38 Tools for the 'ol Twitter

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, and if you’re reading this then chances are you haven’t, Twitter is a word you’ve heard of.  Now, does that mean you understand it, I’m not sure?  Last night, sitting on my porch enjoying the comfort of the San Diego gloaming and having a conversation with a few friends, who I had thought were tech-savvy individuals, the subject or Twitter came up.  They knew of it, had heard that people used it, heck they had accounts, but they never used them.  In fact, according to Nielsen, who performed a survey back in April 60% of user quit using Twitter after one month.  My buddies fell into that demographic.  The thing is, people are unaware of the vast resources available for Twitter that make it such a valuable commodity.  But, luckily for you I’ve compiled a list of 38 Twitter Tools to optimize your micro blogging account.

But wait, before we can jump into the list (dun, dun, dun) I’ll throw why incorporating the ′ol Twitter is important.  There are two possible applications of the site, that’s right, two.  First, if you’re a company, it’s a great way to connect with your customers, making your brand transparent.  In the modern times of Web 2.0 that’s an important quality in many (potential) customers’s eyes.  Second, it’s a fun way for an individual to stay connected with friends, maybe family (totally up to the user) and his or hers community.  Whatever category you fall into, the rise of this networking site arises a consideration to integrate in your life.

Business Tools There are a slew of sites that offer analytical, tracking and management applications for Twitter.  Becoming familiar with these programs is a sure fire way to optimize your brand.

Twitzu This site allows you to streamline your marketing promotions.  Simply fill out the quick form and it does the twittering for you.  It’s great if you’re running multiple promotions in different locations or at different times.

Twibs

A site that works as a directory for businesses on Twitter.  Simply add your business from the Twibs home page, physical address if you have one, and Twitterers will be able to search and find you through their account.

Tweet Beep

Want to know when you or your brand is mentioned?  Sign up with Tweet Beep; they’ll send you messages whenever you’re talked about on the micro-blogosphere.  This is a fantastic tool for brand management.

Twitterfeed If you’re running a website you better be blogging.  This tool automatically posts your rss feeds on Twitter.  The combination of macro and micro blogging in one place is enough to make any marketer squeal (in good way).

Twitter Groups

After your account gains a decent following, you’ll want to easily manage who you send messages to.  Maybe you have customers spread across the globe, with this tool you can assign different followers to different groups and send each individual group a message.  It’s a great way to stay organized. Magpie

This is an advertising tool that allows you to post your advertisements through Magpie’s network.  Not only do you reach thousands of people.  The best part, sign-up is totally free.  Don’t want to advertise, if you sign-up with your user name to accept their Tweets, you’ll earn money each month.  The larger your following the higher the profits. Twittercal Do you use Google Calendars?  If so, this is a wonderful app that allows you to automatically sync your calendar with your Twitter account and vice versa.

Remember the Milk This site, which is available for multiple platforms beyond Twitter, is a state of the art task organizer.  Well Daniel, what does that mean?  Use this application to set reminders for yourself.  You won’t forget those important things to do, like laundry, ever again.

TweetStats

Analytics are an important part of the web. This tool allows you to follow your tweets and replies over time.  Ensure proper brand management, and figure what out phrases or techniques are working best for your company.

Twitter Grader This wonderful app grades your account between 1 and 100 (100 being the highest).  It also gives you tips, tricks and a summary of your tweeting history to better optimize your performance on Twitter.

twInfluence The name says it all, it measures your accounts influence on Twitter.  Discover how strong your brand is and devise ways to increase its strength with this application.

Tweet Scan This is one of my favorite tools, plug in a keyword and find out what users are twittering about and in what context.  You can easily discover upcoming trends to work into your brand.

Splitweet

If you have a large company or several employees who use Twitter, this is an application you need.  Create and manage multiple accounts.  Now you can market different demographics simultaneously without damaging your image. Tweeple Twak

Want to find out who quit following you and why?  This is the app for you.  Use it to manage your brand image and customer problems by discovering which followers dropped you. Fun on Twitter The applications mentioned above work best for companies.  Yes, you can use them if you’re more of a social bug, but overall they’re about branding and keep it in a positive light.  Below, I’ve collected tools and applications that are great for either personal use or business use, though they are skewed more toward the fun side of the scale.

