Twitter About?

Special Weekend Edition: Twitter About? Top 21 Twitter Apps to enhance your Twitter Experience. These are awesome and they are hot! Check em out and have fun! Enjoy… – jschulmansr

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The Top 21 Twitter Applications (According to Compete) – Tech Crunch

Source: Tech Crunch

by Leena Rao on February 19, 2009

We’ve accumulated a list of the twenty most popular Twitter applications, based on monthly unique visitor data from Compete.

Twitpic, an app that lets users share photos on Twitter, took the top spot with 1,236,828 unique visitors in January. Tweetdeck, which came in second with 285,864 monthly visits, is a Twitter app that streamlines notifications and tweets. Third place went to Digsby (with 233,472 monthly visitors), an application that centralizes e-mail, IM and social networking accounts into one desktop program. With 149,812 visits, the fourth most popular app, Twitterfeed, offers to automatically tweet posts published on a user’s blog using RSS. A Twitter user ranking site, Twitterholic, is the fifth most popular application, with 147,164 people visiting monthly.

Interestingly, two of the top twenty apps – Digsby and Hellotxt, an application that allows users to update their status across social networks – are not exclusively focused on Twitter. We recently wrote a detailed post on why we cover Twitter-related news so often, and we think the fact that there are so many applications developed as an offshoot of the microblogging system is another testament to the fact that Twitter is not just another startup. This is our attempt to figure out which ones are gaining the most traction.

While we think this is a pretty comprehensive list based on the chosen proxy for popularity, it’s but a first pass at a list we hope will become more authoritative over time. Keep in mind that this methodology is only one measurement of engagement; many people use Twitter iPhone apps and other clients without ever visiting these services’ websites. Derivative site traffic is only a proxy for usage but the most easily measurable one.

We also ran these sites though Quantcast and Google Trends, but chose to measure by Compete because it had the most comprehensive set of data, especially for the smaller sites. So the absolute numbers are unquestionably higher for some of these Twitter apps. If you know additional Twitter apps that should be listed here, or if you have better ideas on how to compile this list, please leave a message in the comments.

It should also be noted that there is a plethora of Twitter application databases out there. Here are a few that we looked at particularly closely: Twitter Fan Wiki, Twitdom, Twapps, Twitstat, and TwitTown.

Update: As many people are pointing out in the comments, Twhirl is not included in this list. That’s because the list is based on Compete data, and Compete measures Twhirl at under 13,000 visitors per month. As we said above, this is just the first pass at creating a list and we certainly realize Compete traffic is not a perfect way to gauge the popularity of applications.

Update 2: So it looks like we owe a “mea culpa” on Twhirl, since we looked up the wrong address on Compete originally (it’s at .org not .com). Twhirl.org actually has 143,000 visitors, putting it at the #6 spot.

Update 3: By popular demand, here is a list of the Top 21 Twitter Clients (According To TwitStat).

Twitter Applications	Monthly unique visits (Compete)
1. Twitpic	1,236,828
2. Tweetdeck	285,864
3. Digsby	233,472
4. Twittercounter	212,200
5. Twitterfeed	149,812
6. Twitterholic	147,164
7. Twhirl	143,333
8. Twitturly	88,793
9. Twtpoll	74,154
10. Retweetist	60,051
11. Tweepler	51,304
12. Hellotxt	45,754
13. Twitdom	45,411
14. Tweetscan	44,463
15. Tweetburner	41,754
16. Tweetvisor	31,621
17. Twittervision	30,708
18. Twitterfall	29,592
19. Monitter	25,433
20. Twibs	17,168
21. Twistori	16,229
22. Twitbin	14,986

Website:	twitter.com
Location:	San Francisco, California, United States
Founded:	March 1, 2006
Funding:	$55M

Twitter, founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams and launched in July 2006, is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to post their latest updates. An update is limited by 140 characters and can be posted… Learn More

TwitPic

Website:	twitpic.com
Founded:	February 1, 2008

TwitPic lets you share photos on Twitter. You can post pictures to TwitPic from your phone, through TwitPic’s API, or through the site itself.

