Twitter: A Twit Twit here and a Tweet Tweet there...

Last Updated - Follow updates in the post: Twittering More Ways

Twitter was the talk of the recent Web 2.0 Conference. Mashups were using Twitter. One of the liveliest sessions of the conference was the Twitter session addressing "Short Attention Span Theater: The Birth of Microblogging & Micromedia". Questions were being taken from the audience and the internet via Twitter.

The first thing I usually get asked is "What is Twitter?" There are many different definitions. Twitter was developed to answer one simple question: "What are you doing?" My favorite explanation is to describe Twitter as "the worlds virtual water cooler"

Twitter lets you post 140 character messages that are visible to everyone. You can send direct messages to other Twitterers by prefixing a message with d username but this is the exception rather than the rule.

Twitter can send and receive messages via the web, instant messaging clients, cell phone SMS and the Twitter API. By virtue of the simple application design and implementation Twitter has grown an increasingly rich ecosystem around it. New applications and services are springing up on an almost daily basis.

The tools that I use are:

• twitter.com
• SMS to 40404
• IM to twitter on AIM and GTalk
• Twhirl - an Adobe AIR client application

There are a growing number of sites and services that add functionality around Twitter. Here are some of my favorites:

• Quotably - This keeps track of your conversations
• Tinyurl - there are numerous similar tools that shorten long URLs so they can be added to a twitter message.
• Twerpscan - This is an evolving service that looks at your Twitter contacts and runs some algorithms to determine who might be a Twitter spammer.
• Tweetscan - This runs a nightly analysis using key words you have requested and lists all conversations using those keywords.
• TwitterLocal - This will allow you to find other twitterers in your locality
• Hashtags - A useful way to build a history about a specific term eg. Openid by prefixing a term with a # as in #openid and following @hashtags on Twitter.
• Twittervision - a compulsive world map mashup showing where people are twittering from. Very compulsive - you have been warned!

Steve Marmelstein has compiled a more complete list of 80 applications that rock Twitter.

There are so many useful new developments, like twistory, which will update any iCal compliant calendar with twitter history. Let me know if you come across any new tools that help us get a grip on Twitter.

As I keep coming across new applications for Twitter I will add them here:

• Twitturly - a service for tracking the URLs people are talking about on Twitter.
• Twubble - a service from CrazyBob that helps you expand your network of friends on Twitter - In other words - If you like CrazyBob then be sure to follow .....
• Twistori - A really neat use of Twitter for no other reason than it looks nice. Tapping the Twitter stream for I ... Love, Hate, Think, Believe, Feel and Wish.
• TwitterSnooze - Yes you can snooze those twitterers in your feed that are excessively verbose.

Update - April 30, 2008:

• TweetClouds - Create a tag cloud from the public Twitter feeds for a Twitterer.

Update - May, 2008:

• Susan Mernit's "Rules to Tweet By" - Great advice.
• Tara Hunt's "Tweeting for companies" over on her HorsePigCow blog has some great guidance.
• hahlo.com - A gorgeous Twitter site for iPhone users. This is a very nice interface. Currently at version 3 - therefore a very tongue in cheek name.
• Tweetlater.com - Let's you schedule future tweets.
• TweetWheel.com - Which of your Twitter friends know each other. A great implementation of the Twitter Social Graph.
• TwitterPacks Project. A wiki where the Twitter community recommends fellow Twitter users by topic of interest or geographical area and also points to useful twitter tools.
• Twittergram - post a 200k MP3 file and deliver it via Twitter - A Dave Winer service.
• Twinkle - an application for jailbroken iPhones. I wonder when we might see it in the iPhone application store?
• Twobile - A twitter client for Windows Mobile 6 phones
• Twitterberry - A Twitter client for Blackberry phones.
• Jott - I have been spending time driving in the last few days. I found myself testing the Twitter integration from Jott and it works rather well.
• TwitterFone - A new service that allows you to tweet by phone. I am waiting for my invitation to TwitterFone. This seems to compete with Jott. I will be interested to see what other features it provides.
• Twitpic - This service allows you to send photos from your phone via email to Twitter.
• The Bloggers Blog has some useful lists of Twitter stuff, some of which I have already covered here and Twitter Links.
• Wow! I forgot Foamee! It keeps track of beer IOU's. An essential application for beer drinkers. To use it follow ioubeer on twitter. For the teetotalers there is also ioucoffee.
• Twitxr - Like Twitpic, Twitxr allows you to snap a picture add text and post to Twitter with some geo locational goodness.
• Products that Twitter - A list of products that have Twitter identities. Developed by personafile. Follow your Apple MacBook Air or Sony Camcorderthat may issue product update information via Twitter.
• PollDaddy - Conduct a poll using Twitter.
• TwitterBlacklist - Did you wonder if your latest follower is a spammer. Check the Twitter Blacklist.
• BrightKite is a service that allows you to reveal where you are to people via Twitter. It also has some granularity controls so that only your real or closest friends know exactly where you are.
• TweetStats - Produces some great stats from your personal timeline. When you Tweet, how you Tweet, who you Tweet and can even produce a TweetCloud.
• Twitsay - Sign up and you can leave a short 10 second voice message that will be posted to your twitter feed for all to hear.

If you come across a neat Twitter-related service then @ekivemark me on twitter. I would love to add it to this list.

Thanks go to Doug Neal, Dewald Pretorious, and other members of my twitterverse for pointing out new contributions to this list.