Earlier this year Mark wrote a how-to post on syncing Twitter with your Facebook status, but as of late I’ve found the app (officially built by Twitter) to be troublesome, either in setting it up initially or feeling like too much information was headed across the wire. To remedy the situation, I quickly uninstalled the app and have since resorted to using Selective Twitter, another Facebook app that let’s you choose selectively which Twitter updates will be sent across to Facebook.

Like Ping.fm, but Specific for Twitter to Facebook

The service is almost a bit like Ping.fm, as you’re updating a status in one place and having it auto-post to another. The trick to using Selective Twitter is that first you must sign up to use the app. Sign in over on Facebook and then punch in your Twitter username on the Selective Twitter app page.

Once you’ve plugged in your Twitter username, just tag any tweets you want to end up on Facebook with the #fb hashtag. These updates will be seamlessly pulled into your Facebook status and can be catered (written) more specifically to apply to both audiences (Twitter and Facebook). Or, if you’re sharing a photo or link and want more exposure than just posting to Twitter, hashtag it and send the info to both places.

Give Yourself More Control Over Updates

I don’t use Facebook often, but I have gotten a few comments before based on my Facebook status, so using this app allows me to more easily share that information with the Facebook friends who want it, instead of them seeing a constant stream of all of the interesting articles I come across or resources I share with the audience I have built up on Twitter.

While this is a wonderful app (built by @andyy), it still doesn’t solve my (and others’) ultimate problem: I want to enable my Facebook status to update my Twitter account.

As Mark Carey (@mthacks) points out, “there has been a lot of discussion about whether Twitter’s “real time search” could pose a threat to Google.” I often find myself turning to Twitter to ask my followers questions or look for feedback, but I don’t see it replacing the millions of websites indexed by Google. Relying on Twitter for search results is good for some types of queries, but other times you just need the details, not what people are saying about the details.

Carey was tired of waiting around while people discussed what Google might do, so he built a simple Greasemonkey script that allows users to pull the last 5 tweets on a topic into the typical Google search results page. What you get is the standard looking Google search results (whose content age is relatively undeterminable), spiced up my what is being said now about your topic on Twitter.

Check out Mark’s post for the full details around his script, but the basics for getting this installed are easy:

1. If you don’t have it already, install the Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox.
2. Click the Install button on the “Twitter Search Results on Google” page at userscripts.org.

There are plenty of Twitter clients available these days, but only a few have proved themselves truly worthy of the business audience. For an application to be successful it’s got to be easy to use and have all of the features the user wants. If you’ve recently convinced your company to start microblogging, chances are they aren’t as familiar with how things work and what the best applications are to use. However, if you can wrap up the best of them all (scheduling, search, follow/unfollow) and put it into an interface that people can understand, your chances for success are even greater.

Aaron Gotwalt (@gotwalt), Jesse Engle (@jesseengle) and Kyle Sollenberger (@iamkyle) think they’ve built the tool that could finally push businesses over the tipping point and into Twitter full-bore. From the looks of their new app, CoTweet, I’d say they’re well on their way.

It’s Like an Inbox…for Tweets

What business users will probably be most excited about is the look and feel of this app. Everything is very polished, just like any other piece of software they’re used to using. The main interface looks like an email inbox, which may also lead to wider adoption of Twitter as a business tool, as it allows you to process new tweets through the system. After you set up your company and personal accounts (called Channels in CoTweet), the tweets start flowing in.

CoTweet is like an email inbox for Twitter

Review, Assign, Respond, Archive

CoTweet is billed as a corporate Twitter tool because you can load a number of editors under a single company account. This allows your team to stay on top of inbound tweets without trampling over each other. As tweets drop into your inbox, individual employees can take whatever action is needed.

Does your company follow hundreds of users? Is is difficult to weed through everything just to find the messages you need to respond to? The OnDuty option (which can be switched on or off per user) will proactively monitor for new direct messages and @replies and send email alerts when they arrive. That also means you can continue working on other things in the background and just wait for email alerts to notify you when you need to take action.

Typing up a reply (see the signature included)

Another feature CoTweet uses to keep you on track is the Assignment option. If you’ve got an inbound tweet that really needs to be answered by someone from your sales department, assign the message to that person and they can be alerted via email of the pending assignment. For tracking purposes, the assignor can also get an email receipt when the assignee completes their task.

If you’ve ever watched Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero video and wish you could do the same with Twitter, CoTweet answers again. Mash the ‘X’ next to tweets in your inbox and they’ll be archived out of your queue.