Also, some Twitter clients have… Learn More

TweetDeck

Website:	tweetdeck.com
Location:	Crowborough, United Kingdom
Founded:	June, 2008
Funding:	$450k

TweetDeck is an Adobe Air desktop application that is currently in beta. It aims to evolve the existing functionality of Twitter by taking an abundance of information i.e twitter feeds, and breaking it down into more manageable bite sized pieces.

… Learn More

twitterfeed

Website:

twitterfeed.com

twitterfeed allows you to feed your blog into Twitter. You provide the URL of a blog’s RSS feed and how often you want posts to Twitter, and twitterfeed does the rest. Learn More

Information provided by CrunchBase

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See You Next Week and get ready for New Records in Gold!!!

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Nothing in today’s post should be considered as an offer to buy or sell any securities or other investments, it is presented for informational purposes only. As a good investor, consult your Investment Advisor, Do Your Due Diligence, Read All Prospectus/s and related information carefully before you make any investments. – jschulmansr

Twitter and Tweeting – The Basics plus Gold Update

Have you ever Tweeted? In this Special Edition of Dare Something Worthy Today Too!, In this special edition I am including articles dedicated to Twitter and Tweeting Basics. In my earlier post today I stated Gold was consolidating for another thrust to test the All Time High of $1003 an oz. Gold was trading around the $965 level. Now checkout what happened… – Good Investing and Good Tweeting! -jschulmansr

ps-after today’s action it seems like every “forecaster” is now finally heralding a “New” Bull market in Gold. How much money do these guys charge? If you have been following this blog and my notes you would be up $150+ oz in Physical Gold, not to mention some excellent gains in Gold Stocks too, and for Free! Remember you heard it here first! – jschulmansr

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Gold tops $980 as safety buying continues – MarketWatch

Source: MarketWatch

METALS STOCKS

Gold up for second day as safety

buying continues

By Moming Zhou, MarketWatch

Last update: 2:24 p.m. EST Feb. 18, 2009

 

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold futures rose Wednesday for a second session, ending at the highest level in seven months after briefly hitting $980 an ounce, as safe-haven buying continued.

 

 

Meanwhile, holdings in the biggest gold exchange-traded fund surpassed 1,000 tons for the first time ever, according to latest data.

 

Gold for February delivery ended up $10.70, or 1.1%, at $977.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest closing level for a front-month contract since July 15, when gold closed at the same price.

 

The February contract, which expires on Feb. 25, rose to $980.80 earlier. Trading more actively, the April contract also ended higher at $978.20.

Gold is now about $26 below its all-time high above $1,003 an ounce, hit in March 2008. Talk of “gunning for the $1,000 level” should keep buyers at the helm, said Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers.

 

Helping gold prices hold firm Wednesday was more gloomy news from the U.S. economy.

 

Construction on new U.S. housing units plunged 16.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday, with housing starts now far below the weakest levels of construction in the post-World War II era.

 

Such news tends to boost gold prices, as some investors buy the metal as a safe haven against economic troubles.

 

Meanwhile, the Obama administration released details Wednesday of a program to help millions of at-risk homeowners modify their mortgages. See full story on Obama housing plan.

 

Demand surpasses $100 billion

 

Demand for gold surpassed $100 billion last year for the first time ever, amid increased industrial and jewelry consumption and investors’ purchase of the metal as a safe haven, the World Gold Council reported Wednesday.

 

Gold demand — including jewelry consumption, industrial demand and identifiable investments such as bars, coins and gold exchange-traded funds — hit $102 billion in 2008, up 29% from a year ago.

In tonnage terms, gold demand rose 4% to 3,659 tons, the WGC said

Gold holdings in SPDR Gold Shares, the largest gold exchange-traded fund, rose to 1,008.80 tons Tuesday, surpassing the 1,000 ton level for the first time, according to latest data from the fund. The total was up more than 200 tons from a month ago.

 

The SPDR Gold Trust GLD 96.44, +0.99, +1.0%) gained 1.1% to $96.45.

 

In spot trading, the London afternoon gold-fixing price — a benchmark for gold traded directly between big institutions — stood at $964 an ounce Wednesday, down $4 from the previous day.

 

Other metals, equities

 

In other metals trading, March copper rose 1% to $1.436 a pound, while March silver gained 2% to $14.29 an ounce.

