logo - twitter.com

When I first posted on this blog about Twitter, most people were saying "Twitter what?" After all of the media attention Twitter is getting, people still may not know what Twitter actually is or how it works, but at least their response is more likely to be "I've heard about Twitter." In case you are still wondering, Twitter is considered a microblog - a place where you can post micro messages that are made up of 140 characters in length or less - to a web page.

The reason that you are limited to a very short message is to be compatible with text messaging. You see, Twitter isn't only available on the Web but also available on your mobile device. I access Twitter in 3 ways:

1. The web at Twitter.com
2. Desktop applications on my computer - right now I'm using TweetDeck and Twhirl.
3. My iPhone where I am using both Twitterlator and Tweetie

Twitter is influencing a lot programmers to develop Twitter-like applications, Twitter add-ons and applications to make it easier to "tweet" on Twitter. Here are some of the other applications I'm using to enhance my Twittering efforts.

TweetLater - Use this application to compose tweets that you can then schedule to appear on your Twitter page at a later date and time. Helpful when you know you'll be away from the computer but want to keep your account active. But take a look at this site because they've actually added a slew of additional services including tracking keywords on Twitter, and something called TweetCockpit to manage all of your Twitter accounts (yes, I have 5 of my own).

TweetGrid - Trying to monitor more than one keyword on Twitter? You can create a Web page broken down in grids where each grid represents a different search. Think of this as a dashboard to consolidate a number of searches on a single page so you don't have to conduct different searches on different browser windows.

Tweetzi - This application helps you find discussions in the Twittersphere and let's you monitor your results in a real-time stream so it updates as results change. Another real-time monitoring site for Twitter is Twitturly.

Mr. Tweet - You can expand your network to find other Twitterers who you should know based on who you are currently following and who they follow.

Just for Twitter Fun

Some other tools you can use, more for fun than anything else, include

What's Your Tweet Worth - Based on the number of people you follow versus the number of followers and how many tweets you put out, this site calculates your Twitter worth in dollars.

TwitPic - Upload images easily to your Twitter page with TwitPic.

For a growing list of Twitter applications, check out the Twitter Fan Wiki.