.FLYINGHEAD THE FLEXIBLE ENTERPRISE
.TITLE 10 Twitter apps for your business
.AUTHOR Jorge Sosa
.SUMMARY This month, let’s look at 10 applications that complement Twitter, enhancing its capacity to help you grow and operate your company. Thanks to Twitter’s freely available API, there are piles upon piles of applications out there that integrate with it. Here are the ones Jorge Sosa found most intriguing.
.OTHER
Contrary to widespread belief, Twitter isn’t a silly time suck. OK. It is that, but also potentially a lot more. If you’ve read my previous article, [[http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200904/00002352001.html|Twitter basics for business]], you’ll know Twitter offers you a slick new way to reach your current and prospective customers.
This month, let’s look at 10 applications that complement Twitter, enhancing its capacity to help you grow and operate your company. Thanks to Twitter’s [[http://apiwiki.twitter.com|freely available API]], there are piles upon piles of applications out there that integrate with it. Here are the ones I’ve found most intriguing.
.TEASER Tap here and you, too can tweet your way to success.
.H1 Marketing tools
This first group are tools that will help you market to, and using Twitter.
.H2 #1 Twibs
[[http://www.twibs.com|Twibs]] is a directory to more than 10,000 businesses on Twitter. You can opt-in to have your business listed there. Listings include your business name, Twitter username, search tags to help people find you, email and other contact information, and more. You can also enter your street address and it will appear alongside your listing in a Google Maps widget.
Twibs — a free service — is no fly-by-night operation. You’ll find companies ranging from CNN to Whole Foods there. There are a number of other Twitter directories out there, but for the time being, this seems to be the place for professionals to be.
.H2 #2 GroupTweet
[[http://www.grouptweet.com|GroupTweet]] is a Web-based tool that allows you to narrowly target a group of Twitter users with a direct message. This can be handy if, say, you have a special offer or unique content you only want to share with a handful of users.
It works both ways, too. Anyone within your circle of GroupTweet contacts can send a message to the rest of the group. GroupTweet essentially lets you create a private discussion group, within Twitter’s environment, centered around your company and your customers.
The obvious negative here is you could get some mischief maker on there pestering your other customers. But, it appears the next version of GroupTweet might allow the group owner to moderate messages sent to the group. And the price is right: it’s free.
.H2 #3 TweetBeep
[[http://www.tweetbeep.com|TweetBeep]] is an alert service that notifies you every time someone on Twitter mentions your company, your products, or anything else you want to follow.
Upon setting up a free TweetBeep account, you can specify keywords you want to monitor. You can also narrow the focus to just Twitter users within a certain geographic area. Hourly email updates will allow you to monitor chatter about you and your company in near real-time. The power of TweetBeep as a market research tool is pretty obvious.
.H2 #4 Magpie
Magpie — online at [[http://be-a-magpie.com|be-a-magpie.com]] — is akin to a Twitter media buying service. For a modest cost-per-thousand-impressions fee, it promises to target your message (in the form of a 140-character Tweet) to Twitter users (or Tweeple, in Twitter parlance).
Your ad messages are delivered as automated Tweets snuck into the stream of messages coming from "influential" Tweeple, namely folks with tons of followers. I haven’t tried it, so I can’t swear by its effectiveness, but it’s definitely an intriguing model.
.H2 #5 TwtQpon
In case you’re struggling with the pronunciation here, that’s "Twit Coupon." Yeah. Somebody needs to buy a vowel. But all tortured and cutesy spelling aside, [[http://www.twtqpon.com|TwtQpon]] is actually a neat idea.
It’s a free, Web-based service that lets you generate a custom coupon. You choose a 140-character description for whatever special offer you want to provide, and upload a photo or graphic to go with it. TwtQpon generates a unique Web page for that coupon offer, and you can send the coupon URL to your followers on Twitter.
Followers that look up the coupon can either print it off and redeem it in person, or be directed to your business Web site, where they can enter an offer code to redeem it.
.H1 Management tools
So now that you’re marketing on Twitter, you might want to also use Twitter to help manage yourself, your team, and your business.
.H2 #6 TwitHire
Think of [[http://www.twithire.com|TwitHire]] as a sort of minimalist Craigslist. Like Craigslist, it’s free. Unlike Craigslist, only postings for job offers are allowed. And postings are limited to 140-characters (natch).
TwitHire’s primary strength appears to be its pinpoint focus on tech-saavy talent. How focused is it? There are three job categories: design, programming and other. If you’re in the market to hire some geeks (or you’re a geek-for-hire), try TwitHire. Just don’t go hiring any twits.
.H2 #7 TrackThis
TrackThis — online at [[http://www.usetrackthis.com|www.usetrackthis.com]] — along with the remaining Twitter apps on this list, is an easy-to-use productivity tool. It lets you track shipments via FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS and other carriers.
You’ll get direct messages to your Twitter account any time your package moves. TrackThis also features a FaceBook application, which sends you notifications at every step of your stuff’s journey.
.H2 #8 Xpenser
Here’s another app with a tortured spelling of a made-up word. The grammarian in me dies a little bit each time I see one of these. But the accountant in me thinks [[http://www.xpenser.com|Xpenser]] is kind of neat.
You can create a free account on Xpenser, then send your expenses and mileage on-the-go to it via Twitter, SMS, email, IM or even voice. Later, you can log into your account, edit your entries as needed, and forward them to whatever financial management software you’re using.
.H2 #9 Remember The Milk
[[http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/twitter|Remember the Milk]] sends you task reminders via Twitter’s direct messages. Adding and scheduling tasks is easy. And I love it because — you guessed it — it’s free.
.H2 #10 Foamee
Of all the tools in this article, this may very well prove to be the one you can’t live without. When you set up a free [[http://www.foamee.com|Foamee]] account, you can send Twitter updates to it and track who you owe a beer and/or coffee to. Good God! This app alone will free up about half of my long-term memory. [Someone owes his editor a double-grande Guatemala Antigua! — Ed.]
And there you go. 10 apps to be all a-twitter about.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
Read [[http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200904/00002352001.html|Twitter basics for business]].
Learn about Twitter’s [[http://apiwiki.twitter.com|freely available API]].
Visit [[http://www.twibs.com|Twibs]].
Visit [[http://www.grouptweet.com|GroupTweet]].
Visit [[http://www.tweetbeep.com|TweetBeep]].
Visit [[http://be-a-magpie.com|Magpie]].
Visit [[http://www.twtqpon.com|TwtQpon]].
Visit [[http://www.twithire.com|TwitHire]].
Visit [[http://www.usetrackthis.com|TrackThis]].
Visit [[http://www.xpenser.com|Xpenser]].
Visit [[http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/twitter|Remember the Milk]].
Visit [[http://www.foamee.com|Foamee]].
.END_SIDEBAR
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