Useful Twitter Applications
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Twitter For Dummies
Update: Twitter Two Years After This Article
UPDATE!!
It's amazing to come back and read this article two years later and see how my use of Twitter has grown and changed, and how my love of the service has grown over time as well, leading to the book. :)
In the years since I wrote this hub, I co-authored the book on Twitter. It comes out this week. We're very excited to see it on regular store shelves, as well as online and for the Amazon Kindle. Check it out here.
Tweet This!
Twitter is everywhere. It's impossible to escape the ubiquitous 140 character microblog. Sure, some people have tried to move to Jaiku or Pownce, begging me to do the same, but until those two applications get as much functionality off their own site as Twitter has, I'm sticking with my Tweets. In order to enjoy Twitter and other microblog applications, they have to be truly portable. In spite of all its shortcomings, Twitter has definitely nailed portability.
I've been a plain vanilla Tweeter for a long time. I have Twitter on instant message relay, and that's been about the extent of my innovation with the product. Recently I decided to explore the possibilities of many of the third party Twitter applications out there and see if any offered me features I was missing (like user avatars showing on instant message Tweets, for example - it's impossible to keep all those Tweets straight sometimes).
It turns out there are quit a few third party Twitter applications available to download for both PC and Mac, but I was looking for a true web application set, not something else to download. If you are looking for the downloadable Twitter applications for PC and Mac, I'll link to them at the bottom of this post for you. Meanwhile, there are plenty of online Twitter applications to choose from to add functionality to your Twitter experience.
One of the areas in which Twitter is lacking is search functionality. The Twitter search feature for friends and colleagues leaves a lot to be desired. Luckily, several application have stepped up to the task. Two oldies but goodies are TwitterSearch and Twitterverse. TwitterSearch is a great way to find people by name if you don't know their Twitter handle or have them in your email address book. Twitterverse is an addicting application combining Twitter search and maps showing Tweets from Twitter users around the world. TwitterSearch is the better application for search, but Twitterverse is an excellent way to kill an hour watching the mundane details of people's lives flash across the screen.
Some other up and coming Twitter search applications include TwitterTroll, an app that lets you search within the actual Tweets to find people who share common interests. TweetScan is another application that searches Twitter, this one by topic of interest. If you are voting for Ron Paul, for example, and you want to see what other Twitter users have to say about him, TweetScan will sift through the thousands of Tweets looking for comments about Ron Paul (or any other topic of your choosing). TweetScan seems to work best with shorter search queries.
Twitter can function as quite a time sink, and people are even coming up with applications to track how much time you spend using Twitter, like TwitterStats. TwitterStats takes your Twitter usage and graphs it for you in a colorful chart you can display on a web page or blog. If you want to show the world how you waste company resources 140 characters at a time, TwitterStats is the application for you. My direct message TwtterStats for one day are shown above.
Some people have tried to make Twitter functional as a more useful application, like Twit.io. The developers of Twit.io are calling it the first social micro database. They are touting it as a solution to list jobs, events and video. They are also saying it can sort by location, which is helpful. So far they haven't added too much to the database they are building, since they are new, and they already have jokesters skewing the effectiveness by posting joke jobs (like President of the United States - funny, but not helpful). They'll need some monitoring, checks and balances to be truly useful.
If you want a more cosmic Twitter experience you can try an application like InnerTwitter. Applications like this one use Twitter as a kind of alarm system to promote a certain gimmick or task. In the case of InnerTwitter, the gimmick that you are supposed to stop at the sound of the chime to take stock of your life and surroundings. Not being much of a meditator, I think its silly, but I can see the appeal for some people.
Some applications give you a way to message to and from Twitter via email. I already get quite enough email, so I'm not interested in this kind of feature, but if you are, MessageDance is both the newest and the most promising looking. It also integrates your Twitter mail into your MySpace, FaceBook and other social networking accounts. If you don't need that much functionality, the more basic TwitterMail may be for you. It offers basic email interface and a post to the future feature.
There are hundreds of Twitter applications out there. Some of them are silly (one even makes your Tweets "tweet like a pirate"), some are useful and some just repeat the applications that Twitter already includes, for whatever purpose. Most of them are free, although some are not (like the popular Twitterific). One that is quite popular right now is Twhirl, a desktop download that is based on Adobe Air. I haven't tried it - I have too many desktop widgets and applications on my MacBook as it is, I don't need another one.
I've only begun to scratch the surface of available Twitter applications with this article. You can see a nearly complete list of Twitter applications in the Twitter Fan Wiki. With so many applications and add ons being developed that bring Twitter to you, you can see where applications like Pownce that haven't yet left their own web site to be accessible anywhere lose their appeal for someone like me, always on the go. Meanwhile, check out the Twitter Fan Wiki for a list of downloadable desktop Twitter applications as well as many more web based third party applications. Did I forget a favorite that isn't on the Wiki yet? Put it in the comments so we all can enjoy it!
