5 Twitter Tricks I Can’t Live Without
I recently was asked by a self-proclaimed “Twitter Newbie” to share some tips on how to get around in Twitter. So what better thing to do while waiting for Trick-or-Treaters but to blog about it?
Cool Trick Number 1: Tweetdeck
I don’t have that many people I’m following compared to some, but I am interested in the communities I do follow and what they are saying. There are also a few people I never want to miss what they have to say. Tweetdeck is the way I always catch what my Tweeps are saying. I set up several groups based on communities (ex. ADHD, environment, close friends) and watch for my replies there too. You can even search keywords without having to go over and constantly check http://search.twitter.com.
Treat: It even catches some of the @replies that Twitter doesn’t see. Especially when your name is mentioned in a list of several @’s.
Cool Trick Number 2: Tweader
The more followers you get and the more conversations you have, the harder it can be to figure out who is replying to which of your comments. That’s where Tweader repeatedly comes in handy. Just type in the url number of your tweet and it will show you the whole thread of conversation connected to that Tweet.
Treat: It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get the url number, so I’ll make it easy for you. Click on the time stamp of the tweet, ex. “Less than 5 seconds ago.” When you do, it will open up a cool picture of a Tweet. (Here’s one of my tweets of this blog.) Pretty cool, huh. (You’d be surprised at how long it took me to figure out how they did that!) Then look at the web address line and you’ll see the url number at the end. In this example the url number is 984806286.
Cool Trick Number 3: Budurl and Tweetburner
Ever wonder if anyone is really listening to you? Shorten your links with either of these tools and you can track how many people opened them. Cool, huh! Budurl is great because it will show you how many people are opening them in real time (10 second delay). Tweetburner is cool because you can see what the hottest links of the moment are on it as well.
Treat: Using these tools, you’ll get better at writing headlines that pull traffic to your links because you can see how well you’re doing.
Cool Trick Number 4: TweetBeep
This takes the information you can find in TweetGrid and Search.Twitter and wraps it all up in a nice little email that you can get hourly or daily. Very handy for keeping up with topics, products and companies you are following.
Treat: You don’t have to rely on remembering to do your daily search. These programs do the thinking for you!
Cool Trick Number 5: TweatLater
I’ve never used this product so I can’t attest to its functionality. But it’s purported to tweet messages you schedule in advance. Helpful if you are wanting to broadcast a planned message series or announcement.
A few extra treats… (What’s Halloween anyway without a lot of candy!)
SnagIt: Be sure to make your own profile on your twitter home page. Don’t have a fancy graphics program? No worries. You can assemble your content on Word, then use SnagIt to make the jpg. SnagIt is an amazingly inexpensive tool, considering how powerful it is. You won’t know how you lived without it.
Qwitter: Want to find out when people stop following you? Qwitter emails you when people drop you. Not for the person with easily hurt feelings, however!
Pingfm : Use it to broadcast your Tweets across all your social media with one click.
11/2/08 Note: another new discovery could end up in my top 5 list: FriendorFollow. Type in your name and find out who is not following you back.
11/16/08: Yet another new discovery: http://spy.appspot.com/ — real time tracking of conversations on Twitter and beyond.
2/16/09: My new favorite tinyurl program is http://www.snipurl.com — has all of the advantages of budurl without the price.
You’ve got my list of Twitter tool favorites. Did I miss any of yours? Let me know if I did in the comments. After all, even I deserve a treat on Halloween!