Free Twitter Books Download

There are 4 free e-books about Twitter and Twitter Tips. I suggest that read them and learn more things that enable to you expert about Twitter.com. 

1) Twitter E-Book

2) Twitter Secrets

3)Twitter Book Geekpreneur

4) Twitter Manual

Hot Tweets From Maxim Girls

Hottest Tweets from Maxim's girls.

Also you may want to see this.

Twitter Directories

Twitter has grown so fast and is so large that in order to find people to follow, you really need some help. My favorite directory for this is Twellow. Twellow (a service ofWebProNews) allows you to search by occupation or niche and has set up a series of categories that cover just about everything. If you do not see the category you want, ask them to add it.

You can either browse these categories or look through the entire list. The list is overwhelming, so I suggest browsing first. When you click on a category, Twellow tells you their name, their Twitter name, the number of followers, when they joined Twitter, and their bio.  You can also see some of their tweets.

To login to Twellow, and claim your profile, you need to use the ID and password you use for Twitter. You may already be listed in the directory, but you can edit the profile and add categories. Once logged in, you can see your friends and followers as well. There is also a fun tab called “TwellowHood” that lets you search by geography.

Twibs is a business directory for Twitter that allows you to search by the name of the business. You can sort by the number of followers, or alphabetically.  The businesses on the home page are there by popular vote.

Each entry gives you the Twitter name of the company, the number of followers, and the location, as well as their bio. If the company has added their business to the directory, they can pick the labels or hashtags that they want to be known for. Adding your business to Twibs is free, and you do not have to be a mega-conglomerate (like Starbucks).

If you are logged into Twitter, you can tweet the company directly (look for the button on the right), and vote for them to be on the home page. Once you have voted for them, you can then ask your followers to vote as well.

I find Twibs to be very useful when I know the name of the company.

The newest user-generated Twitter directory has just been launched by Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg. WeFollow is covered by this post at Mashable, and looks to be an interesting experiment.

Alltop, while technically not a user directory for Twitter, does have a Twitterati section. Here you can see who Alltop thinks are some of the more famous and/or more vocal Twitter peeps.

Also you may want to read this.

Twitter in Plain English

Also you may want to see, Usage of Twitter

Five Ways to Use Twitter to Improve Your Marketing

Do you tweet? If so, you're part of a fast growing trend. EMarketer estimates there were about 6 million U.S. adult Twitter users in 2008, 3.8 percent of U.S. adult Internet users. Twitter users in the U.S. are projected to grow to 18.1 million by 2010, representing 10.8 percent of U.S. adult Internet users. Surprisingly, Twitter users tend to be older than traditional Internet early adopters; 45 to 54 year olds, the highest-indexing age group, are 36 percent more likely than average to visit Twitter, according to comScore.

Deeper analysis reveals some other interesting insights that can help marketers tap into Twitter's strength. Of the top 75 searched terms on Twitter Search, Hitwise found that roughly 30 percent were entertainment-related. Also according to Hitwise, Twitter Search, which works in real time, differs from a search engine in that it sends very few visitors to retail sites. This seems to be in part because users frown on explicit promotional tweets. Based on Hitwise's tracking, Twitter sends 20 percent of its downstream visits to social networks and another 20 percent to entertainment-related sites. This is similar to the behavior of blog visitors.

What does this mean for marketers? Think about how information dissemination and participation in an open conversation with your prospects and customers will support your business goals. While the data show that Twitter readership leans toward entertainment-related topics, as its user base continues to expand and mature a broader array of interests will be present.

Five Ways to Use Twitter to Aid Marketing

When assessing how to add Twitter to your marketing mix, consider the following five options:

• Content distribution. Twitter is useful for time-sensitive information, such as:
  
  
  • Announcing breaking news. The US Airway plane crash-landing in the Hudson and the Mumbai riots were initially broadcast via Twitter.
    
    
  • Transmitting time-sensitive information. This includes last-minute flight delays by airlines like JetBlue and major traffic disruptions by LAFD.
    
    
  • Positioning your company as a thought leader. This includes distributing original content to extend the conversation. 
    
    
  • Providing an alternative forum for comments. This also includes enabling attendees at live events, such as trade shows, to communicate with each other.
    
    
• Commerce support. Twitter can aid sales, but it can't become strictly a promotional broadcast channel or many followers will leave.
  
  
  • Disseminate last-minute deals to drive sales.
    
    
  • Provide additional sales support to answer questions and help close deals. Like chat or a toll-free number, Twitter enables e-tailers to service prospects and customers. A few retailers already using Twitter effectively, including Dell,Zappos, and Whole Foods.
    
    
  • Offer customer service via another channel and proactively alleviate customer issues. Comcast, a cable provider notorious for its customer service issues, has received positive feedback on its responsiveness via Twitter.
    
    
• Advocacy forum. Twitter is a platform from which to develop a following for you, your brand, or your company.
  
  
  • Aid brand building. While many individuals use Twitter to enhance their personal brands, Twitter enables companies to participate in the conversation.
    
