When Google Realtime was launched, it would show a lot of results from Twitter. It showed Twitter’s awesome dominance on almost all events which were important to be followed in realtime. Then things between Google and Twitter went sour and Google had no longer access to all data from Twitter.
I use Chrome and HashPlug extension works seamlessly to give some related tweets in an unobtrusive manner with my Google search results.
Below is a screenshot of me searching for “Diwali Festival” on Google. Notice the realtime tweets streaming in the right hand side.
If you are signed into your Twitter account on your browser, then you can even retweet, favourite or reply to a particular Tweet from the feed directly.
If Google is showing a related page with its knowledge graph for a particular search term on the right hand side, it gets automatically readjusted below the twitter stream.
Usually this sort of Twitter stream would be very useful while using Google for information about an unfolding event like a sporting event or a breaking news story.
Thanks to @Fenoplix for the tip. Do try out HashPlug and drop in your comments.
Since you are reading this post, you must have been using Twitter’s official app on Facebook for posting your tweets on it. That is fine but looking at most people active on Twitter, they share atleast 5 times more Tweets than FB updates. So auto-posting can actually end up spamming your Facebook timeline. If you do not want to be that person who spams Facebook for your friends, here is what you can do. Start using Selective Tweets app on Facebook.
How Selective Tweets Works on Facebook:
Setting up is very simple just go to (https://apps.facebook.com/selectivetwitter/)
Enter your Twitter username and click save. You will be asked to grant permission to the app .
Now send a test tweet ending with ‘#fb’. It should appear on your Facebook.
The setup will be broken if you change your Twitter handle as it does not connect to your Twitter account but only monitors it.
Do you use any other app to share your Tweets onto Facebook? Do drop in your comments.
A few hours ago, I wrote about Barack Obama’s iconic “Four More Years” update which broke many records on Twitter and Facebook. The update itself was completely missing from Google+. But chances are that the historic tweet on Obama’s Twitter account were not really Obama’s words.
Now it is reasonable to expect that social media accounts by Presidents of countries are not managed by the actualy person and possible managed by staff members. On Obama’s Twitter account, it clearly states that the account is managed by
On Twitter, all the tweets by the U.S. President are tagged “–bo”.For instance check the tweet at this link.
The iconic Tweet which seems to also be “Promoted” on Twitter does not carry the “-bo” tag. A previous tweet as pointed out carries the “-bo” tag. 😉
So chances are, the person behind the tweet that broke Twitter and Facebook records was a staff member working for Obama.
Though it is well known that very famous politicians usually do not manage their own social media accounts and are usually run by social media experts. But the tagging on Obama’s accounts does mean that atleast his followers know which one is sent by the man himself and which one is not.
A social network is a bit like a virtual party. People interact and discuss things mainly around current events. That is why Live sporting events like the Olympics are followed very actively on social media websites.
Today, when the US President Barack Obama got re-elected, he (probably his campaign team) showed exactly why Facebook and Twitter are social media champions and why Google+ is more or less a dead place.
On winning the elections Obama’s official account on Twitter shared the photo below. It quickly became the most retweeted Tweet in the history of micro-blogging platform.
In other words, the photo got an incredible 2.8 million Likes and over 600,000 retweets. Moving over to Obama’s official Google+ profile, it shows the latest update is over a day old. The iconic photo is missing and no one has even bothered to update it with today’s election news.
This clearly shows that when its about reaching out to people, Google+ simply resembles a empty room instead of a happening party. As someone who really likes Google+ for its privacy options, Hangouts feature and its beautiful design, I find it very disappointing to see so little activity on it even after more than a year after its launch. Even though Hangouts is popular, I float the idea of a hangout with friends first on Facebook. If I did so on Google+, I am sure no one would really notice it at all to respond.
What are your thoughts on Google+? Do let us know through your comments.
While Facebook’s Timeline interface got a lot of criticism, the cover photo feature was pretty cool and Google+ grabbed it with the new design. Now, after Google+, here comes Twitter mimicking the feature.
Twitter calls it as ‘header photo’, to get yourself one, go to the Design tab of Twitter settings, scroll down to header section and you’ll be allowed to upload an image with a maximum resolution of 1252 X 626 px.
Apparently, there’s some default styling added to the image to increase readability of text on it.
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You’ll also notice a ‘Me’ tab in the navigation bar on Twitter web.
You can still add a custom background and header photos are visible everywhere even on official Twitter clients for Android/iOS.
Twitter for Android and iPhone/iPad got updated today with a bunch of features (along with support for header photos) – On Mobile, your Twitter photo stream will be shown below your tweets.
On a whole, this update for Twitter makes it for a richer experience, both on Mobile and desktop.
The updates must be rolling out for everyone soon.
Twitter has removed the mention of clients from Tweets. You might have noticed while reading an individual tweet, it was easy to note which client was used to send that particular tweet. This was a great way for Twitter users to find and adopt new Twitter mobile apps and desktop clients. This latest move confirms my view that Twitter is systematically killing 3rd party apps.
