So much for those who said that Twitter was nothing but a fad; according to the Twitter website, the microblogging platform touts 175 million registered users around the world, employs a staff of 300, and continues to grow. Another testament to Twitter's lasting hold in an internet world of fleeting startups is the emergence of hundreds of third party utilities to use with the service.
There are Twitter applications to perform all kinds of functions, from finding people with similar interests to sharing photos to earning money by tweeting advertisements. If you are a blogger, freelance writer, or other online entrepreneur, some of these Twitter utilities are very useful for turning Twitter into the ultimate online marketing tool. With so many applications out there, which ones should you try first? Here are a few of the most useful free utilities for Twitter marketing.
Twaitter: Type Now, Tweet Later
Twaitter is a Twitter dashboard. Here, users can use and access all of the same features as on the official Twitter interface in addition to some additional useful functions. These options include built-in URL shortening, scheduling your tweets in advance, even scheduling them on a recurring basis.
While there are many URL shortening services available, like TinyURL and bit.ly, users who operate through the official Twitter interface must access a URL shortener separately. Twaitter offers users the option to shorten URLs directly from the user interface, without having to look up an additional website.
The ability to schedule your tweets is priceless when it comes to managing your marketing time. Say, for instance, a business is having a sale that lasts for a week featuring a different item each day and wants to remind their Twitter followers about the sale every morning. Rather than logging into Twitter each day of the week, Twaitter allows users to type all of the posts at once and choose exactly when the messages will be released, eliminating the need to worry about it for the rest of the week.
Of the many free services available to Twitter users, it is rare to find a utility that allows for scheduling recurring messages. Messages can be repeated on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. This means that a freelance writer can tweet their last-minute gift shopping tips every Christmas Eve, or a business that offers half-price student discounts on Wednesdays can send a message every single Wednesday with just a few clicks.
Paper.li: Twitter "Newspaper" Compilations
Paper.li is unique Twitter utility that compiles "newspapers" based on tweets that fit certain parameters. Each edition is laid out much like an online newspaper, with content pulled from links to articles, photos, and videos shared on Twitter. For each item included in the issue, there is a brief description (usually the first few lines of the shared item) with a link to the original post.
There are three basic ways newspapers are constructed: from the tweets of a specific user, from the tweets of a list of users, or through the use of keywords or hashtags. Newspapers are updated daily by default, though users have the option of refreshing the edition more or less frequently. There is also an auto-promote option, automatically sending a tweet each time the paper is updated.
Twitterfeed: Auto-Tweet Blogs and Other RSS Feeds
For bloggers, webmasters, and freelance writers, Twitterfeed is a helpful time saver. The service automatically tweets new items in any RSS feed. Twitterfeed offers users an array of options, including registering multiple RSS feeds, choosing how frequently to check each feed for new posts, what information to include from the posts, and adding hashtags or other text to the beginning and end of each tweet. Bloggers and other content creators are left free to focus on their body of work while the marketing takes care of itself.
Remember, these are just a few of the hundreds of Twitter utilities out there, and more applications are appearing all the time. Each service is different, catering to a wide spectrum of Twitter users. Depending on your individual needs, there are many additional websites and programs to explore. To explore more Twitter utilities, try surfing directories like twittereye or Twitdom.
Rhonda Rowley - Rhonda Greene is a freelance writer living in Northern Michigan. She loves crafts, cats, and being outdoors.
Join the Conversation