    
  • Expand services with useful information cost-effectively, particularly for nonprofit and political organizations. The March of Dimes provides daily pregnancy tips inEnglish and Spanish, while Barrack Obama's presidential campaign connected with voters (although as president, Obama's tweets have become less frequent).
    
    
• Public relations support. Twitter provides another outlet to enhance PR-related communications.
  
  
  • Enable reputation monitoring by tracking and participating in the conversation related to your management, brands, and company. Also follow what's being said by thought leaders in your niche.
    
    
  • Provide another channel to aid crisis management by getting your organization's story out quickly in case of an emergency.
    
    
  • Use for PR outreach to journalists looking for timely input.
    
    
• Research enabler. Leverage Twitter's search functionality and ability to query and respond to an audience.
  
  
  • Track new trends on Twitter to discover what customers and prospects are saying about your brands, products, and company. Unlike search engines, the conversation on Twitter takes place in real time.
    
    
  • Participate by asking prospects their opinion about products and issues related to your firm.

Marketing Considerations When Using Twitter

As a form of social media, Twitter's 140-character format means marketers must think about its unique characteristics. Twitter:

• Is about participating and contributing to the discussion, not hardcore product promotion. When using Twitter, have guidelines about the information acceptable to communicate and the level of personal detail you're willing to provide.
  
  
• Requires consistent, dedicated staff to provide an ongoing presence that listens and participates in real time.
  
  
• Is device agnostic so that followers may use a computer, smartphone, or other handheld device.
  
  
• Has a user base that's growing exponentially, so how it relates to your target market may be evolving.

Measuring Twitter's Impact

As with any marketing initiative, it's critical to have metrics in place to assess your progress against your marketing goals. Among the ways to calculate Twitter's impact are:

• Followers. The number of people following you or your brand on Twitter gives you a general idea of your community's size. Do your followers retweet your information? What percentage of your followers continue to follow you over time? According to Nielsen's blog, over 60 percent of Twitter followers fail to return the following month.
  
  
• Conversations. This is an indication of how engaged your followers are with you. Consider the content of these exchanges. Have you been able to respond to prospects in a timely manner and change perceptions of your firm?
  
  
• Brand improvement. Beyond traditional measurements, assess whether public perception of your brand changed as a result of your Twitter interactions. Do consumers feel that your firm is more responsive to their needs?
  
  
• Lead generation/sales retention. Track the number of sales leads, purchases, or reduced customer complaints. This should ramp up as you build your Twitter following.

While there are a number of dedicated analytics and research tools available, as Twitter continues to evolve the related analytics will become more sophisticated.

Twitter's recent explosive growth translates into an opportunity for marketers to engage with prospects and customers proactively in an open forum. To this end, think about leveraging the content and information within your organization to build your following on Twitter.

Join us for a one-day Online Marketing Summit in a city near you from May 5, 2009, to July 1, 2009. Choose from one of 16 events designed to help interactive marketers do their jobs more effectively. All sessions are new this year and cover such topics as social media, e-mail marketing, search, and integrated marketing.

25 Tips to Increase Your Influence and Gain Followers on Twitter

Why Increase Influence and Gain Followers on Twitter?

Higher influence can get you insane traffic to your website. Higher influence makes you a celebrity. High Influence gets you publicity. Higher influence gets you more followers. Having that said it is the influence that matters not the follower count. So don’t go after the tools that automates the process of following and lands you thousands of followers because half of those followers are not even active. You want to increase your influence to make an impact and get your brand noticed.

Ok so now you know breifly why you need to have higher influence and followers then lets get the show on the road.

Twitter Tips to Increase Your Influence and Gain Followers

1. Interaction is Essential

The most important tip you need to know if you want to have some influence and good reputation on twitter is that you need to interact. Twitter is not a monologue, so don’t just stop by to let people know what you are doing. Make sure that you respond to your friend’s tweets, and you answer people’s question. Twitter is like a big conversation between you and your friends/community. The more you participate the higher your influence will be because you will get noticed by others. Think of twitter like a forum, where if you don’t interact with others, you won’t be noticed.

2. Spark Interest in your Tweet with Creativity

When I say creativity, it does not mean you have to take the most complex way. Instead creativity is all about simplicity, and that is what twitter is about. You need to make your tweets interesting. If you just ramble on your blog all day about the same stuff, you eating lunch at subway, playing basketball, and thats it. You will lose your readers instantly. Think of twitter as a blog just smaller. Gee, I wonder where the term micro-blogging came from. You need to find a way to spark interest, and make people react with your 140 characters. That is when your creativity comes in.

You can write: “Good morning”, or You can write: “Just saw the sunlight hitting my face through the window, I guess its fair to say good morning”

So it is really upto you how you make your tweets interesting.

