Twitter is a social networking site. It's a place where members can "tweet" messages up to 140 characters. In the past, I've heard Twitter called "window shopping" experience while Facebook has been called a shopping mall experience. I think it's a fitting analogy. I have a twitter account and I have to admit - I'm not a constant user. I've just opened it up again - I've found new people to follow.
This clip sums it up:
Since its founding, Twitter has grown into a social media juggernaut, and popularity on the service is often used as a benchmark of influence. Companies have also used the service as a way to engage with their customers - offering promotions and other specials.
For basics on how to use the social network, check out The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter.
http://mashable.com/category/twitter/ (Thanks Aaron for pointing this site out to us!)
Twittelator Neue:
This is a specifically designed for the iOS 5 operating system. It is said to have a beautiful design, innovative features and a quick performance. For the next generation Twitter client! I will have to explore this as it promises to preview photos with a single touch and offers a sneak peak of a website. There's a push notification option too - if you want to keep things quiet, you can manage that with this feature. More information here: http://www.stone.com/pr/bigstonephone/Twittelator_Neue_2_0.html
Twitterrific and Twitip
http://www.twitip.com/ This site is about getting more out of Twitter. There's a review here for Twitterrific. Here is a portion of the review:
"Twitterific is the most popular Twitter client application for the Mac. It is simple, has a clean interface, and is easy and intuitive to use. It has some tradeoffs for this simplicity, as we will see. Twitterific can be used free of charge without limitation, but advertisements are displayed once per hour. If you pay the IconFactory $14.95 US, ads are removed. Twitterific is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, as well." Here are the pros and cons of Twitterific as found on the twitip website:
Pros of Twitterific
- Simple, clean interface
- Easy to use, intuitive
- Fast, no lag on redrawing images
- Flexible configuration
- Multiple accounts
- Small memory and CPU footprint
- Works well with older Macs and those with limited resources
- Replies and direct messages are in a different color
- Screen easily resized and is usable at any size
Cons of Twitterific
- No grouping or any way to just display favorites, replies, direct messages, friends, or followers
- No search function
- No retweet without cutting and pasting
- Loud and annoying notification sounds
- No interface with a URL shortener, TwitPic, etc.
- White on black screen may not suit everybody’s eyes
According to Wikipedia, Tweetdeck is a management system for Twitter and Facebook. Users can send and receive tweets. The dashboard can be set up so users can view tweets and facebook updates. URLs can be shortened on the fly too. What's interestinga bout Tweetdeck is that it has limited its social networking connections to Twitter and Facebook. Other social networking sites are not included (such as LinkedIn). I may give this a try!
Now if you're looking for a place to organize social networking (beyond Twitter and Facebook) then look to Houtsuite - http://hootsuite.com/features/social-networks
- Social Profiles
- Message Scheduling
- Facebook/Twitter search
- App Directory
- Draft Messages
- Quick Reports
There are three plans to choose from: Enterprise, Pro and Free. In Enterprise, you must ask for a quote and in Pro, it's 9.99 a month. This is what you get if you sign up for Pro (you will get a free month trial):
- NEW - HootSuite Conversations
- Unlimited Social Profiles
- Advanced Message Scheduling
- 1 Enhanced Analytics Report
- 1 Additional User Included
- Google Analytics Integration
- Facebook Insights Integration
- Unlimited Apps
- Unlimited RSS Feeds
MLA for tweets???
Yes, it's true. The Modern Language Association has standardized a format for tweets.Here is a clip I copied from the Verge website:
While it's difficult to get the depth of an academic journal into 140 characters, there's no denying the increasing value of Twitter as a primary source of information. As such, those academic journals will likely need to cite tweets more and more in the future — except that no-one has quite agreed on the proper way to do so yet. As a response to this, the Modern Language Association recently posted its own standard format, and it looks like this:
Last Name, First Name (User Name). "Text of the tweet." Date, Time. Tweet.So, this tweet from the Verge account:
Sources: Apple's new iPad makes the leap to 1GB of RAM vrge.co/zFo2qv
The Verge (@verge). "Sources: Apple's new iPad makes the leap to 1GB of RAM vrge.co/zFo2qv" 8 March 2012, 12.03 p.m. Tweet.
This is fascinating to me. I'm so accustomed to seeing the medium Web or Print when I mark Works Cited pages. I look forward to seeing my very first Tweet medium in a Works Cited!
And for when you need to do some Twitter housecleaning... try this site: http://thetwitcleaner.com/ I love its tag - Twitter- it's about Quality not Quantity!
Sick of the noise on Twitter?Here's what Twit Cleaner does:
Analyses the people you followFinds time wasters, spammers, bots, the boring etcCreates a detailed reportHelps you clear up the 'background noise'Helps you improve your own Twitter presenceHelps you focus your time & energyI gave this a try and here's the report on my Tweetstream:
Potentially Dodgy Behaviour: 20%
Not much interaction: 80%
Twitcleaner recommended I unfollow someone who only posts links, those who have had very few tweets and one who follows very few. One person I'm following has an "inactive" profile... that's my friend from Ottawa. Very interesting results! I clicked on "how do I look" on twitcleaner - it suggested I tweet a bit more as I have fewer than 10 tweets. I must engage more!
I signed up for a bitly account. I love playing with this site - so interesting to see what configurations come of the site I enter.
Here's one for prezi.com - http://bit.ly/Wmj0UL and another for the Vancouver School Board's article on a play called "Man Up": http://bit.ly/UVxrhF. Here's the PW library homepage site:
http://bit.ly/QdjVZy. Easy interface - easy to paste, click to copy. Love it.
And finally - Tweetpic:
You can share your photos on Twitter with Tweetpic. I've signed up for Tweetpic with my Twitter account. I just need to get more photos!
And I need to familiarize myself with the privacy settings...
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