What's Twitter all about?
Twitter Explained
Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers."
The short format of the tweet is a defining characteristic of the service, allowing informal collaboration and quick information sharing that provides relief from rising email and IM fatigue. Twittering is also a less gated method of communication: you can share information with people that you wouldn't normally exchange email or IM messages with, opening up your circle of contacts to an ever-growing community of like-minded people.
DOWNLOAD TWITTER EBOOK NOW!
Twitter Tips
- 5 Tips to Grow Your Twitter Presence - one of my earlier posts on the topic of finding followers and gaining influence on Twitter.
- How to Use Twitter - Tips for Bloggers - some of these are more on the topic of getting followers than others - but it contains some useful tips for beginners (particularly bloggers).
- What’s in it for Your Followers? How to be Useful on Twitter - central in most advice on building a twitter following is to create something useful for your followers.
- 7 Ways to Be Worth Following on Twitter - Be Interesting, Be Informative, Be Interactive…. (plus 4 more)
- 6 Tips for Using Your Twitter Profile to Get New Followers - some great tips for fining followers that all revolve around your profile page on Twitter.
- How to Grow Your Follower Numbers to Over 10,000 in a Week - not something that everyone could do but this story of how SitePoint quickly grew their follower numbers might be helpful for some.
- Follow Me and Win a Prize - the Merit of Twitter Competitions - looking at the pros and cons of using contests to find followers on Twitter.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Twesents
This is something that has been around for a long time on other social networks like Facebook. Twesents now introduces the concept to Twitter.
The website is beautifully designed using Adobe Flash. Not only does it allow you to send virtual gifts, but it goes a step further by showing the most popular (”trending”) twesents sent so far.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Million’s people choice Twitter Applications
It is no wonder why millions of people enjoy social networking. Social networking allows people to share information easily and in some cases, very quickly.
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows us to send short messages of 140 characters. These updates, known as tweets, are text-based messages that can be sent from a mobile device. Like SMS, twitter has up to 140 characters message in length. These messages are also sent to everyone who subscribed to receive our updates. In turn, we too can receive updates from others.
Twitter was launched in 2006, at that time competition was very high applications like Orkut etc. was already in the market but still twitter made its individual position in the market. In beginning it was estimated that twitter had approximately 3-4 million users and it was on third position as social networking service after Facebook and MySpace. But recently this year in February 2009, the monthly traffic on twitter was around 55 million which was a huge success. Twitter applications are also making its different position in the market. People are pretty much happy with the twitter applications and twitter. Various facilities provide by the twitter applications which other social networking websites do not provide.
It is not difficult to understand why Twitter is so popular. Apart from its simplicity, Twitter also provides users with the option to send or receive tweets via SMS, RSS, or through various twitter applications. Twitter also provides back-end functionality via APIs that can be implemented in other desktop and web-based applications. This lets users make updates without having to visit the actual Twitter site.
With the personal use twitter is also used in business. There are various twitter applications which are used in business. It can be used to widespread latest information of your company. From company’s latest news to blog posts. It can also enable easy internal group communication, feedback and collaboration.
by Jonathan Marino on 17-05-2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Adf.ly
adf.ly is a new link shortening service with a twist. The difference between adf.ly ond any of the countless others is that you get paid for each click on your shortened links!
When a user clicks on the short link, it first shows a full page interstitial ad and the user would need to click on “Skip Ad” before being forwarded to your link.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Twitter is an awesome tool which increases your site reader but one thing which I don’t like about Twitter is that it has a 140 characters limit. So using this loop-hole of Twitter another site called PageTweet , will help you out to bypass 140 character limit. What it actually does is make you enter your message along with your url and nickname and then gives you a short url for that message. You can actually add the shortened url in your Twitter feed along with some another message.
How is this different from other url shortening services?
After reading the above lines, this would be the first question that generates in your mind. The url shortening services may help you to shorten your url but the url which this site will provides will make your viewers to your targeted site, which now has a PageTweet bar along the top that displays the message that you have typed in PageTweet site. It also shows a mini hit-counter for your shortened URL. Below is the example how this happens.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Ever since Furl was taken over by Diigo, I’ve been using StumbleUpon to bookmark my favorite pages. There are lots of great social bookmarking services out there, and the most popular ones are: Mixx, Reddit, Digg, and Delicious. But have your ever tried bookmarking with Twitter?
Twitter is a micro-blogging service but I recently discovered that it is also good for bookmarking.
Here’s how:
- Drag and drop this button: TwitThis to your browser’s shortcuts toolbar.
- Just click the ‘TwitThis’ button if you wish to tweet/bookmark a page.
- Your Twitter account will pop up and just choose how would you like to tweet the page (Reading:, Check out, Watching:, etc.)
- Mark your tweet as favorite and your done.
- If you wish to retrieve tweeted/bookmarked pages, just go to your ‘favorites’ tab.
