Archive for: twitter
For the professional, company owner, blogger or just those who are Twitter crazy there is HootSuite. This is a cool start-up web app that lets you manage multiple Twitter accounts all from the one screen.
There are numerous reasons one may find this useful. For example, Crenk has its own Twitter account run by our CEO
Steven who also has his own personal twitter account. Such is the story for websites, company bosses and bloggers all over the world. Signing in and out of twitter can get annoying so why not streamline the whole thing?
After signing into Hootsuite you’ll be greeted by all of you twitter accounts. Here, you can tweet to each specific one. View each account’s followers and make changes to that account. That saves you a load of time by not having to sign in an out just to make a few tweets!
It all looks good too. Despite that fact that you can have multiple accounts running at the same time it doesn’t look cluttered or messy in the least. Everything is all very well laid out and is incredibly easy to use.
One bad thing I will say is that for the power-user, it can get a tad slow but this shouldn’t apply to most of us who just want to Tweet to different accounts a few times and hour.
Only around 15% of all the Twitter users are less than 25 years old, who would know? An official report from Morgan Stanley says that teenagers just don’t use Twitter.
You won’t be surprised if I tell you that people under 25 years are the main Internet users, only this group of people takes the 25% of all population; but they also just represent 16% of all Twitter.
And which age group takes the majority on Twitter? 25-54 years old, they take up to 64% of the Twitter population (me included of course). 20% for people over 55 years and 16% for those under 25. Yeap, you read it right, 20% of Twitter users are over 55 years.
If you start thinking about it (and when I say “thinking” I mean checking your list of followers and following) you would probably notice that you have a bunch of friends, a selected group of celebrities (yes, I know, we all have @aplusk), and would probably see a large number of marketers, companies, brands, channels, journalists or even PR guys. And that’s not exactly the main focus of teens these days.
It doesn’t feel like the teen wave didn’t appear just yet in Twitter? Can we expect a new teen market for Twitter as it was for Facebook?
The United States Marine Corps (USMC) are currently deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, fighting day in day out against insurgency and terrorism under the constant threat of IEDs and enemy Kalashnikov or RPG fire. They bravely soldier on throughout.
However, when it comes to Web 2.0 they’re left quivering in their combat boots. The USMC has just announced that it is placing a network wide ban on Web 2.0 sites such as Twitter, MySpace and FaceBook in an effort to make their systems more secure.
They say that these sites are easily hacked and used by hackers and scammers and indeed those against US operations to post links to malicious sites in the hope a marine on R&R or a USMC staff member might click on them.
This would expose the soft underbelly of the USMC’s network and would lead to disaster. Here is what the USMC order read :
- “These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries…”
- “The very nature of SNS [social network sites] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts OPSEC [operational security], COMSEC [communications security], [and] personnel… at an elevated risk of compromise.”
There are dozens and dozens of these applications, scripts and widgets available, but one of my favorites it is definitely is Ptwix. Simple script that you can use it on your website or blog, that shows your Twitter timeline with a very cool design.
The installation process it’s quite simple, just uploaded to your current server and modify the configuration files with your Twitter account. Since the code is based in PHP and AJAX you will be able to use it in almost any platform, including WordPress of course.
The configuration file is named PtwiX_reader.php and you’ll only need to edit these lines:
$username=”yourtwitterusername”;
$password=”yourtwitterpassword”;
$url_path=”http://www.mysite.com/ptwix/”;
$cache_folder=”/var/www/examplesite/ptwix/cache/”;
You also have three different themes to choose or even design one of your own. Here’s a demo of the script working and a simple procedure about how to install it.
Twitter is one of the hottest startups at the moment and we thought that we would put together the top 10 Twitter iphone applications. Some of these applications are paid apps but we have also added some great free ones also. Of course there are some of the most popular apps missing, but we thought we would promote some fresh and interesting apps.
Tweetie ($2.99)
Everything in one app, including multiple accounts, favorites, deleting, following, trends, location, re-tweets, photos and more. Notably, Tweetie is also blazing fast. The interface is lacking in visual-flair, leaving it feeling a little empty, though. Still, it’s robust, quick and all the features to tweet on the go are present and correct.