March palladium added 0.5% to $219.10 an ounce, and the April contract for sister metal platinum rose slightly to $1,098.90 an ounce.

 

In equities, shares of Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX 37.88, +0.59, +1.6%) , the world’s largest gold-mining company, added 2.2% to $38.13, while Goldcorp Inc. (GG 32.14, +0.30, +0.9%) gained 1.6% to $32.36, and South Africa’s Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI 11.79, -0.04, -0.3%) was up 0.3% to $11.85.

 

The Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI 320.54, +1.35, +0.4%) , which tracks the share prices of major gold companies, gained 0.7% to 321.41.

 

The iShares Gold Trust ETF (IAU 96.48, +0.94, +1.0%) rose 1% to $96.50, while the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV 14.20, +0.21, +1.5%) rose 1.4% to $14.18.

 

Moming Zhou is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York.

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Catch the New Bull! – Buy Gold Online – Get 1 gram free just for opening account!, no minimums – Buy Safely, quickly, and at low prices, guaranteed! – Bullion Vault.com

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Twitter and Tweeting – The Basics

 

Top 10 Twitter Tips for Beginners – PC Magazine

 

 by Sean Ludwig

 

Ready to jump into Twitter, but don’t know how to get started? Follow these 10 tips and you’ll fit right in.

 

Is it finally time to take the Twitter plunge? The free service that lets users micro-blog 140 characters at a time had accumulated around 1.9 million users as of December 2008, according to comScore. If you are just now jumping on the Twitter bandwagon, or are intimidated by your inexperience with Twitter etiquette and acronyms, allow us to share some Twittery tips that will make your experience easier and more enjoyable.

1. Shrink Your URLs

 

 One of the most common uses of Twitter is sharing links. But you only have 140 characters to work with, so instead of sharing a long URL, use one of several URL-shortening services to shrink that link. Some of our favorites include tinyurl.com, is.gd, ow.ly, and bit.ly. 

2. RT = Retweet

If you want to copy and paste someone else’s tweet, that’s totally accepted and appreciated, as long as you give the original tweeter credit for it. Just put “RT @name” in front of their tweet and post it yourself.

3. Direct Messaging

With Twitter’s direct-messaging (DM) function, you can send a private 140-character message to another user, kind of like abbreviated e-mail. However, you can only direct message Twitter users that are following you.

4. Use the @ Sign

To create a reply or to give someone props on Twitter, simply place an @ sign in front of their Twitter name. If it is a reply, the @ sign must be the first character of the tweet. To see replies to your own tweets, click on @Replies from your profile page.

5. Search For Your Friends

Search.twitter.com works well for finding your friends, celebrities, or organizations, or for searching for specific topics you’re interested in.  

6. Categorize Your Tweets for Added Visibility    

 

If you’re tweeting about a popular subject (Obama, Lost, etc) putting a # in front of the subject makes it easy for others to find your tweet, and perhaps they will want to follow you. For example, when the plane crashed into the Hudson River in January, #flight1549 became a popular tag and search term.

7. Share Pictures

People love sharing their photos with the world, and some even break news with them, like Janis Krums, who used TwitPic to post one of the first up-close photos of Flight 1549 on his Twitter feed. Services like TwitPic let users easily upload their photos and post them directly to Twitter.

8. Tweet from Your Phone

Twitter allows you to update your status and receive updates via text message. Under Settings, go to the Devices tab and enter your phone number to start sending and receiving mobile tweets. If your incoming tweets/texts are overwhelming you, disable this option by going back to the same panel and following the instructions.

9. Pick a Good Desktop Client

With desktop clients such as TweetDeck, Twhirl, and TwitterFox, you can receive tweets in a much more manageable fashion, especially if you follow a lot of people, respond often, and use direct messages a lot. TweetDeck, for example, allows you to create specific groups, if you want to split your feed into individual columns.

10. Download a Mobile Client

If you have a BlackBerry, an iPhone, or another smartphone with Wi-Fi or 3G access, a mobile client might be a better option than using text messages. Mobile Twitter clients worth checking out include Twitterific, TwitterBerry, PocketTweets, and Twidroid. You can even follow PCMag on Twitter! Find us at http://twitter.com/pcmag, and follow AppScout and Gearlog too!

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My Note: you can follow me on Twitter too!

http://twitter.com/jschulmansr  or click here.

