SIGMA::BLOG

One of the coolest things about Twitter is all the creative applications and tools that are out there to further profile, search and engage with this micro-blogging platform.  There are hundreds of useful tools/sites and the list grows every day.  Below are some of the favorites we use to enhance our Twitter experience.  Let us know if we’re missing your favorite Twitter tool.

[Never forget to safeguard your Twitter password and only use it on sites you trust.]

Twitter Search, Trends & News

Search.Twitter – Twitter’s own search engine (formerly Summize).  Type in any search term and see what’s happening on Twitter for that keyword.  You can subscribe to a search via RSS.

Twazzup – An alternative Twitter search engine.  It has the basic functionality of search.twitter.com, but is faster, has a better UI and offers additional useful resources.

Spy - Tracks real-time keyword mentions in Twitter, FriendFeed, Flickr, Blog Comments, Yahoo News, Blogs and Google Reader.  You can subscribe to a search via RSS.

Twendz - A real-time Twitter search application that also measures sentiment.

TwettMeme, Twit(url)y, MicroBlogBuzz – Tracks and features the most popular links on Twitter.  MicroBlogBuzz aggregates links from Jaiku and Identica along with Twitter.

ReTweetist – Tracks the most popular retweets (RT).

RetweetRadar – Allows you to see popular retweets.  Also archives top trending terms and Twitter users by day.

WhatTheHashag - A wiki that tracks hashtags on Twitter.

TwitScoop – A real-time tag cloud of Twitter buzz.

Tinker – A simple way to discover events people are chattering about on Twitter and across the social web.

Favrd- This site lists interesting things that show up on Twitter based on the number of times an item/tweet has been declared as a “favorite.”

TweetNews – Ranks top stories based on the amount of related tweets.

StockTwits - Shares the investment discussions on Twitter in real time.

Twitter Alerts

TweetScan - Schedule Twitter searches to be sent to your email.

TweetBeep- The Google Alerts for Twitter, allows you to monitor conversations that mention you, your brand and related products.  When an assigned keywords are tweeted, an email alert will be sent to you.

Twitter Analytics & Graphs

Twitalyzer – A complete analytics and visualization tool for Twitter users.  The site evaluates the activity of any Twitter user and/or brand and report on relative influence, signal-to-noise raitio, generosity, velocity, clout, and other measures of success.  Twitalyzer also allows you to combine Twitter data with your Google Analytics.  Sign up for Twitalzyer Pro to gain access to additional measurements (e.g., Your Top Influencers, ROI, Clouds reports).

TwitterCounter - Graphs your twitter usage – followers, friends and updates.

Trendrr – Tracks trends and statistics on multiple social media platforms.

Twist – A Twitter trends tool that graphs your queried terms into a format similar to Google Trends.

TweetVolume – Graphs how often words and phrases are mentioned on Twitter and then indexed on Google.

TwitterGrader – Learn your Twitter grade, your local Twitter Elite, and find new people to follow.

Twitterholic - Lists top 100 Twitter users based on followers.

TweetStats – Offers a graphical analysis of your Twitter usage.

Twinfluence – Measures your Twitter influence based on reach, velocity, and social captial.

RetweetRank - Measures how many retweets you have received.

Find and Manage Twitter Follower, Friends and Tweets

WeFollow - User generated directory of Twitterers categorized by their industry, interest and hobby.  Include yourself to the list by clicking on “Add Yourself to WeFollow” button.

Twellow - Yellow Pages of Twitter.  Breaks out tweople by industry category and location.

TwitDir - Offers a variety of ways to search for people on Twittr (user name, location, description).

Mr. Tweet - Follow @mrtweet and he will send you a DM with a suggested good people to follower based on folks that are in your Twitter network and recommendations they received.

Twubble , WhoShouldIFollow - Type in your Twitter username and this program recommends people you should follow based on popularity and location.

LocalTweeps , NearByTweets – Enter your zip code or location and find who is near you.

Tweetizen - A web-based tool designed to help you filter tweets by categorizing your followers and their tweets by assigning Twitter groups.

FriendOrFollow - This tool compares your list of friends with your followers and shows you who does not follow you back.

SocialToo – Summarizes your new followers and those who unfollowed you via email.  Also offers autofollow and opt out of auto DM’s services.

Twitterholic – Find out who has the most followers and who can be an influential asset to your campaign.

Twitoria – Finds who haven’t tweeted in a long time that are part of your Twitter network.

Qwitter – Helps you manage your network by sending an alert when someone unfollows you.

Twalala – Put a mute button on certain people or topcis for a set amount of time if you are receiving way too many unwanted updates.