Tweetsville ($3.99)
Although there’s no location-based functionality or multiple accounts, everything else is present and correct, from retweeting to trends, and search to favorites. The overall presentation is polished yet refined, with a simple box-style list layout or the option to change this to a Tweetie/iChat style bubble design. For four bucks though, Tweetsville has either got to step up to the plate with some new features or back down and drop that price a little.
iTweets ($0.99)
With its iPhone SMS-influenced design, iTweets is an ultra-simple solution, perhaps most appropriate for the infrequent tweeter (with few friends). There’s no photo-support, no trends, no search: just one stream of tweets. Put simply, there are better apps than this available for free. And the app icon is, frankly, a vile blemish on the vibrant and youthful face of my lovely iPhone.
Twittelator Pro ($4.99)
As the name suggest, this is the Pro version of Twittelator (a free app). The app is painfully rich in features, unfortunately to its detriment: it feels cluttered and confusing. The app may be rich in functionality (there’s even a help button, perfect for those Jack Bauer emergency situations), but it’s poor in accessibility and, ultimately, a disappointment.
Twitterrific Premium ($9.99)
The premium version features an alternative theme and is ad-free. The adverts in the free version, though, are unobtrusive and serve as handy bookmarks when scrolling through unwieldy streams (which helps as scrolling is very jerky). Light on features, the appealing, functional interface design and super-cute tweeting sound are plus points. Certainly not worth ten bucks, especially compared to the competition.
Twinkle (free)
From the guys behind Tap Tap Revenge, comes a gorgeous looking Twitter app. It was the first one I used for iPhone but I eventually abandoned it due to various unsolved issues with the obligatory Tapulous ID. Like Twitterific, it’s light on features but has bags of character and also includes an impressive tweet-stream from nearby strangers.
TwitterFon (free)
The focus in this app is on basic features delivered in a speedy, stable package. There are only four screens in the app: a stream of tweets from the folks you follow; replies to you; direct messages; and search (including location-based search). TwitterFon feels a little bare but for purist tweeters, it’s the perfect little package.
NatsuLion (free)
An iPhone version of a functional and compact desktop Twitter-client, NatsuLion is robust and smooth with a simple feature-set for light tweeters. Like TwitterFon, there are four main screens, although instead of search, NatsuLion incorporates a somewhat useless unread tweets page.
Twittervision (free)
Twittervision incorporates an almost useless but nevertheless impressive world map feature: watch people tweet live across a map of the planet. Strange, hypnotic and downright fun. This app is the weird guy at the party who insists on showing you his magic trick — a little odd at first but ultimately amusing and impressive.
Gyazickr (free)
Perfect for iPhone tweeple with a penchant for amateur photography, this app is focused purely on posting pics. With its curious name, Gyazickr allows users to take a photo using the iPhone camera or pick one from the camera roll. Plus, there’s a funky little slideshow that displays other images recently posted to Twitter.
Late Inclusion:
Tweetdeck (free)
Tweetdeck is one of the most popular twitter iphone applications in the market at the moment, and their iPhone version is simply amazing. You can even tell the popularity of this application from the comments left on this article. Create groups, search Twitter, manage multiple accounts and easily post your tweets or share photos, link and much more. Plus sync your existing TweetDeck columns between your desktop and iPhone. Nice and easy.
If you live in a hole and you havent already heard, Twitter have relaunched their home page. Twitter is one of the fastest growing websites in the world at the moment and their user base has been both positive and negative on the new home page design.
Most people use Twitter for social networks and not for search, however when designing the new home page the Twitter team has put an obvious emphasis on the search aspect of the business. I know that most people already signed up to Twitter even see the home page much at all, because they can manage their accounts from a huge list of Twitter applications available, so they never even have to visit the site. The new home page design seems to be focused on a basic design with the ability to show new users what Twitter is all about, and thats conversations.
I think the new design itself is very aesthetically appealing and they have done a great job incorporating the search aspect into the home page itself. If I was a new users I could easily see what people are talking about and see that there is a huge community already on Twitter, which provides me with more of an incentive of joining. What do you think?
Other peoples thoughts on the Twitter home page design: Mashable, Techcrunch, ReadWriteWeb, BoomTown, Venturebeat and NY Times.
I’m starting to see a pattern here, readers. Every single day I find myself typing one post about having been tweeting from another Twitter App or a new Twitter service of some sort – if it keeps going at this rate, I’ll go insane and start making fifteen posts per day about Twitter. But I can understand why – Twitter rules. Blogs were so 2007.
This time it’s the turn of TuneIn to really jump on the Twitter bandwagon. The have just secured a massive investment of no less than half a million dollars from True Ventures to build upon their existing site which was launched just a few short weeks ago.