3. Remember to be Yourself

It is said in dating that you should never put on a fake front because you can’t keep it on forever. You need to be yourself from the start. Twitter is the same way if you want to increase your influence. Don’t try to be something that you are not. If you use ain’t and gonna and wanna, then feel free to use it because twitter is anything that you want it to be. This way you will get the right type of followers. The followers who are like you. Trust me, people don’t want to follow a suckup. I would rather follow a guy who is himself and speaks his mind when necessary.

4. Treat others with Respect

You need to treat others with respect. Give them the same respect you would want to recieve. I personally hate everyone who sends me an automated direct message when I follow them because that it is just disrespectful. Most of them sounds like:

Hey Do you want to get 10,000 followers on twitter and make money - url

Only Spammers love spammers. I absolutely hate this behavior and I cannot tolerate it. If you send me this type of message, you will most likely be unfollowed. And it is not just me, any normal twitter user would do that as well. If you are going to send someone a Direct Message then put some thoughts into it. Same goes with twitterfeed plugin. This is a great plugin by all means, and I was using it for a while. All it does is that it automatically updates your twitter when you publish a new post on your blog. But the text is so generic that it makes the other person think like that you don’t care about them. Be respectful once again. Turn that off. If you think your link is worth sharing, then share it personally with some creativity. If you are not doing it for others sake, do it for your own because it is going to help you get more influence If you don’t do it and set multiple feeds to be posted on your twitter account, you will likely be unfollowed.

5. Be Considerate to Others

If you are going to have a back to back conversation with someone on twitter it is better to send them a Direct Message and get their Instant Messenger ID. It turns off your new followers who was about to follow you. Also it turns down your current followers because on their homepage they are seeing you having a conversation with someone else which is not useful to them. So they will most likely unfollow you.

6. Post Useful Content

You need to learn to post useful content for followers. People on twitter are looking for information. You can really increase your influence by posting useful content. Because when you post something useful, you are bound to get other people to Retweet that. The more people retweet it, the more people will see your name. When alot of people see your name, you will indirectly get more followers. Now some keypoints to remember when posting content is that you must use your hashtags # effectively [More about Hashtags].

7. Link to Your Own Posts/Articles

Yes, Use twitter to your advantage. Link to your articles. But link to them in a creative way. Make a strong pitch. Remember that it must be useful to your friends and followers. The reason why I say that this builds your influence on the web is that when you link to something your own and it is good, people really start to take you seriously. Besides most people don’t have enough time to search for good links. If you have a good link which is yours then share it make sure you use hashtags though because Twitter’s Search feature will help you get more followers.

8. Share the Love

You won’t get love back unless you share some. You need to Retweet if you find something good because it lets your friends and followers know that you are seeing their tweets. By retweeting you increase your influence because others will retweet your interesting tweets to return the favor. So this way you can really increase your influence across the twitter sphere. Also new followers like to see someone who retweets because they like to know that there is a human on the other side.

9. Balance Your Tweets

The user which is most influential is the one who have a balanced profile. If you just self promote yourself all day then people will begin to ignore you. If you just blog about your life repeatedly then people will also ignore you. Retweeting is good, but if you retweet alot then you will also get unfollowed. I remember seeing a tweet today:

@thesilly1: Too many Retweet’s by @johnchow … unfollow [view tweet]

So if you didn’t get the point, make sure you keep balance in your profile.

10. Solve Problems

I have grown alot of my traffic from forums by providing support. This is another thing I have started doing on twitter as well. I use the search feature to see if people are having trouble with something wordpress related. Then I help them solve the problem. I also try to help my friends as well and this increase my influence because more people favor me due to the fact that I am a helpful guy.

11. Tweet Regularly

If you want to have influence in any social media networks, you need to be active. Same rule goes for twitter as well. You need to tweet regularly. I rarely follow a person whose last tweet was 3 days ago because I know this person is not going to add value to my life. So you need to tweet often. But remember to leave space in between your tweets, so you can see some reaction. This way you can evaluate your audience and see what type of tweets they really like. You must remember if you are tweeting every 1 minute, you might end up losing followers because most people don’t like having their screen filled with one user’s useless content.

12. Tweet in Peak Times

Woah who knew there would be this effect also. We know that digg is more active on sometimes rather than other. Well same goes with twitter. Twitter is more active in sometimes than other. Obviously the service is global, so it is active 24 hours, but there are some peak hours. These hours are on EST. If you post around 8 a.m EST you are most likely to get more notice because people around the US can see you and people around other parts can see you as well such as Australia and so on. By peaking in these times, you are increasing the chance of retweets.

13. Link Your Profiles

The most effective way to get more followers is that you link your profile from all your other profiles and blogs. Most people who are on twitter are on other social media networks as well such as Digg, stumbleupon, and so on. Well why not link your twitter profile on your digg profile page because this way your digg followers can follow you to twitter. Do the same with your blogs. Promote your profile in your blog posts. If you haven’t noticed, on top of each single post page, I am asking my users to follow me. I am maximizing my potential by getting the most amount of loyal and worthy followers from everywhere.

