Imad Malik

Twitter is, simply put, a simple way of staying connected. It is a service for co-workers, friends and family to stay connected and communicate by exchanging quick frequent messages. Twitter is a message board that you can update from your phone via SMS or the Web via IM’s. There is a limit of 151 characters on twitter messages which makes it appear more like an SMS service.

This may make you think what the use of twitter service is then. Twitter fans will vouch for its usefulness. Its great for group chatting since the service is free. It’s also an effective tool for breaking news and live blogging events. And needless to mention, a great way of staying updated on friends and family. The best thing about twitter services is the cross-platform support. You can use your phone to stay in touch with others who are using the web and vice-versa. This will keep you connected wherever you go.

Twitters are increasingly being used by everybody these days most commonly among students and in classrooms. With twitter you can get a sense of the world. There are so many different things going on in the world that you get to know when you twitter. With twitter you can track a word, a conference, a professional or a famous person. Tracking means you get a notification whenever anybody twitters using the keyword that you are tracking. So you get a lot of information about that keyword. With twitters you also get instant feedback on your phone.

If you haven’t yet learned how to make good use of twitters here are a few tips for you.

1. There are some twitters apps that you can make use of.

(a) Twitteroo – This desktop App is for windows users and is quite helpful in posting feeds and monitoring your twitter.
(b) Twadget – Vista users can make use of this one. It works in the side bar.
(c) Twitterific – Mac users can use this one. It keyboard shortcuts allows faster scrolling through feeds.

2. Twapper is a web page that displays messages in a phone friendly format.

3. Mapping twitter posts.

(a) GeoTwitter – posts are shown on a Google map. Click on the pins and read the map.
(b) Twitterami – shows where twitters reside on a map and connect to their updates.

4. Twitter badges – allow people to see your twitter feeds on your blogs, social networking profile or websites by using twitter badges. You can also make your visitors see the last five posts of your friends by including their timeline.

5. Blogging – you can now publish your blogs in your twitter feeds without having to visit twitter sites by using plug-ins you can also archive or copy twitter updates into a new blog post.

6. RSS- You can add your friends’ twitter RSS posts to your reader. Some single page aggregators let you set up your own tabs for Twitters. With Twitter module you can post directly from your reader page. RSS feeds can be found at the bottom of a twitter page.

If you ever decide to get twitter, you can follow me.