On Blogging and Social Media

Twitter is an enormously popular tool at the moment and literally thousands of third party companies have starting developing applications that can enhance its capabilities, but which of these are good and which ones can help teachers to grow their network and use this tool in a more effective way? Karen Schweitzer from the About.com Guide to Business School has volunteered the guest posting on her top 25 Twitter applications. Thanks Karen.


Twitter is a great communication, teaching, and learning tool for teachers, but it can be made even better with Twitter applications. These web apps have built-in scripts that complement Twitter. There are currently hundreds of free apps available and more being created every day. Here are 25 Twitter applications that should be useful to teachers:

1. Group Tweet - Group Tweet is a popular app among teachers. It can be used to send Twitter messages instantly and privately to a specific group of friends, students, or parents.
2. Tweetparty - This group messaging service can help you put your friends in groups so that you can message them all at the same time. Tweetparty is great for classrooms and for teachers who want to keep parents up-to-date on student events.
3. TwitterFone - With TwitterFone, you can send messages to Twitter from your mobile phone. TwitterFone records your voice when you call a special local number and automatically updates your Twitter feed. Perfect for teachers who want to Tweet without typing or logging onto the Internet.
4. Twitter Mail - This Twitter application makes it easy to tweet via email. The app gives you a special email address. When you send a message to the email, it is automatically posted to your Twitter feed.
5. Tweet Later - Tweet Later is a productivity app for people who want to schedule tweets ahead of time. The app can also be used to track keywords, save and reuse drafts, shorten URLs, follow people automatically, and keep your inbox tidy.
6. Twitoria - If you follow a lot of different people, Twitoria can reduce your Twitter clutter. This application analyzes the people you follow and helps you weed out people who no longer tweet.
7. LoudTwitter - This Twitter app is great for teachers who want to keep non-Twitter parents up-to-date. The app sends tweets to your blog so that they can be viewed by everyone.
8. TweeTube - This Twitter application was created to make it easier for Twitter users to share YouTube videos with each other. TweeTube has since expanded to allow other types of file sharing, including pictures, web cam recordings, and website URLs.
9. TweetCube - TweetCube allows you to share files via twitter with other people who are online. File types that are supported include music, video, and images.
10. HootSuite - This suite of free Twitter applications is an all-in-one interface that allows you to manage multiple accounts, pre-schedule posts, and analyze your Twitter experience.
11. TwittEarth - With this Twitter application, you can watch tweets as they happen and see where people are posting from. TwittEarth is easy to use and fun to play with.
12. Twitter Answers - This Mosio application combines Mosio and Twitter to create a unique Q and A forum. Users post a question and receive an answer from a real person.
13. Twrivia - This daily trivia quiz on Twitter is a great way for teachers to introduce Twitter to students in the classroom. Students can answer the quiz question and learn more about each topic by clicking on a link that provides hints and background information.
14. Plinky - Plinky is a fun site that works with Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. A new challenge, question, or prompt is posted to Plinky each day. Visitors are encouraged to respond with text, photos, play lists, maps, and more.
15. Twitterbox - This Twitter client was created specifically for people who play Second Life. With Twitterbox, you can post and receive messages on Twitter while you are playing Second Life.
16. TwitterLit - TwitterLit is a fun site that delivers the first sentence of a book twice each day. It is a good way to discover new books and challenge people who love literature trivia.
17. Swotter - This book project is reading books to the world via Twitter. One line is read every fifteen minutes. Swotter is currently being used to read James Joyce's Ulysses.
18. Twitter Toolbar - This free toolbar makes Twitter instantly accessible through shortcuts and quicklinks.
19. Twhirl - Twhirl is a desktop client that works with Twitter and several other social sites. It can be used with Windows or Mac and has multiple features. Twhirl notifies you about new messages, shortens URLs, cross posts updates to other sites, spell checks, and much more.
20. Twitter Score - This Twitter application is a good way to see how you rate against other Twitter users. It analyzes your Twitter popularity and gives you a score between one and ten.
21. TwittieMe - Teachers who want to gather more followers fast can use TwittieMe to advertise their Twitter page for free. One free ad is allowed every 24 hours.
22. Mr. Tweet - Mr. Tweet is like a virtual assistant for people who use Twitter. This application helps you discover new followers and new people to follow. It also allows you to write recommendations for other people so that you can give your friends a boost.
23. Just Tweet It - This Twitter directory is a good place for teachers to find other educators with similar interests. Just Tweet It separates Twitter users into groups so that you can quickly locate and connect with like-minded people.
24. Educators on Twitter - This Google spreadsheet serves as a directory of teachers and educators who use Twitter. You can search for users by location or subject.
25. Twapps - Twapps is an enormous archive of Twitter applications. Categories include web apps, desktop apps, mobile apps, and Firefox plugins.

This guest post from Karen Schweitzer from the About.com Guide to Business School . Karen also writes about online colleges for OnlineColleges.net

How about you?

• What are your favourite Twitter apps?
• Which of the 25 above will you be checking out?
• Which do you think you could use with students?
  

Please leave your comments.

Related links:

• Building your Twitter network
• Microblogging for EFL with Plurk
• When Twitter isn't enough