TECHNOLOGY FOR AUTHORS & WRITERS

Twitter

Twitter(and related tools)

Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time. What does that mean? Think of it like Instant Messaging on Crack. It's a way to connect to dozens, perhaps hundreds to hundreds of thousands of people all at once -- and directly into their account.

http://www.twitter.com |

Cost: FREE | Time Usage: Minimal to Obsessive

Words You Need to Know

tweets. --> Your 140 character twitter message;

tweet in verb form: the act of posting to twitter

retweet --> when you tweet something someone else has already tweeted . Always starts with RT.

@replies. --> this is how you reply to someone in a conversation.

hashtags. --> #hashtag, used to create conversation topics easily followed. Use the # with the words behind it to be included in any conversation.

DM. --> Direct message on twitter from one person to another.

Tips for Writers in Using Twitter

Sign up now. Give yourself time to get adjusted. Take a few weeks to add some people of interest to follow. (Get a list of agents and editors on Twitter here.)
The more people you follow, the more will follow you.
Be selective in those you choose to follow -- for this to work, you need to be smart.
Get involved in conversations, don't just promo yourself. Look for hashtags in people you follow, get involved in those conversations that interest you.
Personalize your Twitter page. It's a bio and you can get a custom background.
(Yes, I design them. See Services.)
Add a badge to your website and your blog that includes your twitter status updates. The beauty of the internet these days is the interconnectivity. Work smarter, not more.

Tools

There are a number of related tools to help you use Twitter to your advantage. I've tried to focus specifically on ones that will help you manage this or enhance it's usage in your marketing efforts.

To make it easier to tweet and reply:

Tweet Deck [recommended] - This allows you to manage your account, replies, direct messages as well as select to follow certain conversation threads. | Installs on Computer
Digsby - Works like an IM account, but allows you to see all your social networking tools at once, including Twitter (multiple accounts), facebook, myspace and more. | Installs on computer
TwitterMail - Send tweets from your email | Website sign up
Twitterfeed - Autopost your blog entries to twitter | Website sign up
TweetLater - Autoresponders to your tweets | Website sign up

To moniter and watch conversations and certain key terms

monitter.com - A website you can visit and put in #hashtags or topics to all tweets related. | Steps: web browser
twitterfall.com - A website to watch the upcoming trends and custom searches.
Tweet Deck [recommended] - I listed this in both places because it has multiple uses. In addition to managing your account, you can follow conversation threads. | Installs on Computer

Blog or Website Functionality/Additions

To add twitter capabilities to your blog and/or website:

Twitter Remote - Add a widget that shows which twitter users recently visited your site/blog. Usable on both blogs and websites. | Easy cut and paste.

Wordpress plugins

Tweet This - This adds a Twitter icon to every post and page, so your readers can talk about your blog entries on their Twitter accounts with ease.
WP Twitip ID - This adds an extra field to the comment form on your blog to enter a twitter username (for your visitors)
Twitter Badge - Display badges showing what you are posting on Twitter.
The Twitter Updater - Automatically sends a Twitter update to your Twitter account when you create, publish, or edit your WordPress post. You can customize the text for the updates, and turn the auto update on/off for the posts
TwitThis is an easy way for people to send Twitter messages about your blog post or website. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the webpage and creates a shorter URL using TinyURL. Then visitors can send this shortened URL and a description of the web page to all of their friends on Twitter.
Twitter Tools - This wordpress plugin creates an integration between your WordPress blog and your Twitter account. Pull your tweets into your blog and create new tweets on blog posts and from within WordPress.
Twitter Wordpress Sidebar Widget - Customise the number of updates shown in your sidebar, individual links to each status update on Twitter, style your Twitterings using CSS, choose whether to display your Twitter name before each post and customise text between the post text and the relative time.
Twitter Feed - Posts your blog updates to your twitter account. Login to twitterfeed using your OpenID, provide the URL for your blog RSS feed, and how often to post to Twitter.
Twitt-Twoo - Allows you to update your Twitter status from your blog’s sidebar.
Tweet Blender - Allows for multiple tweeters. Great for group blogs.

Just plain entertaining or interesting

SecretTweet - As a writer, I'm fascinated by this. It's like true confessions in 140 characters or less. Go to this website to post your secret, anon comments. Then go twitter.com/secrettweet to sign up to receive the tweets.
PollDaddy Twitter Polls - Create a poll and send it out easily.

Helpful Links