Twitter might not be as good as most bookmarking services, but it can do a good job for quick bookmarking. especially if you installed apps like TweetDeck. I’m in fact using Twitter more often these days to bookmark my pages, and I really love it because it’s so easy and simple.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Brand Monitoring in Twitter: BackTweets Alerts you to Linking Activity
Most businesses who are trying to stay on top of what’s being said about them (or their competition) are very familiar with Twitter’s standard search engine. Search.twitter.com will provide a reasonably comprehensive set of results for term and hashtag references, but that may not be enough for businesses who need to stay on top of all relevant conversations.
One shortcoming of Twitter’s standard search is that it will fail to catch those tweets that may have linked to your/your competition’s site, yet don’t contain the specific terms or tags that you are probing for.
Imagine that someone has tweeted only the words “my favorite latte” and has provided a link to the coffee house you own. In this instance no key terms were used, and you’d likely never know that the reference ever existed.
(Click the image for a larger view.)
Enter Backtweets. With Backtweets, you simply enter a URL (the service will auto-resolve shortened ones) into the single field presented and hit return. It will deliver a reverse-chronological list of tweets containing the requested link.
In addition, it provides an RSS feed so that you can be notified automatically as new relevant tweets appear. If you would prefer to receive the updates via email, one option is to enter the feed URL into a service such as FeedMyEmail, who will send you a daily email.
The creators of Backtweets tell me that service will provide up to 500 results for any single search result at one time, and searches for links going back about 2 months.
Our sentiment is that Backtweets is an invaluable addition to the toolkit of any professional who needs to stay on top what’s being said on Twitter.
Google Execs: Twitter-like Functionality Could Be Added to Search
While taking questions yesterday about alleged violation of anti-trust laws, Google execs including CEO Eric Schmidt reportedly told press that the company is, in the words of Reuters scribe Alexei Oreskovic, "looking at ... ways of integrating microblogging capabilities, such as those popularized by Twitter, into its search product."That's news to us. Everything these days is about Twitter, though. Go to a party--talk about Twitter. Have a blog? Talk about Twitter. Use Twitter? Talk about Twitter. Apparently we can add to that: facing legal pressure over allegedly anti-competitive business practices? Talk about Twitter. There's absolutely no more information available about this - but below are three possible scenarios we can imagine for Google integrating microblogging into its search product.
The fact that Schmidt said what he did is just one reason to believe Google is going to do something with microblogging. There are several - most important is the fact that status sharing and activity streams are really useful, compelling and potentially valuable for both users and companies that dabble in them. Here's how it might go down.
Friday, April 24, 2009
TwtAD
Once you reach $20, you can withdraw the amount via PayPal.
The system has been up for only a few months, and has gained over 100,000 Twitter users and is growing rapidly.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Twitter May Be Used to Host Random Content
Fact: Twitter uses Amazon’s S3 AWS to store user images.
Fact: Twitter apparently only checks the file extension to determine the file type of uploaded images, not an image library or a method that checks for binary image data.
Fact: This can be used (or abused) to obtain un-metered free hosting of files that are less than 800K in size.
How is it done? A user can rename any file with a ‘jpg’ ‘gif’ or ‘png’ extension and upload it as their background image on a dummy Twitter account.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tweecious Twitter Links to Delicious Bookmarks
Using Tweecious is simple - just install the Firefox plugin as usual. Then, upon reloading Firefox, you'll need to go through a short two-step procedure to finish setting it up. The first step lets you choose whether or not you want the plugin to backtrack and parse your old tweets or if it should just start from now on. After setting your preferences, the service verifies you're logged into both accounts and you're ready to go. From that point forward, anything you tweet is posted to Delicious. The links are tagged, too, thanks to an integrated tagging system that uses the Zemanta API.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Top 10 Reasons Your Company Probably Shouldn't Tweet
Mainstream media has gone ga ga about Twitter, which grew more than 1,200% in the past year, doubled its members in the past few months and attained 14 million members in March, according to Compete.Everyone and his dog seems to be tweeting, from CEOs, celebrities and not-for-profits to venture capitalists, banks, business services, government and, well, dogs (and cats and the random parakeet, too). Should your business be tweeting? Twitter is not for everyone. Here are the "Top 10 Reasons Not to Tweet."
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Twitter tweaks replies, hires ex-Google designer
It didn’t take long for Douglas Bowman, Google’s former visual design leader, to land a new gig. Creative Capital’s Spencer Ante reports that Bowman is taking the helm as creative directorTwitter Legal Battle Heats Up, As Love Gives Fashion Designer A Bad Name
There is no doubt these days that what’s said on the internet is just as valid as anything said aloud in a public forum. Jobs have been lost over Facebook, and Myspace posts. Blogs have made, and broken careers, and it looks like Twitter is the latest to hit the news in social networking scandal.Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Pupils to study Twitter?
