Posts made in September, 2009

100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Twitter Research

Posted by Avi Savar on Sep 30, 2009 in Research & Trends | 0 comments

Twitter has exploded into a must-track resource for news, rants, consumer reports, public health, shopping deals and emerging trends. But if you’re looking for something or someone specific, how can you expect to carve out a niche and listen in on just a single thread of conversation? Our list of 100 tips, tools and resources for Twitter research will help you keep it all together.

Directories and People

Expand your network and locate specific tweeters using these directories.

WeFollow

Twitterholic: Find out who the most popular Twitter users are at any given moment.
Social Brand Index: Use this directory to find competitors and potential clients on Twitter.
WeFollow: This directory categorizers users by tagging.
Twellow: Twellow is a popular people directory for Twitter users. Search by location, friends, followers, keyword or by category.
Who Should I Follow?: Let this tool help you find new friends on Twitter.
Tracking Twitter: Discover which Twitter feeds are the most popular in media, entertainment and consumer products.
Just Tweet It: Find people to follow by clicking on industry categories like education, domainers, aviation, filmmakers and more.
twibs: With twibs, you can look up businesses who tweet.
twittervision: Find random tweeters whose conversations pop up on a Google map.
Twemes: Twemes is another word for hashtags, and this site follows popular subject matter and keywords.
Tweeter Tags: Declare your tweets by tagging yourself on this site. Then, find other like-minded users to follow and research.
Twitter Fan Wiki: This research source finds conversations, non-person Twitterers, feature requests, fakers, media and more.
TwitterPacks: Find people according to their “pack” or interest group, like coaching, baby boomers, or organizing experts.
Twubble: With Twubble, you can find more friends and popular Twitter users.
GovTwit: Find Twitter names for government agencies and people here.

Conversations

Search for keywords, buzzed-about topics and more to direct your attention to the conversations that matter.

Tweetmeme

Twitter Search: Twitter’s official search page looks for keywords in current conversations.
Tweet Scan: Search Twitter conversations by category or keyword.
TwitterScoop: Find friends, search buzz-worthy topics, and more.
Tweet Volume: Find out if the subjects you’re searching for are popping up in Twitter conversations or are yesterday’s news.
Tweetmeme: Tweetmeme is a social bookmarking site for popular Twitter conversations.
Twitterment: This simplified search engine brings up conversations for all kinds of keywords.
Twitter Forge: Twitter Forge in TwitTown has 10 different directories and search tools.
Tweet Congress: Use Tweet Congress to find tweets from Congressmen and women.
LegalBirds: LegalBirds is a Twitter directory for the legal crowd.
Geofollow: Add yourself, update your Twitter feed and search for others on this site.
Twitterectory: Twitterectory features a search engine, tag cloud and directory of Twitter profiles.

Organization

Keep your notes, replies, surveys and research organized so that all your hard work isn’t lost forever.

Twhirl: This social software platform connects to Twitter, displays notifications of new messages, shortens URLs, cross-posts updates to other sites and more.
Twitter Karma: Quickly paginate through your friends listing. Sort alphabetically or by another system so that it’s easier to view your friends.
Tweet Clouds: View your tweets as a word cloud.
Twitter Notes: Take and tag notes from Twitter using this tool.
My Tweeple: Better organize all your friends and followers with this tool.
Foamee: Keep up with who owes who how many drinks with this tool.
Twitterator: This script will help you stay organized while monitoring groups of people.
GroupTweet: Privately tweet with your project group members using GroupTweet.
Twickie: Archive and organize Twitter response threads here.

Add-ons and Tools

Add these tools to your Twitter experience to make researching and indexing even easier.

TwitPic

Twitt Poll: Create polls to find out what your Twitter friends think on a particular subject.
Twitter Answers: Send out questions into the Twittersphere to get answers and opinions from your followers.
Twitter Snipe: Use this tool to auto follow users based on your niche.
TwitPic: Use TwitPic to share, browse and upload photos to Twitter.
Trazzler Buzz: Use this tool to research deals and news for travel, museums, music and more.
Twit Bear: Keep up with all the replies regarding a particular conversation or subject matter.
Google Search with Twitter integration: This script combines the best of Twitter and Google.
TBuzz: When surfing the web, discover each site’s tweet history.
PicFog: Conduct a Twitter image search here.
peekr: Check out Twitter backgrounds before opening up the whole page.
Twitter Toolbar for Firefox: Download this toolbar to quickly access Twitter or your favorite Twitter feeds.