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Jibber Jabber
My fave Twitter apps listed below:
http://www.TweetBurner.com - lets you track sumitted URL's.
http://www.Twirl.com - IM like tool for Twitter.
http://www.Quotably.com - tracks conversation with replies.
http://www.TweetLater.com - set up future tweets. (like the timestamp feature on wordpress, very cool)
There are of course, loads more. These are the ones i like and use.
Missy.
p.s. follow me here: http://twitter.com/m38967
Another is Twist (twist.flaptor.com), which lets you see trends in twitter.
Create sticky notes on postica via twitter
Thanks for the advise. I've know that I should learn about Twitter for some time now. With this information, I'll jump right in and join.
Thanks
Great overiew of Twitter applications, I use Twitbin with FireFox and TweetLater as Missy mentioned above.
Tweetpaste - www.tweetpaste.net. Simple service that lets you embed tweets into your blog or website. Even got a Wordpress plug-in.
TwitHire: Tweet Job Board
TwitHire is a free job board service for Twitter. TwitHire allows employers to promote job opportunities to the Twitter community by simply tweeting.
how 'bout "twitterfeed.com"? it feeds your blogposts to twitter! Thanks, great article! Word of warning to newbies ~ twittering can be addictive ;-)
And don't forget http://www.twiffid.com (shows you the latest updates from the websites of your twitter friends)
very good article
There is a new Firefox extension called Tw-autocomplete. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/896
I wrote it myself, but I think it will be useful to others. It adds autocomplete for usernames in @-messages and d-messages on Twitter.com. Give it a shot, it's very simple to use :D
If you use iGoogle for your homepage, I can't live without TwitterGadget (http://twittergadget.com). Tweets stay fresh (set your own refresh rate), small, consice, nicely designed twitter interface.
Usefull for new users, find other interesting twitter users that share the same interest? Isn't that cool?
Just found out about http://futuretweets.com. Let's you send twitter updates in the future :)
I recently joined Twitter and it is great to find all of these Twitter applications. I am happy to welcome any followers http://twitter.com/jimbo10
Here is a monster list of more than 200 twitter applications : http://i-stuff.blogspot.com/search/label/Twitter
Check out the Twitter app with a difference http://www.tweet-sql.com it's for Microsoft SQL Server 2005+
Great post, lots of twitter apps (probably a few dozen) appearing every day.
1. Database listing twitter apps at http://www.twitdom.com.
Twitter payments at http://twippr.webs.com. Send a direct tweet to tip, pay or donate micropayments (small payments, usually less than $10) to other twitter users, to URLs, email addresses or mobile phone numbers. Acumulates your earnings, transfer payments to and from your paypal account. Private, individuals transactions are not published to the public timeline.
http://twitterfall.com lets you visually see the tweets about popular trends in near-realtime in a 'waterfall' style effect. It's great for watching tweets about popular events, or just seeing what people are chatting about :-)
Just launched a few hours ago our twitter-integrated-very-simple-task-management-app http://www.twtask.com
Hey theres also http://twitterfox.net/ which is an extension of firefox very simple and easy to use
Great article Leslie. It really is amazing how cool and flexible Twitter is, and their API is super simple. Here's a web application that mashes together Twitter, TwitPic, and Google Maps:
It enable surfers to send and receive surf reports with their cell phone.
Twitter Answers should be on this list too, powered by mobile questions and answers site, Mosio.
Don't forget http://ChirpCity.com a Twitter by city app with local information.
I run a website called Twitdom which aims to be THE Twitter Applications Database!
We have over 450 applications listed.
I'll prop my own app here. :-)
Twitter Showcase lets you update your background image and all the colors with only one click.
twittershowcase.com
Hi,
I recently wrote a post on more applications (ideas) which can be built on Twitter model.
Here is it - http://www.blog.ideasrule.com/2009/02/is-twitter-t
Checkout http://www.TweeterTags.com where you can tag yourself with your interests and find other who share them.
Check out http://twerbose.com for posting large tweets on twitter.
A few fairly recent additions to mention:
http://tweepdiff.com - My own app to compare friends/followers of two users
http://doesfollow.com - Check to see if one person follows another
http://featuredusers.com - Twitter apps can advertise twitter users
Brian (@bdeter)
nice hub...thanx for sharing it....it helped me to improove more knowleddge abot the twitter...have a look for this one...i am sure you will love it....
http://hubpages.com/hub/Wearable-Mobile-Phone
thanx
Check out http://twitterjobcast.com to browse by city and see who is hiring on twitter.
Hi!Check out weatherizer:
http://whynoti.org/weatherizer
"Regularly updates a user's current twitter background with weather icons and forecast. Can also replace background with weatherized theme. Users may create icons and themes to share."Have fun discovering new backgrounds as the weather changes; don't stay inside too long (-:
www.twinders.com is a useful twitter tool for creating reminders and memos to be sent to your twitter account at the time and day you schedule. And it's free!
