Posted by
Betsy Kent on Mon, Aug 31, 2009 @ 10:14 AM
OK, you created an account on Twitter, you (hopefully) completed your profile, added a short but interesting bio, entered your website URL, and are now ready to start Tweeting. But you are still confused about how to use it.
If that describes you, then you’re not alone. The most common question I get from friends and clients when I talk about Twitter, is “How do I manage this constant stream of information?”
Well, we are so lucky that there are many, many tools that have been developed to help us use Twitter better, faster and more efficiently. Every day I discover more and I try to test most of them, but here’s a list of my three favorites. (and they are all FREE).
Mashable TweetDeck (http://mashable.com/mashdeck/)
I have found that by using this tool, Twitter is a lot easier and more fun. It allows you to sort the people you follow by any kind of criteria. For example, I set-up a column for “personal friends,” my “A-List” of social media experts to learn from, and people who I follow who find NYC as interesting as I do. It’s a no-brainer to set-up and for you IPhone users, there’s even an “App for that!”
Twollo (http://www.twollo.com/)
This Twitter tool enables you to automatically follow people who are talking about things that you are interested in. For example, I have set it to follow people who are talking about Social Media (duh), Blogging (duh, again) and other topics that affect my business (remember, I use Twitter to learn & share what I learn). And, since I am interested in NYC architecture, and NYC life in general, I automatically follow people who are talking about those topics, too.
SocialOomph (http://www.socialoomph.com/)
SocialOomph (formerly called “TweetLater”) has a bunch of terrific tools that really help me to control my Twitter. Since one of the biggest concerns that “newbies” to Twitter have is how in the world can they keep on top of it all. TweetLater helps me a lot here.
- I can use it to post tweets at different times during the day, because sometimes I am tweeting late at night or really early in the a.m. when most of my followers aren’t online.
- I can vet all my new followers so that I make sure my followers list doesn’t consist of spam or porn (which is a real bummer).
- Some people use TweetLater to automatically message their new followers, although there are a lot of people who will un-follow you if they suspect you are using this feature. Use at your discretion.
There you are: my three favorite Twitter tools. Hope this list helps you navigate the world of Twitter. More to come, I test new ones all the time.
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