Identify the Employees Behind Your Account with CoTags

As more companies begin to leverage corporate identities on Twitter, it can be difficult (and sometimes frustrating) for users to understand who specifically is behind an account. Dell has overcome this by leveraging company branded accounts like @RichardatDELL and @LionellatDell in conjunction with a page on its website dedicated to outlining who manages what. Other companies are updating the 160-character bio for their account as different employees are on duty. Still, some users aren’t satisfied (can we really please everyone?). CoTweet also aims to solve this problem of corporate identification by implementing its CoTags feature.

“CoTags are short signatures that allow you to identify yourself as part of a message while sharing an account with multiple people. CoTags take the form ^AG, where “AG” is your first and last initial.”

CoTweet has set up an additional website (and Twitter account: @cotags) to track and share good examples of accounts effectively using CoTags under their corporate brand. A few that stand out are @RobertVerdi and @msoffice_us. Perhaps this will satisfy those out there still proclaiming that brands should not have their own Twitter accounts, but rather employees with their own accounts tweeting on a company’s behalf. Now a user can follow a brand on Twitter AND see who is pushing out the messages.

CoTweet Provides the Tools for ANY Company to Get Involved

While previous corporate Twitter case studies were reserved for innovative companies like Whole Foods and Zappos, the team at CoTweet has built a tool that truly gives any company the ability to use the microblogging service effectively. Head over to their site and get signed up for the private beta for a chance to try it out.

Even after CoTweet rolls out a pro/paid plan (and I’m sure they will), companies will still be lining up with cash in hand to utilize this tool. You owe it to your company to give it a whirl.

Many people feel that receiving an automatic direct message after following someone is impersonal and inappropriate. Some people will go as far as to unfollow that person after receiving such messages. A new service appeared recently called Twitter DMer that aims to make automatic direct messages more personal.

The Service

After logging in with using your Twitter account, you can create a customized message with whatever text you want or you can choose from a predefined set of three. There are a few variables you can use in your message, such as {firstname}, {location}, and {website}. After you’ve set up your message, enable the service by clicking a button. To disable the service at any time, just log back in and click the button again. I’m not exactly sure how it figures out when you have a new follower but I’d guess it’s probably using the Social Graph API methods since you don’t have to forward it any email.

Enter custom text to send as an auto DM

Choose from a set of predefined messages

Is it really any different than a canned auto DM?

What this really boils down to is that it’s still an automatic message. The only way to be genuine to your followers is to send the message yourself, though that isn’t always an option. Does this actually make messages more personal or is it just a smarter way to feign sincerity? Let us know what you think with a comment.

We’ve all been inconvenienced by the typical 140 character limit that microblogs carry. Purists will say you can carry on despite the limit, while others will argue that other tools are necessary to continue the conversation. One tool to continue the conversation easily and with minimal cost of entry is TinyChat.

There really isn’t any good medium for conversation without having to sign up for accounts. Blogs are good enough but it’s not very real-time and it can be difficult to converse there. Not everyone has instant messengers or accounts on the same protocol. TinyChat removes all those variables and makes it unbelievably easy to jump right into the conversation.

Options for archiving a TinyChat session (image courtesy Download Squad)

Once you’ve created your chat room with a single click, you can distribute the short link as necessary. If you’re thinking more long-term, you can embed a badge for that room onto any web page. You can log in using any username or your Twitter handle. When the conversation is over – or when it’s served it’s purpose – you can archive it by saving it as text, emailing it, saving it as TinyPaste, or posting it to Twitter. While it isn’t an incredibly powerful chat tool, it’s more than good enough to carry on a conversation.

We’ve been asked a few times for suggestions on tools that help you find other people in your area. We covered TwitterLocal a while back and we’ve suggested TwellowHood. Newly added to the mix is ChirpCity, a web-based service aimed at finding people in or talking about a city.

The first time I went to the website, ChirpCity reminded me of CraigsList for some reason. What you get is a list of predefined large cities that you can jump right into. These cities all have a “top users” club as well as the two main sections – tweets from and tweets about. If your city isn’t on the list, you can search for it. Every city that’s found has a list of tweets from people who live in the city you’re viewing and a list of tweets containing the name of the city you’re viewing.

Des Moines on ChirpCity

ChirpCity is a very simple, easy to use application. It just came out a few days ago but already looks like it could be a valuable service for those who want to find others in their area.

Thanks to Roberto for sending this in. Got a tip for us? Send it to tips [at] microblink [dot] com.

We all know how much fun it is when we log into our favorite email app and have several new emails waiting for us from Twitter, proudly announcing “______ is now following you on Twitter.” Some people live for this (those on a quest for Twitter followers as if there were a prize to be won), while others could care less and simply go about their digital lives.

