A fact of daily life Twitter is often the first thing people do when anything news worthy happens. In fact it was remarked recently that someone was totally horrified to see how many people grabbed for their cell phones to twitter a tragedy instead of going to help. If it’s a sign of the times it’s a sad statement for humanity.

Twitter can be made for more effective for your own use if you do a few tweaks to it.

If you have several friends and people you tweet with about a certain subject use a grouping function so you can easily see tweets on a particular subject. This is a facility that is available and often not used. Create your groups and move the people into groups.

Hashtags # have been talked about a lot recently and making use of them is a good idea either by associating it yourself to a tweet or picking up the one that someone else has already associated it. What this does is associate a keyword tag to a tweet.
You can also auto complete other tweets by using things like the @ to auto complete a word.

Use text links by pointing the receiver at the article rather than providing the URL. This saves considerably on your number of characters used. To do this you need to enable the hyperlink facility.

Couple your tweets with the reply this will give you a way of actually following the conversation. This is what is called threaded tweets.

Now that you have grouped people you can enable group tweets by enabling double@ for a group tweet. This can save you having to tweet a number of people individually about the same subject.

The Hover principle can be used on your twitter as well as your blog by using tooltips.

This is an interface that allows people to see more info about the tweeter by the little info box that attaches to the nic. It’s another way of getting more info far more quickly than to having to log in and view the profile. This helps spread more info about yourself so that you can have an interesting little bio up there that will make people want to follow you and also visit your blog.

You can have twitter feed in your side bar to show not only the replies and Hashtags but all relevant current tweets. By using the right hand sidebar for your tweets you are using one of the eye hotspots of your blog.

Make yourself a tweet page on your blog where you can display all the tweets which have your twitter name. You can even use some of the great ways there are to display them that have been made available by some of the newer plug-ins. It is nice to organize them in a way that will give the reader a thread they can read without having to jump from one area to another. This is a great way to extend your followers especially if people find your quotes and link to them. This will increase your follower base exponentially.

Twitter is a legend in its own right nowadays. Its phenomenal growth over the last few years is nothing short of amazing. Who would have thought that an idea like only using 140 letters could catch fire like a bush blaze and spread across the world in such a short time? If you aren’t on Twitter nowadays you are dead in the water. Its one of the must have tools in your web 2.0 array. There are several tools that are available to integrate various aspects of Twitter in your blog. It is a good idea to mix and match them to get the best out of the twitter connection. Twitter does bring a lot of people to your blog if they enjoy your tweets. Working with a blog and all the social networking programs can take a lot of your time if you are going to do it properly and actually make a business out of it. It is fully possible to do but don’t let anyone fool you that it is quick and easy. Even setting up a domain takes a lot longer than most people realize.

Probably like most people you have had trouble in the past getting to grips with putting a quote that you liked on Twitter into your blog. There have been many ways to get around it but nothing quite like getting the actual tweet to come into your blog just as it was. Enter the BlackBird.

The plug-in for Twitter BlackBird Pie allows you to actually take the shortcode and embed it in your relevant post. This can be done in other language besides English.

What the plug-in does is embed the actual tweet in the same text color and uses the actual profile link in that color. It makes use of the hash tags and all the other aspects of twitter in real time. You can use it for multiple tweets in the same post.

You should have a Twitter Tools Plug-in which makes integration between your blog and Twitter possible.
What you really need to do is make a category and call it something interesting. You are then able to enable your own posts to appear on your blog. If you don’t want them to appear as individual posts you can organize a compilation of either daily or weekly groups of tweets. This can be done in the plug in by enabling it in the settings.

The ability to put Tweets in the Sidebar.

There is a widget in the twitter tool that makes this possible and you can then show your tweets in the sidebar. There is also a physicality to archive all your tweets and this gets done every 10 minutes.

Unfortunately only a single account is able to be used on blog and there is not an auto delete as yet.
WP Quote Tweets

This plug-in is a little simpler than the previous one in that it requires more knowledge to use it. You have to create writable folders and things which make it not as user friendly as Black Bird.

You are probably one of those millions of people who are using face book. As such you probably have got used to the layout that facebook automatically gives you. But have you ever though about how you can alter it? There are a few things you can use to that will give you a better Facebook experience.
Some of them might need to be checked for security. I actually trust very little before I check them and if you want to check them by using Wot it’s a good idea to add it to your add on which are on Firefox. This gives you the ability to see what sites have good intentions and what is doubtful and ones you really don’t want to enter. They have used the traffic lights colors on the right hand side of the URL. It’s a good idea to have it installed.

Back to Facebook

PageRage

If you want to change how your facebook looks you might like to look at using a new Theme. There are several available on PageRage. Make sure you check the themes for Trojans and any nasties before downloading. Another add on to Firefox which allows this is DrWeb which checks the links and downloads prior to downloading. On PageRage you can choose a theme and install it on your facebook page to change your whole outlook. To do this you need a special plug-in for Firefox and also one for Facebook. Once you have these you are ready to try it out.

The second option for you to use on Facebook you might like to try is Docs in Facebook

You can add this and use it to read your documents while in Facebook and upload documents and read news etc all on it. Interesting but remember it can be public so never upload a private document.

Have you got your twitter tab yet?

