically puts @twittername in your tweet box), direct message (automatically puts D twittername in tweet box), retweet (which means you are tweeting someone elses message to your followers) or “favorite” the tweet. Just a neat little time saver, for the busy tweeter.

For Searching and Alerts

Tweetscan/Twitter Search: If you don’t have acces to TweetDeck, or if you aren’t interested in searching in “real time” you can use one of these two browser based sites. You can of course watch and refresh, or you can subscribe via RSS to the search. This makes it possible to never miss a tweet on your favorite topic!

For Following Conversations

Tweetree: Have you ever found it difficult to follow a conversation between people you follow? Tweetree makes it easy to see the replies and back and forth of a conversation without visiting multiple profiles. It also shows linked URLs right on the page, without you having to link elsewhere. Here is a quick screen shot of Tweetree:

At the top you can see an indented tweet – that is a reply. At the bottom you will see a inserted URL. (Seriously, why can’t I do a Twitter screen shot without Scoble in the picture!)

For Mobile:

Twitterberry: For the Twitterer on the go, there is Twitterberry. Never leave your obsession for long…get your friends timeline, @replies, and of course tweet from ANYWHERE.

Finding Tweeps

Yes, I dislike the word “tweeps” too, but look I have used it twice already. Woot! (other disliked word I hear too often on Twitter!)

TwitterLocal:
Check out Twitter Local to find people in your area. I used this and have connected with some very nice individuals, who also write some great blogs on digital marketing (Direct Approach; Digital Socialite) politics (Jeejeebhoy) and shopping (Bargainista).

Other Good Stuff

Tweetburner:
When I tweet a URL I use Tweetburner (on Tweetdeck “Twurl” is in the drop down menu by the shorten URL field), this allows me to “track” the clicks on the URL. Tweetburner also tracks it over time and will give you your “Top Twurls” and a weekly and bi-weekly archive of your twurls, and the clicks on the Twurls!

PeopleBrowsr:
This is a new site I have played around with. Similar to Tweetdeck you can have multiple columns, create searches and groups etc. It is however browser based and so if you are working from a work computer where you are unable to download applications it might be ideal (although, then again it could be blocked by a firewall!) The other great thing about PeopleBrowsr is that it allows you to watch a news feed for FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube and more. If only Facebook wasn’t such a “closed garden” – then perhaps I could have my Facebook feed there as well….oh well wishful thinking.

Do you have a favourite Twitter Tool?

Follow me on Twitter!

And, connect to MEGOAgain through Google Friend Connect (right hand side of page!)

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Tags: peoplebrowsr, tools, tweetdeck, tweetree, tweetscan, twitter, twitter search, twitterlocal