So in my “other” life as a consultant … I have the fun job of talking to people on the uses of New Media and how to use this format to expand their sphere of influence — be it for personal or professional reasons.
The following is a quick review of 3 twitter applications that can be integrating into your twitter experience. I like to catagorize these applications as twitter on crack! … you’ll see why!
1. Tweetlater.com – I really like this application. It’s a great tool to use to manage your contacts. On my “fun” twitter account … I have a lot of different types of people following me there. Wine lovers, business contacts, friends and family. Tweetlater allows you to set up key word or key phrase searches for you to connect with other twitter-ers that have the same interests as you. You can set up automated direct messages to be sent out per your criteria and your own words to new followers. You can automatically follow those that choose to follow you … the list goes on. I highly suggest this application to those that have a large following of more then 500. It’s a great time saver and allows you to continue connecting.
The function I use the most on this is the “un-follow” feature. Tweetlater will go through your followers and automatically un-follow those that do not follow you back. Be warned with this one …. that at times when people follow you and you wait a day or two to follow them back. You may realize they have already un-followed you. For the most part this program may be the cause of the un-follow…. simply follow that person regardless and let the program take care of the situation should it be an actual “follow / un-follow” twitterer.
One last thing on this… (I’ve given you a quick overview .. there are other options in this program) you can set up automated “tweets” to go out at your selected time. That means while you are at the grocery store, in a meeting with that client … this site will send out pre-made posts you created earlier and post them at your designated time on your behalf. How cool is that? One downside to this program …. there are no instant / refreshing notifications on this. No “bird’s eye” view of your posts or those of your friends live. It is a clean look … but I prefer a different format to work within … that’s just a personal preference – not a technical one!
2. TweetDeck.com - This is my favorite program so far. Many people who have started on this find it intimidating …. it does take some getting used to. Being the visual person I am, this program allows me to see at once all my key word or key phrase searches at one time. The format is user friendly by dividing up each twitter action into columns. Your “live” friend follow column, your replies, your direct messages, “buzz words” going on within twitter and your selected search columns.
You can post “tweets” directly to twitter from this application. Included with posting directly from this app, is the ability to shorten a long URL that you want to broadcast. Not only can you shorten them directly on this application, but you can select which service you want to use to shorten the URL with. It’s so nice to have options isn’t it? My negative on this application is that the summary updates pop-up on your screen even while you are in another program. (somewhat the way an IM program shows you information) Tweetdeck shows up in the top right hand side and is timed as to how long it stays there. I don’t like that feature as inevitably it pops up when I need to click off a site or program and must wait for it to complete it’s cycle. Not the worst thing … but a little annoying at times.
Lastly,
3. Twhirl.com - I have actually never used this program but have had people recommend it. So today, I downloaded it and played around in it. I like this application, but I prefer Tweetdeck over it.
Twhirl.com has a smaller size and can be less obstructive then tweetdeck. Has the same functions as shortening a URL, keyword or keyphrase searches and let’s you directly post to twitter from within this application. What makes Twhirl, twhirlling … (my joke of the day)… is that it allows you to not only post to twitter … but post to myspace, facebook and linkedIn all with the same post you just made to twitter. For time management … LOVE THIS. However, if you have a different set of target audiences on each of those Social Media sites … what you post to twitter may not be appropriate or useful to those you follow / connect with on those sites.
Finally …. I’m not a huge fan of this program simply for the reason that I cannot see all my searchs and activites in one glance as I can with tweetdeck. But it’s still a great program and one that if you find tweetdeck intimidating …. this one may be the program for you.
Hope that helps folks – now …. I’ve got to get back to “tweeting”! You can also check out my consulting site for twitter tips / lead generation.
Cheers to twitter on crack!
Jennifer
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