Guides

Let these guides help you become a master tweeter.

Twitter as Target Market Research Tool: Find out how you can use Twitter to grow your business, attract clients and stand out.
33 Reasons to Use Twitter – a Guide to Finding Value in the Service!: Here you’ll get tips for using Twitter for business and personal gain.
The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter: Learn how to set up a profile, find things to tweet about, decide when to tweet and more.
Mastering Twitter in 10 Minutes or Less (Version 2): Quickly learn how to navigate Twitter with this download.
Using Twitter ‘the Smart Way’: Get tips on choosing a user name and staying organized here.
How to Search Twitter – the Advanced Guide: This guide outlines the steps needed to effectively use Twitter’s official search function.
6 Twitter Search Services Compared: This guide compares Twitter Search, Twazzup, Tweetzi, and other search tools.
Twitter Research: Why and How to Do It: Twitip.com has tips for using Twitter for historical research and more.
Using Twitter for Market Research: Grow your business by taking note of these research tips and tools.

Filters and Niche Search

Block out all the miscellaneous Twitter noise and use these tools to focus on the conversations and research you’re interested in.

Twitter Job Search

bkkeepr: This tracker keeps up with reading lists and more.
FoodFeed: If you only want to research tweets related to what people are eating, head to this feed.
Localtweeps: Filter tweets by zip code using this tool.
Commuter Feed: View traffic reports for Houston, Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, LA, New York and other top metro areas.
Twitter Job Search: Research job openings here.
Twitter filter: This Greasemonkey script lets you filter out any kind of annoying tweets.
Omnee: Filter your list of people to research or follow by first checking this site. Omnee categorizes users by the ones with the most social capital, most reach, least centralized, and more.
Stop the tweet spam! Two ways to filter Twitter into Facebook: Streamline your updates and social media research here.
TwitZap: Keep your Twitter page open and active without having to refresh it.
Cursebird: Keep track of the latest posts that contain curse words.

Analytics

Analytics is a vital part of any research project. These tools will help you get the stats on your account, other users’ influence, trends, website popularity, and more.

TwitterCounter

TwitterCounter: Get stats for other users here.
TweetStats: View Twitter feed stats in bar graph form.
TwitterSpy: Keep an eye on the most recent tweets coming from a particular location.
TweetBeep: TweetBeep alerts you via email when preferred conversations and keywords are tweeted.
MyTweetMap: This tool displays tweets by location on a Google Map.
SiteVolume: Find out how often a phrase, word or website is tweeted about.
Tweetburner: Track URLs as they appear on Twitter.
Twist: Twist lets you compare the stats for keywords, topics and more.
Twitalyzer: Use Twitalzyer to discover the influence of different Twitter users.
Twitstat Mobile: Look up analytics from your mobile phone using this tool.

Trackers

Track trends, follows, conversations and people using these tools.

Tracking Twitter

tweet140: This tool tracks the length of your tweets.
Twitt(url)y: Track popular URLs that appear on Twitter to find out what people are talking about.
Does Follow: Organically expand your network by following people your friends follow.
twAITer: Schedule tweets for a future release and track your overall feed here.
Friend or Follow: Quickly double check who’s following you with this tool.
Tracking Twitter: Track brands, celebrities, media and TV tweets using this tool.
Twistori: Hover over an emotion like love, hate, think, believe, feel or wish and read the upcoming posts that incorporate that feeling.
Tweetizen: Use Tweetizen to create groups and track stories and posts that are meaningful to you.
Twitterfall: Filter trends or do a custom search to see upcoming posts in a free-fall format.

Tips

For better research through Twitter, follow these tips and suggestions.