At this current point in time they offer the basic tweeting service but that is where the similarities end, full stop. They describe themselves as a highly visual media dashboard that will transform your Twitter experience. They organize other tweets from your network of followers and those you’re following into categories of the most active/popular amongst the users. It will also let you keep an eye on media and sites that are linked to your network.
According to TuneIn, this is but the tip of the iceberg. As a result of getting such a massive amount of money from True Ventures, there is certainly a lot more heading our way said Adam Hertz, the founder of InTune.
World of Twitter is a series of mosaic tile wallpaper created with thousands of Twitter avatars as background and Twitter logo as foreground. These mosaic artworks are generated with Mac’s MacOSaiX and further refined with Photoshop and resize to fit as wallpapers. These desktop wallpapers were developed by HongKiat.
Twitter Logo
1024×768 | 1280×800 | 1280×1024 | 1680×1050
The Blue Bird
1024×768 | 1280×800 | 1280×1024 | 1680×1050
“I’m not a blogger. I just tweet a lot”.
It’s true. I’m not a blogger and I do tweet a lot. That’s why I’m about to place an order for a t-shirt that says exactly that from Threadless.com. They have just opened up a new twitter branch of their website that takes popular, funny and strange tweets and makes t-shirts out of them. Pretty cool ones I might add.
Basically, people submit tweets to them or they find the tweets. If they think they’re funny or interesting they’ll make a cool t-shirt out of them. The price of a t-shirt is $18 before shipping and their available in sizes from small to Extra Extra Large for our small or large tweeters. They’re also available in both man and women sizes.
I think it’s a cool idea. There are hundreds and thousands of people using Twitter every singe day and I’m sure that a proportion of them are as nerdy as me and as such will see it fit to buy several T-Shirts that say “140 is the new 420”.
There is also a chance to make some cash. If you nominate a tweet that gets printed you can get your hands on $140. Furthermore, if you submit your own tweet that gets printed you will make $500. Not bad for a little bit of tweeting. Below are a couple of my favourite tees I seen at Threadless.
Martha Stewart – probably one of the most famous names in the last fifteen years for her less than scrupulous past. The home-decor queen has now made even more waves by calling Facebook “dippy” and saying that she much prefers facebook.
In an interview she commented on how she has grown to dislike Facebook. This is the second major celebrity to do so in just two days – on Saturday Bill Gates admitted to abandoning Facebook.
She said that she like the micro-blogging platform because it’s easier, you can reach more people and it doesn’t take up too much time.
“I just love it so much more than Facebook … First of all, you don’t have to spend any time on it, and, second of all, you reach a lot more people. And I don’t have to ‘befriend’ and do all that other dippy stuff that they do on Facebook.”
She called Twitter the Walmart of the internet – hopefully referring to its success not its large stocking of canned goods which is far from plenty.
Twitter just keeps growing with thousands of celebrities now gathering huge followers.
Crenk on Twitter – here
My Twitter – here
I love my twitter account. It’s fast, easy and the best service I’ve come accross in ages. Obviously, Twitter is not just another social networking site, which are mainly funded by advertising and partnerships. Twitter is an excellent micro-blogging platform. However, because it’s a micro blogging platform it doesn’t attract long visits to profile pages and as such it’s difficult to make money from advertising. For that reason, they have to think in the long term and a little outside the box.
“The key takeaway there is that we’re thinking big and we’re in it for the long haul,”
Speaking at a conference recently, the services co-founder Biz Stone said that they have big plans for twitter including pitching the service to companies to help gain new customers and keep existing ones and also as a way of making the company more interactive with their customers.
He also mentioned that Twitter will improve their security such as adding authentication codes to help prevent identity theft and may also use data from user records for their own needs.
Again he stressed that Twitter could not be treated as though it were a Social network like Facebook or Bebo.
“We started out by creating this very simple status updating system. And that’s not what Twitter is. It evolved into something else,” he said.
A lot of people have been noticing a drop in their followers on Twitter, with most asking why the hell is this happening. Twitter announced today that the company is purging spammers and correcting “data inconsistencies”. We haven’t noticed any significant change on Crenk’s Twitter account yet, but if you’ve been the target of spam followers, you might notice a “significant” change in both your follower and following counts.
Twitter writes:
For some time, the follower and following counts we display have been incorrect for some folks. We’re soon to push a change that will address this issue. This means that the count you see in your sidebar should match what you see on your follower and following pages.
However, a consequence of this change is that follower counts will drop for some people. In particular, those with large followings may see significant changes as we correct for spam accounts and data inconsistencies. No legitimate followings should be affected—we’re just cleaning up artifacts in the system.