You really need to link the two if you use them both. This way you know what is going on, on both sites at the same time. It’s easier to do this than toggle between the two of them all the time. You can actually have up to I think it is 8 different profiles to follow on your Facebook with regards to Twitter. So keep tabs on your favorite conversations. Simple add in on your facebook and it is useful to twitter and see it on facebook. Keeps you to date while you site on Twitter and people get your feed on Facebook.

Last up is your RSS feed item

This is a facebook application which is rather fun. If you run more than one blog or a website, this is a must. What is does is enable you to do your RSS feeds through the update feature your Rss feed on your blog or website updates on your facebook profile. This brings both new and old visitors to your site. This is especially important if you are using more than one site as it is easier for you to administer. It’s almost like a control center for your RSS feeds for your different sites. You can specify which walls to post to on Facebook. It’s something to keep in mind even if you don’t need it yet.

When you are ready to integrate your blog with your twitter account, there are several ways to do this. If you want to display your twitter updates on your blog this can be accomplished as well.  The way social networks are integrating at the rate of knots is astounding. It is almost like a bush fire the way things are spreading and intertwining on the internet. If you don’t get into it shortly you will surely be left behind. It seems you have no sooner mastered one aspect of the social networking than 20 more have sprung up without your realizing it. Twitter obviously was one of the earlier ones to become popular, mainly because everyone was trying to say things in a very few words. It seems incredible that Twitter has only been available since March 2006.

Some of the ways to integrate Twitter into your blog are listed below.  Each has their merits and it’s merely a case of choosing which one you prefer to use.

The first we look at is a widget.

It is the Twitter widget, in fact. It is available to get from WordPress at the Twitter Widget Plug-in.  This works by adding a sidebar to your display where updates from your Twitter are shown.

The next is a Pro version.

This is the Pro version, and it brings in the twitter feeds and includes the username. Links and hashtags are incorporated as are profiles with images.
In addition you can choose to whether or not to show the time as well as the date of the relevant tweet. To use this widget you do have to be using PHP version 5.

The version of Twitter Tools is a plug-in which is aimed to make a total integration between the two accounts.

Twitter for WordPress

A second Plug-in is available from WordPress and will bring your latest tweets from Twitter directly onto your blog.  It is called Twitter for WordPress.

Twitter Friends Widgets

Now we go back to widgets for the next offering. It is called Twitter Friends Widget. To get it on to your blog just drag and drop into your sidebar and then set it up by configuring it. Now it should display your Twitter messages in the sidebar. In addition it should display your followers on Twitter in your sidebar as well.

Simple Twitter

There is a Simple Twitter which is a WordPress plug-in. This enables you to add your Twitter messages to appear in your blog.

My Twitter

My Twitter is a little more extensive as it allows your twitter messages to be displayed. It also allows you to customize your more recent messages as well as being able to format these.

Twitter counter

Twitter counter counts your twitter visitors. Do you want to know how many of your twitter followers actually come and visit your blog and read more in depth about what you have to say? Well then you need to add this WordPress plug-in.

Well, to be exact about WordPress and Twitter. Guess I started out a little business like there. You know how it sometimes is. You have something on your mind, and you just have to get to it. Some days can be like that. You wake up all fired up and ready to go. On others, like when it’s a day to mow the lawn, all you want to do, is to stay in bed. Today I woke up fired up about plug-ins and Twitter. Well, WordPress plug-ins for Twitter is what I mean.

There are really a few good ones out there. They plug your Twitter into WordPress. Well, if you come to think of it. You can write all you like on your blog, but, unless you get the word out there, no one will come to read it. Twitter is a medium that tells people what is out there.  Let’s take a look at a few that are available.

Twitter Tools
Alex King built the first one we are going to look at. It’s basically the default Twitter tool on WordPress, and it’s called of course, Twitter Tools. Although it has upgraded recently to include the new WordPress 3, it does seem to be having a few integration problems. It was upgraded on 16 August 2010. You should see notice of your articles appearing on Twitter as soon as you post them and should see your Twitter tweets appearing in your WordPress side bar.

TweetSuite
A full Suite is one of the items available and this has a host of tools you need to combine the two programs. It’s a case of blending the two together in your widget bar. Called, of course, Tweet Suite, you can fully customize what you wish to use so as to enable you to interaction with your readers and for them to be able to spread the word about what you have been blogging about. It was built by Dan Zarella, who originally built Tweet Backs.

TweetThis
A third Twitter item is Tweet This. This plug-in has the ability to shorten the URL’s so as to enable your readers to add their own comments in their tweet where they pass on your message. Twitters 140 character limit, does limit someone like me, who is a little on the wordy side. In addition this plug-in has a button in it, which enables people to tweet your blog. You can also auto tweet with a schedule which is included.

TweetMeme
For those that like to know what your stats are the next one is for you.  tells you where you are and how you are doing with your blog on the Twitter site. It works from the backend of your WordPress and is integrated with it. The button on it means your readers can retweet your articles.

TweetTweet
Another plug-in that offers to retweet is TweetTweet, but in addition it archives your tweets about your blog and others that arise from it.

TwitterDoodle
The next plug-in goes a little further. Called TwitterDoodle, it not only gives you the latest trends going on in the world. This is done by a means of using keyword searches on Twitter. This enables you to see what you should be blogging about and also gives you the means to set your blog posts up around those subjects and then sends it back to Twitter via Twitterverse where it adds to the current discussion.
That’s all for today folks. I have given you just a few suggestions for integrating your WordPress with Twitter. There is a whole lot more, that you could be using.