14. Promote Your Profile in Person

If you go to web conferences or meetings then feel free to let others know about your twitter profile. I remember when I was in Izeafest in 2008, I let others know about mine. When I go to meetings with my client, I often say, if you need quick question send me a message on my twitter profile. Then they end up joining if they are not already there and follow me.

15. Launch Contests

Shoemoney was having a huge giveaway when he wanted to reach 20,000 twitter followers a while back. You can have the same. Run contests on twitter if you want to increase followers. Market Leverage has been sponsoring alot of contests, and in most contests they put a condition to follow them on twitter. This is one of the very creative way of getting more followers on twitter.

16. Free Giveaways to get more followers

The most successful thing I saw was Sitepoint giving away their high quality book in a ebook format for free. This 200+ page book was free to anyone who follow them on twitter. They have a whopping 30,000 followers now. Giveaways with anything works. People has been using giveaways to build their email list, you can use it to build your twitter followers.

17. Use An Interesting Username

Believe it or not it does matter. If you are not the most creative person on the face of the earth, just use your name because that is the safest way to go. But if you must then use something creative. Buybooksdotcom is not a good good username for anyone. Most people will not follow you if you use something ridiculous like that. By using a good username or your name, people don’t think you are a spammer (atleast they don’t judge you before seeing your tweets).

18. Change Your Profile Picture

If you think you are going to have any influence in the twitter community, you need to change your twitter picture than. People with the default profile picture shows others how lazy they are, and they will most likely be ignored. Because why should someone put an effort to follow you when you can’t put an effort to change your own profile picture. I say use your own picture, but if not use something cool. Something that represent your brand which is YOU!

19. Custom Twitter Background

If you haven’t noticed, most popular users have custom twitter backgrounds. No you should not get one just because they have one. You should learn why they have one and then get a custom background. By getting a custom background, you are branding your page even more. This way you will set an identity of yourself and your twitter page. I know not everyone is a designer, that is why there are services like Twitter Image which charge you $100 to make you a twitter background. Or you can just contact me, and I will make one for $20

20. Use Your Bio Effectively

I have seen people leaving their Bio Section Blank. That is one of the most important section on your page. How would I know the initial info about you before I follow you? I always look for an interesting bio section, and if your bio is convincing enough, I follow you. So put some effort in writing yours. Here is how my bio reads:

I am a Social Media Maven. I am a #Blogger, #Web Designer, #SEM, #Florida Gator, and one cool guy who you should know on the web.

21. Use Your Location Wisely

I understand some people are afraid to share their location. So you should be more generic. I mean I didn’t put down exactly where I live, but I put down that I live in Florida. This will help you get more followers and more targetted followers. I looked for bloggers and designers in florida through the search features to look for some of my followers.

22. Follow People You Know

To increase followers, one way you can do is by following people you know because they are bound to follow you back. A good way to start out is by going to the Find People Tool on twitter and searching for people you know.

23. Look for Good Followers

There is nothing wrong with you initiating the process of follow. You can find interesting people on your niche using the Twitter Search feature. I searched for keywords like blog designers, and it came up with all the listings. I manually went through all the people and followed the ones that I liked. Most people follow people back if they are interesting, so you can follow and just have interesting tweets, and you will get follow back. Another way of doing this is through other people. You can use services like tweetmeme to see who retweeted your links, and you can follow these people back.

24. Follow the Top Guys

By following the top guys in your niche, you are increasing your chances of being followed by others. Reason is because most people look at the top celebrities and start following others in their list. So you might increase followers this way also. You can also learn alot from the top guys and see what type of content they post. By seeing that you can see why they are at the top.

25. Understand the Power of Quality over Quantity

Twiter is not about the quantity, but is rather about the quality. You can have 15,000 useless followers which you added via an automated software, or you can have 1000 loyal and good followers who will Retweet your tweets. I would take the 1000 because I know that if these thousand retweet my link, then their followers will retweet the link and it will become a chain reaction. So always go for the quality not for the quantity. Same goes for your updates. You can have 10 quality updates a day or 90 useless updates a day. Pick carefully.

If you have really and truly read this post, then you should’ve gotten the idea that I support more influence over more followers. So don’t try to get more followers, try to get higher influence. Because when you have higher influence, you will get followers on your own. And how you get higher influence is by posting useful and informative content and basically by following the tips above.

You can use tools like Twitter Counter to see your follower count and see how the trend is looking for you. Also you can use the tool called Qwitter which emails you everytime someone unfollows after a specific tweet. This way you can see what pissed off your follower.

Remember Twitter can be anything that you want it to be, so make it a better place.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter if you want more followers, and Retweet this post because you know it will be useful to your friends and followers.

MyTwiTips ( http://twitter.com/MyTwiTips ) Follow Me !!!