Twitter app for healthcare
The app is simple. All you need is to QuTweet (query tweets pronounced cute-tweets) us at TrialX (@trialx), put in the keyword “CT” (for Clinical Trial) followed by your health profile. In about a minute it’ll send you a reply tweet with a tinyurl link to the TrialX page containing matching trials as per your QuTweet.
Hello friend in web2.0 services the twitter is very very nice microbloging & i am also using it from long time i can share my thought to other throw it...thanks twitter.
Twielsen is a real time TV show rating system based ont tweets. Want to find a good show to watch on TV right now? go to: http://twielsen.com
I just launched a simple twitter application about tweeters speculating on future events. http://tweetthefuture.com
Enjoy!
My favorite twitter iPhone app has to be Simple Tweet with RhinoApps.com. Simple application without the extras that I don't need. View a demo video here. http://vimeo.com/3923433
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What do you think about www.twittlink.com? It's memetracker for Twitter that uses semantic analysis to group links on the same subject. The tags and search module help you find topics of interest to you.
http://twitr.org/ - Twitter User Directory
@twitoaster threads all your twitter conversations. It's a browser app/client. Hope you'll like it :) http://twitoaster.com
http://www.Tweepular.com is a great follower management tool that should be on this list. Definitely one of my fav apps to use right now
I also have an app that was featured on Tech Crunch that people are raving about. It is a more intuitive way to manage your followers. http://www.tweepler.com
Tweetie is one I like now also. As well as Twibs, directory of businesses on Twitter.
My favourite app has to tweetlater at the moment.
check out my site if you want to get more followers (click the name :D)
flick.to.twitt
Let's you upload a photo to Flickr and announce it on Twitter
Nutritter is just launching in alpha. Direct Message or tweet your meals separated by commas. For tweets use #nutritter.
You get a sumarry of your nutrition sent back by DM, e-mail, SMS, whatever. It's simple.
I like Tweetdeck because it allows you to put your follows and followers in useful categories that are easy to setup, monitor and maintain. http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta
TwitWishList connects your twitter account with your amazon wish list. You announce the event you want to celebrate and when and TwitWishList announces/tweets your special occassion and provides a link to your wish list so your followers can buy you a gift and celebrate with you.
What do you think about voice tweets including a reply service?www.twitwoop.com
US, UK and German number available to tweet from wherever you are
We have one for selecting attractive Twitter avatars. It's not a management system or anything; it's just for fun. http://www.hottweeters.com
Register your phone, call a number and leave a voice tweet that shows up in your timeline. Followers can reply by using a reply code that is displayed in the voice tweet. Maximum recording time: 140 seconds. Access numbers available in the USA, UK and Germany. More countries are coming soon...
I want to check to whom and how many followers i have sent direct messages so far. Is there any tool to do so?
I've just found this great twitter app. Just some fun but i can see it being of some interest to data mining in the future when its loaded with information
great list thanks so much....
Hi would suggest you try http://www.autotweeting.com to totally automate your twitter accounts. you can follow, unfollow and post tweets on auto pilot all from one place.
Perhaps its worth a mention
mark
I like tweetdeck for just organising tweets into easy to follow columns. Just wish it allowed more than 10. If there is one then tweet me @MarkAmar
http://TweetMyGaming.com is a real-time feed of videogame tweets.
Twitter website that uses twitter trends to show the latest news stories from across the web. A twitter/news mashup.
I like to mention this twitter app http://twitRobot.comLots of features.. Bulk follow, Bulk follow filters, Auto posting, RSS posting, future tweets etc..
A new Twitter Apps portal will be launching soon!
Nice post...I just launched a new tool for automatic tweet translations... check it out, i'd appreciate your feedback.http://www.tweettranslate.com/
http://www.twitterloo.com - Share your most intimate moment with your Twitter followers :)
Great post! You should add Ref.ly (http://ref.ly) to your list. It's an amazing new tool for turning Bible verses into short URLs.
Wow!That is one heck of a list. It's amazing to know that there are so many creative people out there working to extend Twitter's capabilities. It's just simply AWESOME!
It's amazing to come back and read this article two years later and see how my use of Twitter has grown and changed, and how my love of the service has grown over time as well, leading to the book. :)
Great list!
Check out http://tidytweet.com for a way to embed a customized Twitter search feed on your website or blog. TidyTweet provides spam filtering, user whitelisting and blacklisting, moderation, and other options to guarantee that only the content you want makes it through to your site.
jansegers says:
2 years ago
http://twemes.com - twitter memes : global tags for twitter
http://twitter.summize.com/ - real time twitter search
some other microblogs:
http://hubpages.com/hub/microblogs