For those that follow their follower numbers more closely, Qwitter is a great tool for tracking those users that drop off your Twitter stream. Over the past few months the service had been down (for reasons unknown to me), but just recently I started getting emails from them again, which is good news (even though they deliver bad news).

The premise of Qwitter is that just as Twitter will tell you when new users start following you, Qwitter will tell you when they stop. It’s notification email mirrors Twitter’s almost identically, though it also pulls in your most recent tweet, trying to illustrate what scared the user off. However, just because that was your most recent tweet does not necessarily mean it was the thing that tipped the user off, so don’t let it bother you too much. You could have been cut for any reason.

Warren Sukernek (@warrenss) wrote a great post on Qwitter back in December and had some great links to others who ranted or raved about the tool, but for me its not much to get worked up over. I use it because I like to follow the ups and downs of my followers. I won’t go out of my way to interrogate unfollowees or question their loyalty, as its none of my business (unless they care to share).

If you want to track your Qwitters, give this tool a try. If not, you can save yourself the trouble of trying one more Twitter app.

Many people use FriendFeed as a firehose for multiple content sources. FriendFeed allows you to create a lifestream and subscribe to other users’ lifestreams. There’s a ton of really good content and functionality on FriendFeed, so it’s important that you’re watching it for mentions. But how do you do that? FriendDeck is one such tool that helps you in this case.

The Web Client

The easiest way to interact with FriendDeck is by using the web interface. Once you’re logged in, you can create search columns that allow you to monitor keywords, searches, users, friends, lists, rooms, specific services, and much more. There’s a dedicated help room to show you some tricks you can use to create columns.

The AIR Client

One of the sweetest features of FriendDeck is that the AIR client syncs your columns with the web interface. This allows you to choose your columns and take them anywhere you want. While it needs some work, it’s a good option for those who prefer AIR apps. There are some bugs being reported (see the FriendDeck room) such as time zones being off, the unlike option not working, and some case-sensitivity issues. These plague both the AIR and web clients.

Search Modifiers

Here’s a few options you can put in front of a search to modify what results you get back:

• friends:user – list of entries by a user’s friends
• room:room-name – list of entries for a room
• likes:user – list of user’s likes
• comments:user – list of user’s comments
• url:mylink – list of posts regarding mylink
• domain:mydomain – list of posts about a domain
• twitter:criteria – search Twitter for criteria
• who:user – list of posts by user
• list:favorites – list of posts in your favorites list
• say:message – send message to FriendFeed

What Else?

You can’t reply to other users’ updates and it’s cumbersome to send new messages. To me, that’s one of the biggest draws for FriendFeed. The app feels more like a read-only tool or a FriendFeed feed reader. ReadWriteWeb suggests building building private rooms to fill with blogs, sites, searches, etc and then subscribing to that room. This gives you a pretty sophisticated reader built on top of FriendFeed. The plus side is you can also use that from the FriendFeed UI.

FriendDeck is a complex application, so don’t feel bad if you feel like you’re lost or you don’t quite get it. Take some time and explore what it has to offer, and definitely check out the help room. Try the web interface first, then dive into the AIR app if you like it.

TwitterCard is a tool created by Ryan Maule (@ryanmaule) that generates a 125×125 Javascript widget to display your most recent tweet, your avatar and your location.

There have been a number of different tools developed to display your recent tweets, but many are very awkward to fit into a website. I love TwitterCard because it fits right into a 125×125 slot, something readily available in most blog themes.

To get started with your own TwitterCard, just plug your username into the entry box and hit generate to build the code necessary to display the widget. No passwords required. I’m betting the service makes an API call to scoop up your latest tweet, location, etc.

And if you’re a WordPress junkie (like we are), there’s also a WordPress-specific plugin you can use to include your TwitterCard.

One of the hardest things to do on Twitter is find new friends, which is why there are a ton of tools out there for that purpose. Twitter recently released Name Search to allow you to search users by name, but that’s only a part of the info you really want to look at. To look at the bio and location fields, I suggest using a tool called TweepSearch.

TweepSearch is a utility written by Damon Cortesi (@dacort), who’s also the writer of the fantastic stat tool TweetStats. When you go to TweepSearch, all you have to do is give it a keyword and it’ll search based on that. The list you get back is sorted by last update, though you can also sort it by screen name. You can also search a specific user’s followers if you want to by clicking on their avatar, though with the indexing queue being fairly large you may not get results right away.

Damon’s got a number of other useful tools such as a DM Deleter and a tool to tell you who your first follow was. Check out his blog and/or give him a follow.

Accounts to follow:

@dacort, @tweepsearch