What is All This Tweeting About?

November 6, 2008 a Meyer Memorial Trust New Media article

The MMT geeks have been fans of Twitter for quite a while. Did you know that you can use Twitter for your organization? And, that many orgs already do? This includes both the Meyer Trust and connec+ipedia.

Twitter is a "micro-blogging" site that allows users to post comments and links up to 140 characters, and organizations are using it as a tool to get information moving through the web quickly. Tweeters, or "tweeples" (folks who use twitter) use it as a forum, an IM application, and even as a newsreader with popular blogs and other websites.

Additionally, there are a number of tools to help you use twitter in the best way! Here are a few of our faves:

search.twitter has powerful advanced search and search streaming options!

twittervision offers a real-time geographical visualization of posts to Twitter. It's really fun to watch tweets pop up on a map!

Twellow is a Twitter search directory of people by area of expertise, profession or other attribute listed in personal profiles on Twitter.

Just Tweet It is a user directory for Twitter organized by genre to allow for users to easily find other Twitter users to connect with.

Twitterfeed allows people and organizations to feed their blog posts and other streaming information to their twitter accounts. This is a great way to extend the reach of your blog and news items.

Twhirl is one of many useful desktop clients, based on the Adobe Air platform that provides a different way to view and interact with your twitter accounts. It is PC & Mac friendly, and irt can also be used with other social networking services.

Want to be gently guided through it? Check out Caroline Middlebrook's The Big Juicy Twitter Guide.

Phoebe Owens