Mr. Tweet

This application helps you find like minded Twitters without having to do all the leg work.  Simply register with the site and they’ll scour through the muck to find people from around the world that you’d get along with.

GroupTweet This is a simple tool that allows you to send a shout out to all your followers without having to select them individually.

Twitpay Sync your Twitter and PayPal account to process and receive payments by tweeting.  A perfect app for eBay users or families that are spread out across the country or world.

Twuffer This is an interesting one.  Write and schedule tweets to be released on future dates or time.  Say you’re going on a plane, schedule some tweets before hand and this program will make sure they’re sent out.  You’ll never miss out on the conversation.

Twitpic Easily share pictures over Twitter with this tool.  Of course you can’t fit it in the 140 character limit.  Logging in through the Twitpic site will allow you to quickly share your photos to either followers or the entire Twitter community.

Twitter Karma Helpful to say the least, this tool grabs your followers and allows you to quickly find who you’d like to message.  If you have a ton of people checking out your post, you’ll want to use this application.

Twitterurly This site rakes the mirco-blog, looking for the URLs that are being referenced the most.  It then amalgamates them on one page so you can find what’s most popular on the internet at the moment.  An extremely useful tool for a couple of reasons, you can figure out what’s the latest trend or give yourself some ideas to blog about.

Tweetmeme If you’re a Digger and enjoy its overall layout, you’ll like this site more than Twitturly.  It does the exact same thing, but presents the links like Digg’s home page.

Twiggit Speaking of Digg,here’s an application that syncs your Digg and Twitter accounts.  When you Digg or bury something, it’s broadcast across your Twitter network.

iTwitter Do you use iGoogle as your homepage?  If you answered yes, or I think so, grab this application.  It allows you to manage your tweeting from your iGoogle. Twitter Toolbar Here’s one that’s simple and easy to explain: it’s a toolbar add-on that is synch to your Twitter account. Lazy Tweet If you have a question, post it on Lazytweet.  Your fellow Twitterers will do their best (and sometimes worst) job to answer your question.  Take part in the fun and try to answer a few questions yourself. Twenglish This application is pure goofiness.  Translate your tweets into Twenglish or gibberish, however you want to look at it. Here’s an example: Call me Dan= twall twe twan.  All it does it replace the first letter of every word with a “tw,” but it’s still fun. Tweetstalk Okay, so it’s a little creepy, but hey it’s still a twittering tool. If you use Firefox, install this add-on and you can follow people on Twitter without them knowing it.  This seems like something nosy parents would use. Tweet Later While similar to Twuffer, this application does more than let you schedule tweets; track keywords, create short urls, auto-un-follow people who did the same to you and much more. Twittonary Talk about handy; this application gives you the skinny on all those Twitter words you don’t understand.  Since people have only 140 characters or less to get their message across, an adaption of the language has occurred.  Example: deets, a shortening for details. Twitterholic Do you just need to know who the top Twitterers are?  Well, this is the site you’ve been looking for.  Twitterholic ranks the top users and allows you to easily find and follow or ignore them. Twitter WordPress Plug-In If you use WordPress as your blogging platform, you’ll definitely want to grab this.  It auto-updates your Twitter account whenever you post a new blog, and it allows your followers to make comments from their accounts. Search Twitter There’s not much to say about this one. Twiddict Has your twittering become an addiction?  Hey, I’m not judging.  But if the site goes down (which it does) this tool will allow you to keep on tweeting.  It saves your post and once the site is back up, bam, Twiddict posts them for you.  Talk about convenience. Straw Poll Perhaps my favorite Twitter application of all time, Straw Poll allows you to create and participate in polls. And who doesn’t like doing that?  This is one that a business or an individual can use and create useful or fun content. TweetValue Want to find out how much your Twitter account is theoretically worth?  Well, go over to TweetValue and they’ll give you a dollar amount.  See who’s worth what, from your followers to top users. Twitter from Your Phone Tiny Twitter If you have a phone that runs off Windows OS or Javascript you’ll want to grab this application. Here are two free apps for the iPhone: Twitterfon

Twitterrific Well, that’s one exhaustive list.  If you can think of more, or have comments about the tools and applications I’ve mentioned, leave a comment.  I’ll get back to you.