Tracking Swine Flu on Twitter

Twitter has been criticized for being unreliable and misinforming when it comes to the swine flu. The truth is that it depends on who you follow. On any subject and topic you will find people on Twitter spreading both reliable and unreliable information. People do this in the real world too - they spread rumors, theories and sometimes people even share things that they know are not true. That's just how people are. Try a Twitter search for swine fluand you will find retweets of swine flu news, confusion about whether it is safe to eat pork (it is safe), jokes, people saying they are afraid and even conspiracy theories. 

Most people try and share the truth with one another and most people are doing that on Twitter. A lot of people are also theorizing and worrying and they are expressing their thoughts on Twitter. There's not anything wrong with that. It's just human nature. 

If you want reliable information then you need to follow reliable news sources. The most reliable is likely CDC's Emergency twitter, located at @CDCemergency. There's also@health, @Pandemicflu, @birdflu, @SwineFlu2009, @WHOnews and @swine_flu. The@breakingnews has been covering the swine flu frequently as well. There are also numerous local news twitters that people can follow. Visit the website of your local tv news website and it likely has a Twitter. You can also try searching for it using the Find People tool.

Twitter Monetization: How to Make Money With Twitter

Everyone seems to like twitter these days which is a really cool way of staying in touch with your customers, friends & colleagues. Basically twitter has presented itself as a micro-blogging platform where a user can shout out anything they want to his ‘followers’ within the limit of 140 characters.

I have just started twittering since last month (*yes I’m pretty late starter!) because initially by looking at it for the very first time, I couldn’t find any ‘value’ that it has for my work & my social life. However after reading a convincing post by Aaron Wall, I thought of giving twitter a try. Since then onwards I have been using twitter all day long, just to keep track of some of the leading experts in the Internet & Search Marketing field as well as to have some ‘fun’ with my online buddies.

Anyway the whole point of doing this post is to highlight some of the key monetization elements that an individual can explore using twitter. I assume you have the basic knowledge of what twitter is and how it works, so I will directly deep into some ideas which can make you earn money from your twitter.
@MyTwiTips. Happy Twittering!

The Twitter Book - Free and Useful

The Twitter Book

I hope this practical guide will teach you everything you need to know to quickly become a Twitter power user, including strategies and tactics for using Twitter's 140-character messages as a serious--and effective--way to boost your business. Co-written by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein, widely followed and highly respected Twitterers, the practical information in The Twitter Book is presented in a fun, full-color format that's packed with helpful examples and clear explanations. And finally if you want to more books or tips about Twitter subscribe us.

35 Tips From 35 Twitter Users

1. ryansholin - Be honest. Have fun. Don’t try to sell anything.
   
2. joiedevie - funny, informative and catchy: choose two.
   
3. wpcandy - Twitter about stuff that has to do with your blog, but also Twitter stuff that has nothing to do with your blog.
   
4. scottkarp - Share links, share ideas, ask questions, answer questions — anything but “what are you doing?” unless it’s really interesting
   
5. cigarjack - This was my problem at first, I just lurked. Get active and follow others. Great tool for tossing around ideas.
   
6. rosshill - Join the conversation, there are too many blog promoters on twitter who just broadcast. Learn @ and start networking 
   
7. soniasimone - Write each word like it matters, because it does.
   
8. fairminder - share links. share insights and trends, things that are new or timely/current. Be personal. Don’t link only to yourself.
   
9. travishines - share interesting resources, not just what you ate for lunch. Twitter often, and use it to test potential blog topics.
   
10. galadarling - No cat anecdotes!
    
11. theother66 - make use of other Twitter tools to make the most of Twitter (and so it doesn’t suck up all your time)
    
12. TheNanny612 - Efficient is the key to Twitter…. short & sweet. Basically, get right to the point.
    
13. vangogh - Respect the people you follow. Be interesting. Listen first, tweat second. Don’t waste words.
    
14. empty_inbox - I’m new at it all. The #1 thing to help me has been the use of a desktop client. Without “twhirl” I would’ve given up long ago.
    
15. andrewkhunn - Frequent Twitter updates demand desktop clients: Snitter, twhirl, and Twitterific all bear mentioning.
    
16. jstamant - This often goes unsaid, but I would suggest not having twitter/twitterific open while writing. It can become very distracting.
    
17. hamstu - As far as getting followers goes; I find just being friendly and helpful does wonders. And of course shared interests help to.
    
18. MattJMcD - Don’t follow more people than you can handle. If you’ve got too much going on, you miss a lot of the good stuff.
    
19. davepit - Keep your Twitter updated and the followers will come. Stay up-to-date and you will reep the benefits.
    
20. arieanna - stop thinking that twitter is pointless and just try it. It’s all about community – reach out and be a part of it.
    
21. DrBaher - contribute positively to conversations going on inside twitter
    
22. sitemost - interact and communicate with others – it’s a social media tool, so be social
    
23. RuudHein - Share thoughts more than actions: “Pownce will kill Twitter” vs. “I’m going to the toilet”
    
24. baramunchies - add value to your stream
    
25. drmani - Look beyond the obvious (traffic, sales etc.) Add value. Build relationships. Think LONG term.
    