Children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculumMonday, March 23, 2009
Evan Williams Talk
How Twitter's spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Twitter's growth by 1382%
A small new survey from Nielsen about the five fastest growing "member community destinations" in the U.S. reveals what we all kind of knew already: Twitter is at the top. From February 2008 to February 2009, it clocked in at a whopping 1,382 percent growth rate. That's to be expected, considering the amount of press the still-without-a-business-model microblogging service has gotten in recent months.Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Twitter As A Business Tool
Twitter 101: What is a Widget
I can say with certainty that Twitter is aiming for the mainstream. They are trying to move past the early adopters and heavy tech users. Why do I say this? Well just a few hours ago Twitter has started to “educate” their users with word definitions for words such as “Widget”.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
How Twitter changes marketing forever, a simple explanation
Traditional media is dying. More often your customers rely on their friends for referrals and not the TV or local newspaper ads. There is nothing that beats a personal referral because we trust our friends more than your ads. That being said, complaints to friends have the same powerful effect, but to your detriment. So it’s vital that you keep your ear to the ground.10 Features That Will Make Twitter Better
Twitter’s popularity has skyrocketed in the recent months. Usage statistics states that most people who use Twitter interact with the application via the web rather than a third-party client such as TweetDeck or twitterfeed.Sunday, March 1, 2009
Will social networks on the web ever make money?
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Twitter's rapid growth raises regulation issues
The site - which has had a yearly 974% jump in UK traffic alone and attracts between 4m and 6m people, including celebrity twitterer Stephen Fry - is open to abuse if it fails to effectively self-moderate.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Green Living: Twitter
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Twitter creator Jack Dorsey illuminates the site's founding document. Part I
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Top 10 Twitter Tips For Beginners
Friday, February 13, 2009
tweetergetter.com
found this site that shows you a
way of getting 1000's of new followers
on twitter.
tweetergetter.com
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Congress's New Love Affair with Twitter
Twitter? It’s What You Make It
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Twitter meetup spawns global charity event
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The World is a Twitter
When Mike Wilson used the social-networking site Twitter to tell the world his plane had crashed, he was demonstrating what many already knew - that for a growing number of people, twittering is becoming a way of life
Celebrities on Twitter
Millionaire celebrities, you might imagine, lead riveting lives, full to the brim with excitement and derring-do.
20+ Great Twitter Tools for Firefox
Twitter Line - Displays incoming tweets from your friends timeline in a toolbar, and allows you to post updates to your own account.
Twitter StatusBar - A discrete tool that collapses into your status bar when not in use. Just click on the “T” symbol to bring it up and send out your latest update.
Twitter Toolbar - A toolbar that allows you to post updates any time you want as you browse. Also includes pre-written messages for common sayings on the service.
TwitBin - Opens up a Twitter client in your sidebar so you can send and read tweets no matter where you are on the Web without changing tabs or windows.
TwitKit - A sidebar Twitter client that breaks down into tabs for @replies, account stats, public timeline, sending tweets, your friends’ latest tweets and a list of all your followers.
TwitterBar - Type your tweets in the address bar and press the icon at the end to send them. Also allows you to easily tweet about the page you are currently looking at by leaving it in the address bar when you type out your message.
TwitterFox - A Twitter client for Firefox that will allow you to see your friend updates, add your own, retweet, delete read tweets from your stream and more.
Utilities
BlogRovR - While mainly a tool to help you see linked blog posts as you surf the Web, you can also send out tweets about what you are reading and share them with your followers.
Clipmarks - Clip parts of a Web page that you specifically want to share, and then share them with all of your Twitter followers amongst other services.
DashBlog - DashBlog lets you easily tweet about items you find on the web such as videos, text, quotes, images and more. Also works with Tumblr, WordPress and Blogger.
Feedly - A magazine style feed reader that allows you to tweet about any post you read and find interesting.
Mahalo Share - Share sites you find interesting across multiple services including Twitter.
Power Twitter - Power Twitter adds several features such as revealing the URL behind TinyURLs, embedding of YouTube videos, showing Flickr streams and a whole lot more.
StockTwits - A Firefox add-on that works with the StockTwits site. It will turn any StockTwits tagged tweets on the site into a link back to the StockTwits site so you can follow the conversation.
Tw-autocomplete - Allows for autocomplete of Twitter usernames for @ and D messages as you are typing them on the Twitter site.
TweetStalk - Adds a “Stalk” button next to the “Follow” button on Twitter so you can follow someone without them knowing it. Can also create an RSS feed of their tweets so you can read them in your favorite reader.
TwitThat - A bookmarklet that lets you tweet about the current Web page you are reading.
TwitterEyes - An extension to be used specifically on the Twitter site that will keep track of your characters entered and assist you in shortening your message when necessary.
Twitter Search - The name says it all for this handy tool that gives you access to the real-time Twitter search.
TwittyTunes - Works with FoxyTunes to submit the songs you listen to that you wish to share with the Twitter community. If you choose not to use it with FoxyTunes, you can also post about sites and videos you are viewing.
Twitzer - Allows you to tweet messages longer than 140 characters by adding a link to the overflow text, you can also de-Twitzer text and have it displayed directly on the Twitter site
Yoono - Yoono allows you to combine various social networks, instant messengers and other tools into your sidebar, and allows you to send tweets no matter where you are on the World Wide Web at the time.