Twitter Tools

This list of sites, applications, tools, and resources can change your Twitter experience.

Most of these resources are useful, but some can actually harm your brand if you use them, or if you do not use them correctly.  We will talk about some of the best and the worst to help get you going.

This is by no means a complete list.  Many resources left off this list are not appropriate for an e-commerce business, do not work well, or are otherwise not noteworthy.  For instance, many games and diversionary sites would not enhance your business profile, and you will not find them on this list.

Twitter Terms

It is useful to understand the terminology used on Twitter.

Twitter:  A communications platform found at http://twitter.com.  Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets.

Tweet:  A message sent through Twitter.  This can be a public message send to everyone who reads your Twitter profile or Follows you, a @reply or @mention which calls one or more people out, or a Direct Message (DM) which can only be read by a specific recipient.

@name:  When talking about a Twitter profile off Twitter, placing the @ sign in front of their name indicates that the name is a Twitter account.  For example, @aplusk is the Twitter profile for Ashton Kutcher (A plus K).

@reply:  The @ sign indicates that you are replying to a specific username.  For example, if Sample Sites (@samplev9site) sends a tweet asking about people’s latest design projects, you can reply:
@samplev9site My project is going great!  See some pictures here: http://www.example.com
When you use @reply it is visible to everyone - for private communications use a direct message or use an Instant Messenger.

Tweeps/Tweeples:  A group of friends on Twitter.  People often use the term to refer to all of your followers at once.  For example, “Good Morning, Tweeps!”

You will encounter many other new terms as you learn how to use Twitter.  Look these terms up in Twittonary, an online Twitter dictionary.

Type in a Twitter term, and click Search.

Twitter Tools

Stastistics and Grading Tools - Rate profiles and popularity
Rate Twitter profiles, gauge their reach and audience. Figure out your own Twitter reach, and learn about other's.

Friend Finders and People Watchers – Follow new people, find new followers

Follower Managers – Learn about and manage your followers

Sharing Tools – share pictures, documents, and other media

Utilities – Shipping trackers and other utilities

Tweet Schedulers - Schedule messages to tweet at future times

Twitter Directories - Places to list and be listed