Twitter for Dummies - Laura Fitton [108]
Type: Smartphone clients
If you have a mobile phone, you may have trouble finding the perfect Twitter client. Even more frustrating, all carriers use different browsers and standards, making it impossible to find one client to fit all phones. Here are some of our favorites for each platform:
Tweetie: If you have an iPhone, Tweetie is the way to go. It’s like having TweetDeck on your phone, in a slick iPhone interface. It also has a companion desktop client — an added bonus. (We talk about TweetDeck in the section “TweetDeck: Connecting with Many,” earlier in this chapter.)
PocketTwit: For Windows Mobile phones that have touch screens, PocketTwit is made by Google Labs and offers several nice features, multiple-account management, and a nifty, avatar-included interface.
TwitterBerry: The current most popular solution for BlackBerry devices, TwitterBerry works with BlackBerry’s proprietary interface, so you can easily tweet on the go. Laura whinges about how many basic Twitter features TwitterBerry lacks, but nothing great for the BlackBerry has taken its place. Yet.
Check your carrier’s data and text charges before using these services. Twitter may be free, but some of the attached services may come with hidden costs for use if your phone is not already on unlimited data.
Twellow: Finding People to Follow
www.twellow.com
Type: Networking
Many directory sites have come and gone, but Twellow was the first. It doesn’t have the sexiest interface, but it has a fantastic database of easily searchable, accurate information about people, companies, and categories.
Use more than one solution to find followers if you want to get a more interesting and beneficial demographic.
FriendorFollow: Managing Followers and Followings
http://friendorfollow.com
Type: Networking
This Web site lets you see whom you’re following, who’s following you, and which follows are mutual — all in a nicely tabbed, avatar-based grid. And you can fix any follower/following discrepancies right from the site interface.
Don’t unfollow people just because they don’t follow you back. Twitter doesn’t require you to follow someone back, and you never know whether that user might have just missed you. Try saying hi with an @reply to see whether you can get to know that person better.
TwtVite: Event Planning
http://twtvite.com
Type: Miscellaneous
This quick and easy Web site lets people tweet out their RSVP to your event. It then keeps track of who has RSVPed for you. This service offers the added bonus of marketing before the event while people tweet about their attendance.
Also make an EventBrite (www.eventbrite.com) or Facebook Event (www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2344061033) page to make sure that you’re giving people a way to connect if they don’t use Twitter yet.
It’s worth mentioning that TwtVite parent www.TwtApps.com also offers eight more helpful and nicely integrated Twitter tools covering polls, jobs, greetings, travel, business, and even virtual pets.
Twitterfeed: Getting Your Blog Posts to Twitter
http://twitterfeed.com
Type: Publishing
This handy service lets you schedule periodic scrapes of your blog for new posts, and then link these blog bits up on Twitter. Twitterfeed gives you a simple and easy way to drive traffic to your site or alert friends to a new post without having to remember to do it separately.
Set Twitterfeed to check your blog only every few hours to prevent your Twitter stream from seeming spammy.
TwitPic
www.twitpic.com
Type: Multimedia sharing
TwitPic is a popular image-sharing service for Twitter. Users can upload photos via camera or mobile phone and then share those photos on Twitter. You can also add comments on the pictures themselves.
Xpenser: Keeping Track of Your Expenses
http://xpenser.com
Type: Financial
Xpenser is a neat tool that integrates with sites such as FreshBooks (www.freshbooks.com) and applications such as Quicken to help you keep track of your business and personal expenses on the go. After configuring your account, simply send a direct