26. CurtMonash - Learn what people care about. I got a glowing link from RSS inventor Dave Winer my first week of active twittering.
    
27. ericabiz - Use twitterfeed. Instant feedback from readers is the best part of Twitter. Listen to others; engage them; have a conversation.
    
28. superphly - f you are using WordPress use twittertool much better
    
29. puppybraille - Advice: Think before you hit send. 140 characters have the power to help, heal or be miss-understood.
    
30. buxx - use an username as short as possible so you can twit more
    
31. kidblogger - My tip: “Keep it short” 
    
32. nhgnikole - re:twitter, I’d share this with them so they could use rss in new ways with twitter and facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3arsm
    
33. fderfel - first advice is to add good description and link for something that would be too short in a post
    
34. fderfel - second advice make a good weekly post describing all the twitter for the previous week.
    
35. silvano_v - Probably look at pounce, Im sure its going to overtake twitter, as its more feature rich. Aside from that, update often.

Free Twitter BackGrounds

There are lots of beautiful Twitter backgrounds.

 

 

And also you can make your own background by yourself.

How to Get More Twitter Followers

Why would you want to get more Twitter followers What purpose does it serve? And what steps should you take to increase your Twitter followers? These are questions often asked by normal users, brands and business owners who not only see Twitter as a means of social interaction but an effective marketing platform.

You’re interested in increasing your Twitter followers. You want more people reading your updates. It’s not difficult to build a prominent profile but I think it’s important to start with the right understanding. This is the first thing you need to know: It’s not really about how you tweet, what you say or who you talk to but who you are.

There have been several articles on the topic of growing your Twitter presence: many of them focus on teaching you how to use Twitter by providing value in order to increase your Twitter following. While good points were made, I want to offer my perspective on this topic.

Take a look at this list of Twitter users with the most followers and you’ll see that almost everyone on it is famous or well known for reasons other than Twitter. For example, you’ll notice that the top 10 users are mainly all people who own popular websites/businesses and brands or have established a reputation through their involvement in different activities.

Run your eyes down the list further and you’ll notice the same thing: these Twitter users built their large audience through their already established popularity. They didn’t start from the ground up: it’s likely that they started with a decent amount of followers and will continue accumulate them passively through the strength of their reputation or personal brand.

Many people have built their following because they are well known away from Twitter, not because they were inherently entertaining or helpful as a Twitter user. In other words, they grew large follower base because they cleverly integrated their brand or what it is they do, with their Twitter profile. They used their websites or platforms to promote their Twitter profile

This doesn’t mean that you can’t develop a strong Twitter following if you are not famous for something online or offline. It can be done but in my opinion, building a Twitter following haslittle to do with how you use Twitter. I don’t believe that in order to get a sizeable audience, you need obsesses about specific tweeting etiquette.

I’ve never written any articles on how to use Twitter because I don’t think there’s an ‘optimal’ or best way to use Twitter, nor am I interested in regulating another person’s lifestream. Even if you’re purely using Twitter as a broadcast tool to increase your online influence, how or what you tweet is not really the thing you should be focusing on.

So let’s talk about what I think will help you to get more Twitter followers.

Maximize Visibility: Treat Your Twitter Profile Like Any Other Website
The first step is to understand that your Twitter profile is like any other website. You should treat it no differently from your own blog or a free opt-in newsletter. This means that if you want to increase your Twitter subscriber base, you just need to do one thing again and again:Drive web traffic to your profile. The more targeted the traffic, the better.
This sounds obvious but many people overlook this fundamental principle and focus instead on less relevant details like Twitter usage times/frequency. I’m sure that causing controversy or learning to tweet a certain way might get some extra exposure to your profile but in my opinion, the benefits are minimal. How, when and what you tweet is not crucial.
When you want to catch as many fish as possible, use a large net and spread it as far as you can. The guideline to remember when building your profile is just one: keep working on sending visitors to your profile. People can only follow you when they know you exist.
With this in mind, you can play around with a myriad number of marketing strategies, just like how you would promote a website. Think in terms of incentives. Why would someone want to follow me on Twitter? How will he or she benefit from it? Assuming that someone doesn’t know who I am, what would motivate him or her to subscribe to my Twitter profile?
Here are just some examples of traffic-driving strategies (there are many more):

• Create a tool/application and promote your profile alongside it.
  
• Buy a banner ad to target tech-savvy audiences, link it to your profile.
  
• Use Twitter as a tool for tech/customer support.
  
• Organize a contest through your Twitter profile
  
• Include links to your profile in email/forum signatures.
  
• Evangelize Twitter on your blog/other blogs and include a link to your profile.
  
• Connect your blog and other social media profiles to your Twitter page.
  
• Learn to pitch Twitter influencers with articles relevant to their interest
  
• Explicitly ask another user to recommend your profile or exchange recommendations.
  