Twitter List (Brands, Government Officials, Retailers)

TweetBuzzer – Tracks the top 100 tweeted brands. We especially like the “Track Your Favorite Brand” feature, which summarizes the number of tweets and impressions during the past 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days.

Retail Twitter – Aggregates selected retailers (Brick & Mortar and E-Commerce) who are using Twitter to connect with their customers.

ExecTweets – Launched by Federated Media and sponsored by Microsoft, the site aggregates and groups Tweets from business executives by verticals and offers additional features to easily keep track of brands/executives on Twitter.

USGovernment - A full list of government officials, agencies, departments and staffs on Twitter.

JobMob – A global directory of Twitter accounts that post job openings.

Sharing Image, Videos, Links, Files, URL Shortners on Twitter, Twitter Polls

TwitPic – The most popular photo posting and sharing service.

Filetwt - A convenient utility for quickly sharing any files, upt to 20MB, with your entire Twitter network or just a single user.

TwitVid - Twitter video sharing site that supports upload via Web, email to u@twitvid.io.

Twiddeo – A service that allows you to upload video from the Web, camera phone and webcam.

BubbleTweet - Create a short video that pops up as a “bubble” over your Twitter profile page.  You can also embed a pop-up video message into your website with BubbleGuru, and BubbleComment allows you to include a video message on blogs.

URL Shortners that Tracks Clicks:  Bit.ly, Twitclicks, Tweetburner are few that we use often (we said our good byes to Tr.im in Aug-09)

StrawPoll – Poll your Twitter friends.

Glue – Post links to books, movies, restaurants and more on Twitter through Glue.

Twitter Handel, Plug-Ins, Clients

TweetDeck - A popular Adobe Air desktop client for Twitter offering variety of ways to organize your Twitter dashboard through preferences you set up (e.g., groups, key-word).

Twhirl – Adobe AIR desktop application connecting users to their Twitter, FriendFeed, Seesmic and laconi.ca accounts.

PowerTwitter – Firefox add-on that offers additional features to your Twitter Web interface (e.g., inline pictures and video to Twitter stream, URL expansion, Facebook status updates, etc.).

Hootsuite – Allows you to manage multiple Twitter accounts and pre-schedule tweets.  Also allows you to send links with banner ads by  linking your Hootsuite account with Google Adsense.

TweetLater and CoTweet – Allow you to schedule when your Tweets get published.  Also help you to manage multiple accounts.

TwitterBerry - A popular BlackBerry Twitter application.

Ping.fm – A free service that allows you to update all of your social networks at once.

TwinBox – Lets you use Twitter inside of Outlook.

Organization & Productivity

Twittercal - Links your Twitter account and Google Calendar to easily keep up with your events and appointments.

@Timer , @RTM- Follow one of these Twitter accounts and direct message an upcoming task to receive reminder tweet.


TrackThis - Send TrackThis your tracking number and it will send you a message (via Twitter, Email, SMS, RSS, Facebook) when a package has arrived.  Tracks UPS, Fedex, USPS, DHL and several other carriers.

Jott – Voice-to-Text mobile messaging service that will transcribe your voice message to Twitter.

TwtVite - A simple event manager that helps you organize TweetUp.

TwtTrip - A travel organizer tool that helps you share your travel plans and find other Twitter travelers going to your destination.

Fund Raising, Petition, Promotion, Coupons

ChipIn , TipJoy – Helps you raise funds on Twitter for your cause.  Both service tracks the progress of your fund raising program.

TwtQpon - Allows you to create a simple Twitter coupon for your business.

Act.ly , TinyPetition -  A Twitter petition sites where user created petitions are tweeted out to their followers for them to join in.

Twibbon – Helps supporters of a cause overlay their Twitter avatars with an icon that shows of support and solidarity around an issue (e.g., pink ribbon)

Blogging

Add To Any – A WordPress plug-in that gets your blog posts shared on Twitter.

Tweet This - Allows your blog readers to tweet your post directly from your blog/site.
MyTwitter - Allows users to display their recent Twitter status updates on their WordPress site.


TwitterCounter - With this plug-in, you can display the number of follower you have on Twitter.

Twitter Visualization

VisibleTweets.com - Aggragates and animates Twitter search results.  Great for presentation.

TwitterSheep – Creates a tag cloud  based on the gios of the Twitter user’s followers.

Twistori - Features tweets containing love, hate, think, believe, feel or wish.

Social Collider – Tracks conversations based on users or topics and graphs if connected to another conversation or not.

Miscellaneous Simple Single Function Sites

WhenDidYouJoinTwitter – Tells you when the Twitter account was opened.

IsTwitterDown - Tells you if Twitter is down or not.

DoesFollow – Tells you if a user is following another user.