My Favorite Twitter Applications

I know I go over this stuff really fast in class, so I wanted to put these down in one spot where they would be easy to find. So without further adieu...

1. TweetDeck.

TweetDeck puts everything in 1 spot for you. It defaults with a column for a feed from all the people you are following, a column for your @replies, a column for you Direct Messages, and a column for you Facebook Friends' Status. You can also shorten URLs (handy) and it has a TwitPic plugin (see below).



I like it mostly because using Twitter.com to do this can be a total drag. Nothing like a celebrity plastering their mug all over a site to really slow it down. Thanks guys.

It is a download, but I'd highly recommend it. It also minimizes to you toolbar so you can leave it up without giving away (to your boss-types) that you are on Twitter.

www.TweetDeck.com



2. TwitterGrader.

Knowing where you stand is the only way to know where you're going. Twitter Grader is a website that allows you to put in any Twitter username and see where you fall on their scale. As of this post I'm ranked somewhere in the 60k's. Not bad, but not spectacular. That's out of 2 million TwitterGrader users, by the way.


The really cool feature of this site is to view the Twitter Elite (top right-ish tab) which will show the top 50 worldwide users. Here's a free tip- FOLLOW THEM. Simply following the top users in the Twitter Elite section, and some of the top users by location will boost your follower count. Which is a good place to start (more on when to knock that technique off later).

http://twitter.grader.com



3. TwitPic.

So you want to tweet some pictures, eh? Go to TwitPic and you can upload a picture, write a little something about it, and tweet it to the world. Very cool.

www.twitpic.com



4. TwitterCounter.

A kind of baby version of analytics for your follower count. Not a big application except to see where you are and where you are predicted to go, but kind of neat. It tends to be a little slow though, but worth knowing about.


Give them a shot and let me know what you think.

Linking Twitter to Facebook and Blogger...

This is super easy and I get this question a lot in my classes, so here you all go. Now I can just say "read my blog."


So you have a blog, a LinkedIn account, a Facebook page, and you’re tweeting away. You’re spending some time each week to update each one, and you start to think that there has to be an easier way to take care of everything at once.

Twitter’s tiny little 140 character tweets can show up in a lot of places, which is a fantastic way to get noticed.

First, we will show you how to link Twitter to your blog and to Facebook.

Go to your Twitter account and sign in. At the bottom of the screen, you will see a link named “Apps.” Clicking here will lead you to this page:



You can scroll through the list and pick some that sound interesting to you, but for now we are going to stick to the “Widgets” application.


Once that is open, select the Facebook tab and click “continue” in the bottom right corner.

Click on the “Install Twitter in Facebook” button in the middle of the page.


Click “Allow,” and enter your Twitter login and password. Now anything you text to your Twitter account will be displayed as your Facebook status. Two birds with one digital stone.

Go back to the Apps link on Twitter. This time, click on the “Blogger” link, and then click “Continue” at the bottom to navigate here:

You can tweak the settings as much as you’d like, then click the “Add to Blogger” button. It will ask you to sign in to your account, much like Facebook.


Click the “Add Widget” button and you are up and running. This link brings you to a page that will let you finesse your blog’s layout. Spend some time here, as this will likely be the place a prospective client will end up on, and you want them to get a good idea of who you are and what you do.

Click “Save” when you’re all done.

If you need to get back to that page, it is the “Page Elements” tab under the “Layout” tab.

Hope that helps, leave a comment if you have any questions.

Links!

Twitter Apps
Facebook Apps

Twitterpated

I am using Twitter. A LOT. It's really awesome. The thing that is hard to get across to people, however, is that it can be a really useful tool for doing business.


If you spend any decent amount of time on there, you will start to be able to follow other people's conversations. The thing that I like about this, rather then say Facebook or a blog, is that the conversations show up to anyone following you; in some cases, this can be thousands of people.

I follow a lot of nerdy/tech people, and I have learned a ton by following their conversations and clicking on the links they drop. Imagine sitting in on a dinner with 10 of the most successful, smart people you can imagine; that's Twitter. Kind of.

I use TweetDeck, and it's pretty cool. I have heard a lot about seesmic which is a little more "Mac-ish" if that makes any sense. TweetDeck can be a little finicky, but the new version is pretty good. It has a good integration with TwitPic that I like.

TweetDeck allows you to view a good feed of what's going on with the people you are following, and allows you to see your Friend updates on Facebook without signing on (there's always a danger of that guy you don't really like all that much chatting with you. I hate that).

It's easy to use, it's free, and it links to everything. I'm sure you will all see this blog posted in like 3 or 4 places because of good ole Twitter.

Until next time.