Apart from these strategies, there’s also another sure-fire way to increase your Twitter followers and this simply involves the act of following other users. Lets look at this in detail.
Mass Following Twitter Users: The Favorite Methodology of ‘Spammers’
Twitter is similar to many other social networks in numerous aspects, particularly when it comes to friending behaviors. Like Myspace, its possible to befriend a massive amount of users, some of whom will add you back as a friend. Continually adding Twitter users as friends allows you to increase the amount of followers you have.

This is a strategy that has worked remarkably well for early adopters when the Twitter was still a relatively new phenomenon. For example, I know a marketer who followed over ten thousand users and got thousands of followers in return. He then cut down the amount of people he followed and changed his username to make the account look legitimate.

Nowadays, the Twitter community has grown more aware of these ’spammers’ and many tools like the Twitter Blacklist and Twerpscan have been developed to help Twitter users weed out people who try to follow many users in order to build an large audience. Still, a portion of Twitter users (perhaps the new ones) tend to add anyone who befriends them.

Take for instance, Osen Komura. A fake profile set up by another Twitter user in February 2008 as a social experiment. The Osen account followed 41,798 Twitter users in one month and 7,847 users added him as a friend, a 17%+ follow-back rate.

And Osen is not only the only profile out there with thousands of followers all derived through mass user following. The question is: Should you consider using the same strategy?
Apart from the risk of being labeled a Twitter spammer and increasing the noise on your Twitter stream, this method still works. However, know that following so many users inevitably reduces your ability to keep track of individual users since they are drowned out by other updates, unless you conscientiously keep track of your Twitter stream or use RSS. But keep in mind that this is not essential. Here are some good reasons why you really don’t need to mass follow twitter users.
Scoble has suggested that it’s beneficial to follow many Twitter users because you get more access to information and it shows that you’re listening and more open to communication or meeting people. Perhaps so, but I would recommend increasing the people you follow on Twitter gradually, while making sure that you’re maintaining conversational interactiveness.
Most Twitter users don’t like it if you’re simply following him/her to broadcast a message and if you don’t monitor them equally in return or engage them in conversation. Unless you’re a popular celebrity of some sort, one-way attention doesn’t work very well for Twitter.
In any case, only viewing Twitter as a broadcast platform to drive traffic to your websites is a limited perspective, especially when your Twitter followers offer a wealth of knowledge, connections and opinions you can use to improve your business and personal skills.
Personally, I prefer building up an online reputation and driving traffic to my Twitter profile. For me, the benefits of Twitter come from using it as a conversational/networking tool, so I’m more concerned with whose updates I’m receiving daily and hence, the people I follow.
All in all, it depends on your goals and how you use Twitter. Feel free to share this article with your Twitter friends. I’ll love to get more feedback on this topic.And yes…please follow me on Twitter and say hi! I’m always looking to follow new people so don’t hesitate to introduce yourself. I’m pretty friendly and open to new experiences.

How To Create A Custom Twitter Background

A custom Twitter background can help you make a great first impression. In this Hub I will guide you on customizing your Twitter background in less than 10 minutes. You should not miss this awesome marketing opportunity. Spend just a few minutes, and create your own Twitter background today!

Have You Tried Customizing Your Twitter Background?

I guess you have already tried to customize your Twitter background. Chances are, you could not locate the images and the text perfectly well on the screen, and you gave up.

No worries, I have a very easy solution. Let’s start with the Twitter background size.

Twitter Background Size

Firstly, I need to mention that my advice is based on 1280 x 720 monitor screen. The width between the left browser edge and the left edge of the white Twitter posts area is 245 pixels, and the width between the right browser edge and the right edge of the white Twitter posting area is 250 pixels.Therefore when customizing your Twitter background, you have to leave 5 pixels dead space on both sides of the white Twitter posting area.

You may find the standard measures accepted by the most popular Twitter background designers:

• Image height: 555 pixels
  
• 
  
• Image width: 1255 pixels
  
• 
  
• Right graphic width: 250 pixels
  
• 
  
• Left graphic width: 245 pixels
  

Now all we need is to create a background image in 1255 x 555. We should also leave spaces for custom design on both sides. Let’s continue with the design process. Have you opened your graphic design software?

Create A Custom Twitter Background

If you are using Twitter as a promotion tool (I believe you should!), in order to get the best results from your Twitter marketing efforts, your custom Twitter background should include your photo, your logo, an interesting slogan, and your blog’s URL.

Fireworks, Paint, or Photoshop, it really does not matter. All we need is to create a new image that is 1255 x 555. This will be your new Twitter background image.

• Leave Twitter post area empty.
  
• 
  
• Create a vertical guide at 450 pixels and another one at 1005 pixels.
  
• 
  
• The space between these two guides represents the Twitter post area.
  
• 
  
• If you don’t know how to create a guide, just draw two imaginary vertical guides and leave the area between them blank.
  
• 
  
• Now place your site’s URL, your logo, your photo, and your slogan out of this zone so that it does not clash with the Twitter post area.
  
• 
  
• Be patient, and try a few times for the best result.
  
