We’re in the midst of some rather transformative times. Especially if you happen to live in the Middle East.  Some are crediting Facebook and Twitter as key catalysts that helped to overthrow a 40-year dictatorship in Egypt. This phenomenon has spread throughout the Arab world from Yemen to Bahrain and is currently erupting in Libya. You can follow the revolution on Twitter. Read the rest…

Note: A few weeks ago a published a review of desktop Twitter apps.

Desktop Twitter apps are great but browser based clients are pretty darn robust these days too and certainly worthy of your consideration. A colleague of mine was recently having problems with her AIR app functioning properly and switched to a browser one. She is now tweeting problem free.

Browser apps can also have a lot of functionality built into them since they’re not limited by an application on your computer. Here are my top five:

Hootsuite

HootSuite is one of the most robust platforms for updating and monitoring your social networks. You can update Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook from with the same browser window. It also has its own link shortener ow.ly that helps you track how many people are clicking your links. And if you use their link shortener, it will integrate statistics.

One of my favorite features is that it will let you schedule tweets for later. So if you want to Tweet about the blog article you just finished at 2 AM, you can write the tweet then but automatically send it later. Try and do that with a desktop app.

Seesmic Web

Seesimc Web is similar to their desktop application but lives within a browser window. It’s a relatively new offering from them and doesn’t have as many functions as Hootsuite or even their own desktop app. But my guess it that it will get more features over time. So this is certainly an app to watch.

CoTweet

CoTweet is a browser based with a focus on corporate users. The features are built around the idea of multiple users. This means multiple users can tweet to the same account and team members can even assign tasks to each other. CoTweet’s functions add up to a great Twitter CRM system but I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who’s just tweeting for or by themselves.

Brizzley

I dig Brizzly. Unlike most of the solutions, Brizzly actually loads Twitter content right into your browser window. This makes it easy to scan Twitter photos right in the same browser window. Brizzley also has a nice Facebook integration. Brizzly doesn’t try to do everything, rather it focuses on just being easy to use.

Flock

An interesting way to use Twitter is when it’s integrated right into your browser with Flock. Flock does a lot of interesting things I’m not really sure I need my browser to do. Plus I’m kind of addicted to all my Firefox plug-ins.  But Flock is an interesting tool none-the-less. And hey, it might be something you’d like to try.

OK, that’s my list. Did I leave something important out? Let me know and I’ll add it.

A few months ago a client asked for a cheat sheet on how to uses social media tools. Here’s more or less what I gave them on Twitter. See something important missing, let me know and I’ll add it. Note: This list isn’t a substitute for a strategy.

1. Follow some good tweeters to get a feel for it and find a voice you feel comfortable using. There is no one right voice.  @chrisbrogan, @postachio, @comcastcares, @delloutlet and @lancearmstrong are examples of popular tweeters using very different styles.
2. Understand frequent users will never visit your twitter.com page. Your brand/identity must be in your communication or where you send users.
3. Use Bit.ly or other tool to shorten links and collect data.
4. Use CoTweet or HootSuite to optimize your workflow and track analytics.
5. Engagement is earned with time and by providing value. You must be dedicate significant time to get any value from it.
6. Be helpful is the Golden Rule of social media.
7. Use Twitter lists to manage the information flow.
8. Add to conversations that are already happening instead of expecting them to come to you.
9. Re-tweet often – people like to be patted on the back. Add a comment/value to your re-tweet.
10. Try and reply to @ messages, but you don’t have to reply to everyone
11. Try and thank people for re-tweeting.
12. Ignore the “What are you doing?” question and answer more interesting questions like, “What interests you right now? What did you just discover? What are you passionate about? What is something positive you can share?”
13. Frequency is key. Don’t feel bad for tweeting the same message again if it’s valuable.
14. A message will be viewed on someone’s Twitter page or Twitter client only if they happen to be looking at it at the time when you Tweet. And you probably have a lot of competition for attention. Again, frequency is key.
15. Tweet about other people you respect – no one likes anyone who only talks about themselves.
16. Give followers somewhere to go, some news, or something to do or read. There’s no interaction without action.
17. People will follow your tweets if you provide them what they find valuable. Usually that’s news, inside information, entertainment or deals.
18. Use search engines or Twitter client to create searches on relevant topics and your brand.
19. Use Google Alerts.
20. Find other users with similar interests and follow them, get a feel for what they’re doing and engage them.
21. If possible, have more than one tweeter.
22. Obviously, be ethical and transparent.
23. Let people know you’re on Twitter by putting your username on e-mail signatures, web sites, blogs and offline communications.
24. Try and follow people back who seem legitimate; this gives them the opportunity to direct-message you…which could be important.
25. Don’t be boring. Don’t just Tweet PR language or links to press releases. This is not a push medium.
26. Don’t treat it like a broadcast mechanism for advertising.
27. Don’t read every tweet; you’ll go mad.

Update: If you found this list useful, check out my Facebook Fan Page tips for business users.

So you have already drunk the Twitter Koolaide. You’ve been tweeting awhile and now you have a few hundred followers and are following more people than you can keep track of using Twitter.com on your browser. And you’re beginning to feel that you’re probably not getting all that you could out of your Twitter experience because of an information nozzle that is blasting so hard you’ve lost control of what you’re reading.

Now you’re wondering, “do I need to unfollow a hundred people because I’m not too interested in everything they’re tweeting?” They all seemed so interesting at first but now — not so much. Will they unfollow me if I unfollow them? Probably. And that may be OK. But if you selfishly want to hang on to them and not hurt anyone’s feelings, there’s a solution.

Thankfully, twitter now has a built in tool to help this problem: Twitter Lists. Lists allow you to group your favorite Tweeters into a single browser window. You can even create groups for specific topics. So if you’re interested in learning about a particular news story, click the “news” list you created of pundits or journalists. Or if maketing is your bag, create one of marketing professionals you respect.

You can also look at other people’s lists and get a feel if your missing something.

If you use a tool like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, or Seesmic these lists can be integrated into your desktop tool or iPhone app. (CoTweet is also an excellent tool but focused on enterprise users. If that’s you, I highly recommend it.)

If you use Seesmic of Tweetdeck (Hootsuite is phasing out groups and wants you to use Twitter’s lists) you can use groups to create columns to easily scan and not have them part of your actual Twitter account. I find Tweetdecks function to be easy to use. And since I manage three accounts, ease of use is extremely important to me.

These tools should help you make more sense out of Twitter stream with a bit of time spent getting caught up sorting. I’m constantly tweaking my Tweetdeck groups to try and make sure I have the best information stream possible.

One problem lists doesn’t solve is the DM conundrum. I find that I’m consistently auto DM’d so I tend not to pay much attention to what’s in my DM inbox. I could just unfollow anyone that does that but I’m conscious that some people don’t know they’re being annoying by sending automated messages, so I’m giving everyone the benefit of doubt.

The things that will get people unfollowed by me is spamming me with porn or otherwise offensive stuff and auto blasting me with 10 tweets at a time in attempt to capitalize my stream. I’d rather tweeters be interesting than annoying.

Hope these tips help. If anyone has any to add please add to comments.