Morada Musings

So, you’re beginning to understand what Twitter is and perhaps even why you should join the fun.  But you’re worried – will it take up too much of my time?  How will I keep track of everyone and all the tweets that happen when I’m working on other stuff and can’t stay logged in?  What if  someone sends me a direct message and I don’t know it?  Not to worry – there are many add-on, complementary applications and widgets to help you manage it all, without it managing you!

I use Firefox for my primary internet browser and they have a great little app, Twitterfox (now called Echofon), which will track your tweet stream, any direct messages sent to you and even any tweets that mention your user name (either a response to a tweet of yours or someone just refers to you in a tweet of theirs.)  Once installed, it sits unobtrusively in the bottom right corner of your browser window as a blue t as soon as  you’ve opened your browser.  After a few minutes, you’ll notice tweets popping up in that corner as Twitfox checks for new messages (if there are over a certain number you’ll just get a notice that you received x tweets.)  You can scan them as they briefly flash by or not – it’s your choice.  When the checking is done, there’ll be a number next to the blue t; that’s how many unread messages there are in your stream.  When you’re ready to read, there’s no need to open a browser window and log into Tweeter.  Simply click on the blue t and a box will pop up with the stream messages and a scroll bar.  You’ll also see two other tabs at the bottom of that box, one

for Mentions and the other for Direct Messages.  If there have been any you haven’t read, you’ll see a number in parenthesis on the tab.  These two tabs will keep all your messages from session to session.  The news stream will not; once you’ve opened the reading box and scroll through, those are removed from the Twitterfox box but remain in your stream and can be read when you log in to Twitter in a browser window.

So what happens if there’s a tweet you want to respond to?  When you click in the message box towards the right (near the scroll bar), you’ll see gray a star and a curled arrow.  The arrow is your reply back icon while the star lets you flag it as a favorite for easy finding in the future.  Click on the arrow and your cursor drops to a dialogue box below the messages; just type your 140 character reply and press Enter.  You can use that same box to post a new tweet, too.  Want to RT (retweet) something you like to share with your tweeple?  Right click in the box and you’ll activate a drop menu with the choice of Retweet or Copy.  Choosing Retweet will bring your cursor down to the dialogue box so you can put in a comment if you want, or just hit Enter to post it.  Simple.

Hoot Suite will also help you manage it all but handles it differently.  It is a very robust web-based application which allows you to track multiple users and accounts, statistics, what people are saying about you plus you can configure your display screen into columns and tabs.   Hoot Suite also lets you schedule tweets in advance, which is great for power users and those who are managing social media for multiple people, but overkill for the more casual user.  TweetDeck is another web-based browser application for integrating your accounts across multiple social media sites while Digsby integrates your Twitter, email and instant messaging.

Twhirl, on the other hand, runs on your computer PC or Mac) and enables you to manage and integrate multiple other social media (i.e. Friend Feed, Facebook, MySpace, etc.)  with your Twitter account plus has additional features such as more advanced searches, posting images to yfrog and creating/posting Seesmic videos.  For those who are participating in several social media sites and enjoy sharing photos and videos, Twhirl can be a real boon but can also slow down your system so consider it with caution.

These are just a few of the hundreds of third-party applications  which will spruce up the look of your profile [Twitbacks enables you to create a fully customized background] or your avatar (identifying icon or picture) [Twcauses lets you add a cause ribbon], upload photos [Twitpic], or  connect with others in specific niches [like my favorite, Twihaiku, where the poetically minded can tweet verses for others who are followers of the application without having to be a follower of each poet.]  Twitter widgets, little applets, allow you to put a stylized Twitter link on your web site, Facebook profile and other personal web pages.

All of these applications – and there are so many as to be overwhelming – are there for your use, or not.  I suggest that you start out slowly and add only one app at a time until your Twitter is tweaked to truly twitterific heights -  lest you become a raving twitterholic!

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