• 
  
• Done? Save your new Twitter background as either a JPG or GIF file.
  
• 
  
• Make sure that your new Twitter background is less than 800K. Otherwise Twitter won't let you upload this new background.
  

How Can You Upload Your New Twitter Background Image?

• Login your Twitter account.
  
• 
  
• Click on Settings menu.
  
• 
  
• Click on Picture Here tab.
  
• 
  
• Now click on the tab marked Design.
  
• 
  
• Scroll down to the bottom until you find Change Background Image>> link.
  
• 
  
• Click on it.
  
• Now you will see a text field with a Browse button next to it.
  
• 
  
• Click on that button in order to upload your new Twitter background image.
  
• 
  
• Once you complete, make sure the Tile Background check box is empty.
  
• 
  
• Click on the Save Changes button at the bottom.
  
• 
  
• Congratulations!
  

Usage of Twitter

On April 10, 2008, James Buck, a graduate journalism student at University of California, Berkeley, and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested in Egypt for photographing an anti-government protest. On his way to the police station Buck used his mobile phone to send the message “Arrested” to his 48 "followers" on Twitter. Those followers contacted U.C. Berkeley, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, and a number of press organizations on his behalf. Buck was able to send updates about his condition to his "followers" while being detained. He was released the next day from the Mahalla jail after the college hired a lawyer for him.

Research reported in New Scientist in May 2008 found that blogs, maps, photo sites and instant messaging systems like Twitter did a better job of getting information out during emergencies, such as the shootings at Virginia Tech, than either the traditional news media or government emergency services. The study, performed by researchers at the University of Colorado, also found that those using Twitter during the fires in California in October 2007 kept their followers (who were often friends and neighbors) informed of their whereabouts and of the location of various fires minute by minute. Organizations that support relief efforts are also using Twitter. The American Red Cross uses Twitter to exchange minute-to-minute information about local disasters, including statistics and directions.

Media outlets use Twitter as a source of public sentiment on issues. The first trades union Twitter service was launched by the news and campaigning website LabourStart in June 2008[64] During the CBC News television coverage of the Canadian federal election on October 14, 2008, the CBC cited a graph, produced by the Infoscape Research Lab, of items mentioned on Twitter, along with Tweets regarding Elizabeth May and Stéphane Dion, with the majority of the Dion Tweets calling for him to step down in response to the election results.

In October 2008, a draft US Army intelligence report identified the popular micro-blogging service as a potential terrorist tool. The report said, "Twitter is already used by some members to post and/or support extremist ideologies and perspectives."

During the 2008 Mumbai attacks, eyewitnesses sent an estimated 80 tweets every five seconds as the tragedy unfolded. Twitter users on the ground helped in compiling a list of the dead and injured. In addition, users sent out vital information such as emergency phone numbers and the location of hospitals that needed blood donations.[68] In January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 experienced multiple bird strikes and had to be ditched in the Hudson River after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Janis Krums, a passenger on one of the ferries that rushed to help, took a picture of the downed plane as passengers were still evacuating and sent it to Twitpic before traditional media arrived at the scene. In February 2009, the Australian Country Fire Authority used Twitter to send out regular alerts and updates regarding the 2009 Victorian bushfires. During this time the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, also used his Twitter account to send out information on the fires, how to donate money and blood, and where to seek emergency help.

The first criminal prosecution arising from Twitter posts began in April 2009 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Daniel Knight Hayden, a supporter of the Tea Party protests against the policies of President Barack Obama. Hayden was allegedly sending tweets threatening violence in connection with his plan to attend the Tea Party protest in Oklahoma City. In May 2009, astronaut Michael J. Massimino used Twitter to keep updates of their Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, marking the first time Twitter was used in space.
On February 12, 2009, Twitter was used to organise a global meet-up called Twestival where Twitter users came together in over 170 cities worldwide in the first meeting of purely Twitter users. The event was used to raise awareness and money for Charity: water.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using SMS may incur phone service provider fees.
Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained extensive notability and popularity worldwide. It is sometimes described as the "SMS of the Internet," in that the site provides the functionality — via its application programming interface (API) — for other desktop and web-based applications to send and receive short text messages, often obscuring the Twitter service itself.
Four gateway numbers are available for SMS — short codes for the United States, Canada, India, and an Isle of Man-based number for international use. There is also a short code for Vodafone users from the United Kingdom. Several third parties allow users to post and receive updates via e-mail.
Estimates of the number of daily users vary, because the company does not release the number of active accounts. In November 2008, Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research estimated that Twitter had 4-5 million users. A February 2009 Compete.com blog entry ranked Twitter as the third most used social network (Facebook being the largest, followed by MySpace), which puts the number of unique monthly visitors at roughly 6 million and the number of monthly visits at 55 million,however only 40% of users are retained. In March 2009, a Nielsen.com blog ranked Twitter as the fastest-growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009. Twitter had a growth of 1382%, Zimbio had a growth of 240%, followed by Facebook with a growth of 228%.