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Six Ways to Make Twitter Useful – PC Magazine

Source: PCMAG.com by Nick Douglas

02.17.09

Twitter’s usefulness goes far beyond finding out what strangers ate for lunch. Read breaking news, get customer service, or even chat with your favorite celebrities.

Twitter is vapid, Twitter is narcissistic—Twitter is actually terribly useful if you can ignore knee-jerk backlash. The casual, instant nature of the service lends itself to solving small problems quickly, distributing live-on-the-scene news reports, and keeping track of people. Here are six easy ways to transform Twitter from a time sink into an indispensable tool.

 

Follow the News

In general, the Web at large is still a more complete news source. Twitter is for keeping track of one niche you care about, staying informed on a news-heavy day, and getting live updates from Twitter users on the scene (like from an Apple keynote or a plane crash in the Hudson River). @CNN posts headlines with story links, but I prefer the one-sentence story summaries on the unofficial @cnnbrk. @NYTimes posts headlines and links too, but it also follows the accounts of 80 NYT sections and writers. Other popular news feeds include @BreakingNewsOn, @nprnews, @weirdnews, @macrumors, @MarsPhoenix, @Astronautics, and several feeds from Digg. PCMag offers a feed for tech news, as do Gearlog and AppScout. You can also hand-roll feeds from a news site’s RSS using Twitterfeed, but don’t publicize it too hard lest the site owners complain.

Get Better Customer Service

Conducting customer service on Twitter doesn’t make much sense—for the company. It just won’t scale well once Twitter gets another ten million users. But right now you can get more attention than you deserve as a single customer by talking to one of these companies on Twitter: Zappos, Starbucks, Whole Foods, JetBlue, and many, many others. Next time you have a customer complaint, just Google the search string “[Company name] Twitter” to see if you can make your case in 140 characters. Or just post a gripe about the company or product and wait for someone in the Twitterverse to respond.

Ask for Help

As with blogs and forums, Twitter is a great place to ask questions you’re too lazy to find the answers for yourself. And the service is absolutely perfect for asking favors (“Can anyone help me move on Friday?”), gathering opinions (“Do organic bananas taste better?”), or getting advice (“How much RAM should I get for my new MacBook?”) Twitter takes a problem you can solve by spending 5 minutes at a computer and makes it solvable in 10 seconds from the produce aisle. Of course, this works best when your real-life friends are following you, as developer Owen Winkler explains. Especially if you ask your followers to help you lose weight. The flip side is that Twitter communication is meant to be two-way. Build your network of followers and your Twitter karma by jumping in with answers and help of your own.

Promote Your Work/Company

Again, Twitter isn’t the first service to solve this problem; the immediacy of the service just makes it a good option. If you don’t abuse it, you can use an occasional link to promote an app you’ve built, an article you’ve written, or a longer plea for someone to please, please help you move on Friday. Just keep it to three links a week; any more and you’ll alienate followers who already know about your work or couldn’t care less.

Keep Up with Friends

Other than entertaining strangers, this is my favorite use of Twitter. One message at a time, knowing who has a cold or who got in a fender bender is dull. But in aggregate, skimming your Twitter feed gives you a sixth sense about what your social circle is up to, what moods they’re in, whether they’re free for a drink that night and whether you’d better offer to pay. Unlike the more intense location-based services, Twitter still has a built-in casualness: You’re not necessarily asking people to meet you right here right now, you’re just asking if anyone’s free for lunch.

Meet Celebrities

Not all of the most-followed Twitter users pay attention to messages from their followers, but Brent Spiner (Star Trek‘s Data) is pretty friendly, as is comedian Stephen Fry. And if you have heroes in the tech media world, you’re set for life here.

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Final Note: Get involved in investing in precious metals whatever form, i.e. bullion, stocks, etf’s and etc. NOW!

I can be tweeted @jschulmansr or jschulmansr

Enjoy and Have A Great Evening! -jschulmansr

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Nothing in today’s post should be considered as an offer to buy or sell any securities or other investments; it is presented for informational purposes only. As a good investor, consult your Investment Advisor/s, Do Your Due Diligence, Read All Prospectus/s and related information carefully before you make any investing decisions and/or investments. –  jschulmansr