Twitter Tools that Rock

Nearly a year ago I published a post featuring Five Free Twitter Tools for Maximum Leverage. It’s no secret that Twitter has seriously blown up since then; hitting the mainstream in a big way. There are now countless third-party applications that can help you do all sorts of things with your Twitter account and find out tons of information. In this follow-up to last year’s post, I want to showcase five more Twitter tools that can help you get the most out of the Internet’s most popular microblogging service.

• ReTweetRank

  This site ranks Twitterers (Tweeters?) based on how often their Tweets are Re-Tweeted. This is a killer tool for seeing who is posting what other Twitter users consider the most interesting and important Tweets. Currently at #1: Mark Aaron Murnahan (SEO and Internet Marketing specialist). Currently at #19223: Me. It puts me in about the 70th percentile which isn’t too terrible, but not too great either. Clearly I need to work on being a bit more interesting.

• TweetDeck

  A lot of people have been using this desktop Twitter application (powered by Adobe Air) for awhile now, but I just recently downloaded it. It took me about fifteen minutes to understand why everyone loves it so much. It is far and away the best Twitter application available. You can create groups, filter tweets and user other very helpful organizational functions. If you use Twitter, you need TweetDeck. Period.

• Twendz

  As a professional writer and lover of the English language, all of these Twitter-inspired names drive me absolutely off my trolley. However, the tools themselves are so cool it’s impossible not to use them – and give them credit. Twendz is a perfect example of a Twitter tool that sounds ridiculous, but is too killer to ignore just because I cringe every time I read the name.
  
  
  With Twendz you can filter tweets based on keywords, but the real deal-maker of this online tool is that it also tracks the overall sentiment around the term. For example, when I search for “WordPress” I get to see the tweets that mention that word and I also get to see that 73% of these tweets are positive and 27% are negative. I’m not sure how this algorithm works, but it is super-cool.

• Twitmatic

  Twitmatic pulls all the videos posted on Twitter and creates a real-time streaming playlist. While you are watching, you have the option to tweet the video or the site on which it resides. This is a fun way to track the media on Twitter.

• Tweet Scan

  Tweet Scan allows you to filter tweets based on keywords or mentioned users. You can also see the most popular topics in real time. In my opinion, the coolest pieces of this applications is the ability to download your own Twitter archive. You can even choose whether to include just your tweets or all of your tweets and all tweets that mention you (including replies and direct messages). A donation is suggested, by not required. I didn’t pay to try it out, but if I end up using it for something I’ll definitely include a donation. This is quite a database they are maintaining!

You might have noticed that none of the tools I mentioned are auto-follow apps. I think it’s great to follow Tweeters who follow you, but I think you should do it because you find their tweets interesting or useful. My biggest problem with auto-follow tools are those that allow you to simply follow a whole bunch of users for no reason except in an attempt to have them follow you in return.

I am a firm believer that a slow-but-steady growth of followers is much more useful. It might take awhile, but this way you know your followers (or at least hopefully) actually pay attention to your Tweets and may act when you ask them to. What’s the point of having 10,000 followers if none of them are paying any attention to you? I’d rather have 100 followers (for the record, I have 318 on my main Twitter account right now) that actually interact with me and check out the links and information I share.

With Twitter I honestly don’t believe that the more followers you have, the more successful you are. Yes, I understand that you are reaching more people, but if you are just reaching other people that only care about their follower number, then you’re not likely to make as much impact.

Okay. I’m off my soapbox now. Just thought I’d explian why I didn’t include any auto-follow apps. If you can tell me about one that lets me auto-follow based on a keyword I might consider trying it out. For now, I’m quite happy with gaining followers the old-fashioned way (yes, a year ago is old-fashioned in Internet time) – by making people interested in what I have to say.

For an even bigger list of Twitter tools, check out New Media Bytes’ Ultimate Guide to Twitter Tools and Resources.

What’s your favorite Twitter tool?