When it comes to social media services, Twitter is now up there in popularity with Facebook,
blogs, Digg and YouTube. A
microblogging service that wants you to provide the answer
to "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less is used to post links to pages and Web content they
like, to randomly update friends' on what's new, and also to
market their own products and services via online
tweets.
When you create your
Twitter
account, the site offers a basic update form box where you can
send out your tweets. Outside of using Twitter's own Web
interface, there are a number of applications, clients, tools
add-ons and helpers you can download to make tweeting a better,
faster process. To help you sort out the best options for tweaking your Tweeter tactics, we take a look at several cool and
useful Twitter tools including URL shrinks, Twitter clients and
Twitter Web widgets to get you started.
Shrink That URL
One of the most important tools used by
Twitterers are
URL shrinkers — online services that will take a
long URL
you want to include in your Tweet and shrink it down.
Technically speaking, these Web services provide short
aliases for redirecting long URLs, however URL shrink
is the more common description to use.
So, why would you
need to redirect a URL? Remember that
tweets
are limited to 140 characters and you really don't want to waste
that space with a long URL. That is why
tweeple
love
URL
shrinkers. You can toss out a URL and still have character space
to describe what is on that Web page. |
Key Terms To
Understanding Twitter
Related Social
Media Articles
|
These types of Web services all work in
the same way, however they may offer some different features. When you
visit the service's Web site you add your long
URL,
click submit and then copy and paste the returned alias to use in your
tweet.
Using a Webopedia article
URL,
we'll show you how how many characters you can shave off a
URL
using different
shrink services.
Webopedia Text
messaging Guide:
http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp
(63 characters)
TinyURL:
created
http://tinyurl.com/5o61 (23
characters)
bit.ly:
created
http://bit.ly/13FyF
(19 characters)
is.gd: created
http://is.gd/bBZS
(17 characters)
The
URL shrink
services are also useful for tasks other than
tweeting. You
can use them to create short links for e-mail to prevent long links from
being broken due to e-mail client line breaks. You can also use the
URL
service to mask affiliate referral links and other tracking code in a
URL. It is important to remember that once you use a short URL and sent
it out via
Twitter,
e-mail or your Blog, you are at the mercy of the short URL
provider — that is, if their service is down your link will not work.
More Than a Basic Tweet Box
The default tweet option on Twitter is a simple text box on your
homepage where you can type in your message and hit update. For those
who want more features and options, you can download a
Twitter
desktop client or use other third-party Web clients. This enables you to
update your
Twitter
account and access handy features not readily available through
Twitter's own Web interface. Here are three clients you may wantto try:
Screenshot: TweetDeck lets you easily do things
such as retweet and create groups.
TweetDeck
lets you view all Tweets in real-time, Tweet directly from the
client, create a more personal dashboard for monitoring retweets.
and direct messages. You can also create groups to make it
easier to follow colleagues, friends and other interest groups. You
can also use TweetDeck to update Facebook, follow Facebook friends,
and many other options. TweetDeck runs on Mac, Windows and Linux
platforms.
Twhirl is a social software client that lets you connect to
multiple Twitter, laconi.ca, Friendfeed and Seesmic accounts and
also cross-post updates to sites like Jaiku, Facebook, MySpace,
LinkedIn and more. With Twhirl you can easily monitor updates, find
tweets that mention your username, automatically shorten URLs and
more. Twhirl can be run on Windows and Mac platforms.
PocketTweets is a client
for those who like to Tweet using an iPhone. This Web-based Twitter
client lets you see the latest Tweets from your contacts, update your
status remotely, or view the public timeline — all via EDGE or Wi-Fi. To
use PocketTweets, you simply need to access their Web site using your
iPhone.
Widgetize Your Tweets
Twitter Web widgets are an excellent tool for those who want to include
their Twitter feed on a blog, MySpace or any Web page you author.
Simply by updating your Tweets your Web widget will display the new
content to your readers and followers elsewhere on the Web. Twitter
widgets are useful in that you can update once (via twitter) and pump
fresh content out to your other pages. For example, on a business site
you can tweet business-oriented news and links and have those displayed
in your b-blog. While some blogging services (like WordPress) have a
Twitter widget you can add via your blog dashboard, you can use any of
the following widgets for placing your Twitter feed on other pages.
Simply edit the Widget to pull the feed from your user account and then
copy and paste the provided widget code into your site.
Widgets by Twitter
is the service's own widget offering. You can use the Twitter widget
to let visitors to your blog or Web page know what you're up to at
the moment. You can customize this widget to display your latest
updates. Widgets by Twitter lets you design an interactive or
display-only widget for MySpace, Blogger, Facebook, Typepad or you
can get the code to use the widget on any of your personal Web
pages.
SayTweet Twitter Badge is a unique service that lets you
create a Twitter badge using your own picture. You simply upload a
photo, tag users and see their tweets appear in speech bubbles. The
widget can be embedded in your blog, Web site, or MySpace.
WidgetBox
has a nice selection of different twitter widgets.
Twitter Widget
is one created by 'widgetnest' that twitterers can use to display a
simple display showing your last tweet-with controls to scroll through
tweets and a link to your Twitter profile. When you use a WidgetBox
widget, you can get specific code for sites like Facebook, Blogger,
iGoogle or just grab the code to copy and paste on your own personal Web
page.
Screenshot: Widgets by Twitter lets you display
tweets on your own blog.
Recommended Reading: Use the Webopedia
Social Media Glossary for help deciphering social media lingo.
Based in Nova Scotia, Vangie Beal is has been
writing about technology for more than a decade. She is a frequent
contributor to
EcommerceGuide and
managing editor at
Webopedia. You can
tweet her online @AuroraGG
Last updated: May 07, 2009
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