TweetDeck

Tweet during peak hours: Many people are tuned in to Twitter during the work week and during work hours, so you’ll have a better chance of reaching your subjects then.
Use a Twitter management tool: Use a tool like TweetDeck to easily organize your groups, updates and more, so that your research doesn’t get lost.
Use Advanced Search: Try Twitter’s Advanced Search tool to find people, places, dates and more.
Follow the competition: Market researchers should follow their competition on Twitter to learn about any deals or tricks they have going on.
Tweet about what’s hot: Join buzzed-about conversations and stories and find a way to relate your project to the mix.
Update your subjects: Keep your Twitter subjects up to date on your progress so that they know how they’ve helped you.
Ask lots of questions: Keep asking questions through Twitter to get a broad range of responses from everyone who follows you.
Use a variety of Twitter directories: You’ll encounter some repetition, but by using several different Twitter directories, you’ll also stumble across new people who can help you that you may have discounted at first.
Follow experts: Follow the tweets of an expert in your field to get routed to sensible, quality information.
Stay organized: It can be hard to keep up with all the tweets, replies and updates from everyone you’re following, so use groups, alerts and other tools to organize it all.
Put it all into context: Tweetree displays your Twitter stream as a tree with all replies organized by context.
Use different accounts: Don’t confuse your subjects or yourself by managing different research projects from a single account. Manage different accounts with a service like Hootsutie
List your credentials: Don’t freak people out by asking for their information without providing your own credentials.
Post a photo and your real name: People will be more likely to help you out if you present a valid name and photo.
Conduct surveys: Use survey tools to find out how your followers feel about a particular subject.
Back up your Twitter: Use a service like Tweetake to make sure your research and notations are safe.

Thanks to Kelly Sonora, SelectCourses.com

100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Twitter Research | SociableBlog.com : Social Media Blog.

A branded app that brings you a little joy during volatile economic times.

Posted by Avi Savar on Sep 27, 2009 in Innovation & Creativity | 0 comments

PUMA Bodywear brings you a little joy during these volatile economic times. The PUMA Index is a real stock market ticker, but with an added bonus. When the market goes down the models clothes come…

An interesting and certainly amusing concept from PUMA. If they’re hoping to target a young male demo, this is certainly the right play. That said, does it do any damage to the brand? There is very little association between what this app does with the PUMA brand. Which means that the brand become aligned with what the app represents, rather than the utility it provides. Seems like an odd choice and more something a brand like Axe could pull off.

You can download the app at puma.com or the iTunes app store

The PUMA Index

10 sobering Twitter stats found after scouring dozens of research reports

Posted by Avi Savar on Sep 24, 2009 in Research & Trends | 0 comments

Twitter might be the social media darling right now, but it will be interesting to see how the micro giant evolves. Especially now that Facebook has integrated many twitter-like features. Some of the stats below paint a picture that leads me to believe Twitter need to think about its future and start evolving.

According to reports from comScore, eMarketer, Nielsen, HubSpot, Pear, and Alexa:

94% of Twitter users have under 100 followers
90% of tweeting is done by 10% of Twitter users
60% of new Twitter users fail to return the following month
50% of Twitter accounts are inactive (haven’t tweeted in the past week)
40% of tweets are “pointless babble”
35% of Twitter users have 10 or fewer followers
21% of Twitter accounts are empty placeholders
11% of Twitter users interact with brands on Twitter
9% of Twitter users don’t follow anyone at all
3% of followers click on links tweeted

Study: Stay-at-home moms dominate social media

Posted by Avi Savar on Sep 21, 2009 in News & Information | 0 comments

Mothers with children at home are more likely to use social media than any other average person, according to a national study released Wednesday.
The Retail Advertising and Marketing Association study showed that more than 60 percent of stay-at-home moms are more likely to use Facebook, more than 42 percent are more likely to use MySpace and nearly 17 percent are more likely to use Twitter. That’s compared to average adults – 50 percent of which use Facebook, 34 percent that use MySpace and 15 percent that use Twitter.

The findings show retailers what advertising and marketing opportunities can be found on the Internet and within social media sites.

“Retailers who aren’t engaging customers through social media could be missing the boat,” said Mike Gatti, executive director for RAMA. “Twitter, Facebook and blogs are becoming increasingly popular with moms as they search for coupons or deals and keep in touch with loved ones. The web provides efficient, convenient ways for brands to stay in front of their most loyal shoppers and attract new ones.”

Nearly 94 percent of the moms surveyed said they seek advice before buying products or services and more than 97 percent said they give advice on products or services purchased.

The study also mapped where moms like to shop for their clothes and their children’s clothes. Nearly 33 percent prefer department stores for their clothes and more than 23 percent prefer specialty stores. Nearly 31 percent like discount stores for children’s clothes, while 20 percent said department stores and nearly 18 percent said specialty apparel stores.

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/09/14/daily43.html