For instance below is the image of tweet I sent a few months ago from TweetDeck.
Now under new Twitter guidelines, the client name will not show up with individual tweets. This is not a isolated incident, Twitter has also introduced new API guidelines which has restricted 3rd party apps to only having 100,000 users at a time. That severely restricts 3rd party clients from monetizing their products and effectively meaning the death of it.
Twitter’s change of heart towards 3rd party clients
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Twitter for me was about being a open ended platform. Despite Facebook being the big fish in the social pond, Twitter has carved out a unique identity. That unique identity was a lot due to third-party clients and mobile apps that were developed for Twitter.
These third party apps made retweeting and organizing Twitter accounts we followed into lists very easy. Even Twitter adopted the retweet feature and creating lists on its own website and mobile apps.
But as Twitter grew into several hundred millions of users, it was still not making enough money. Atleast not as much as a company with that sort of brand name and presence should. This is when Twitter started to get defensive about 3rd party apps. First they bought TweetDeck, a hugely popular desktop client for using Twiter. It was probably bought to make sure TweetDeck did get acquired by another company. Today TweetDeck is more or less the official desktop client app for the Windows platform.
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Twitter can not be blamed entirely
Even though, Twitter does look like a villain, feeding of 3rd party developers for so long and now casting them aside, it cannot be entirely blamed. Twitter makes hardly a great deal of money. A website like Twitter takes a lot of money to keep it running. It cannot allow 3rd party apps to thrive and make money off Twitter, while it struggles to do the same. By making Twitter not lucrative for 3rd party apps, it is diverting all money making opportunities towards itself.
Do you think Twitter’s idea of killing off 3rd party apps will affect it badly in the long run? Or will it finally give Twitter more control over its own platform for the better? Do drop in your comments.
I like to share a lot of link to interesting articles, images and more on my Facebook and Twitter profiles. Delicious has introduced a new feature which allows users to import links from Facebook and Twitter to Delicious account.
Import Links from Facebook and Twitter to Delicious
Log into your Delicious account. Now click on ‘Settings’ and then ‘Sources’. If you are signed in, just visit this link.
Here you will have option to add a source like Facebook or Twitter for links to be imported on Delicious.
Usually the default tag for such links is ‘from Facebook’ or ‘from Twitter’ but you can customize it.
Once that is done, you can wait for Delicious to import all your links. This is a great way to keep track of all the links you are sharing but have not essentially bookmarked them.
Do you use any other similar automated tools? Do drop in your comments.
I have always liked using Twitter a lot more than Facebook or Google+. It is a open platform and a constant stream of information on what is happening around the world. Most importantly it is not a network of friends and leaves it upto every individual user to decide what sort of network they want to build.
One problem I have always had with Twitter is the lack of search capabilities. Searching for older tweets is very difficult and sometimes impossible. If Twitter has to remain relevant and useful it has to get better at its search capabilities.
Today Twitter announced many improvements to its search features. These include spelling corrections, getting related suggestions and most importantly searching for a query by limiting the results from your followers. Just login to your Twitter account on the browser and search for a query.
As you can see from the above screenshot, Twitter now allows searching for results from the people you follow.
These search features are available on the Twitter website and the official Twitter apps for iPhone and Android. That probably means Twitter might not be extending this feature on TweetDeck. That would be disappointing news for TweetDeck or third part app users.
Twitter seems to be a continous stream of information and it is rather difficult to keep track of some important tweets that you liked or would like to get back to at a later time.
One way to keep track of an important tweet is to favorite it. This way you can get back to it anytime you want and do not need to use Twitter’s search feature which is not exactly great.
Creating a RSS Feed of Favorite Tweets
I personally like following things I am interested with Google Reader and I tried to search for quick way to create RSS feeds out of all the tweets I mark as favorite.
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Thankfully, Twitter itself has a great feature which is not as well known to create RSS feeds of any user’s favourite tweets.
Just replace “devils_workshop” into any account’s username to created the desired RSS feed.
Archiving Favorite Tweets to Evernote
If you like saving notes on Evernote then this Ifft feature is a great way to archive all your favorite tweets to your Evernote account.
Just visit the this ifttt link and connect your Twitter and Evernote accounts. It will automatically archive all your favorite tweets to Evernote. Do note you will have to create a ifttt account.
When Google+ was introduced to the world, it caused a lot of excitement. Tech blogs went into overdrive about the supposed Facebook killer. Over time there is a lot of debate on Google+ failing because it has not managed to really dent Facebook. There are many people who are not too happy about Facebook either.
So who will survive in the long run? Facebook or Google+? I believe the answer to it is neither and Twitter will outlast them all.
#1. Twitter is anonymous
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Twitter does not expect users to use their full names and associate it with your account. This sort of anonymity simply does not exist on Facebook or Google+. Also Twitter does not expect users to have only one account. You can have multiple accounts and they can be about anything you want.
#2. Network of strangers
On Facebook we connect with our family, friends and even colleagues. That is pretty great but the fact is most Facebook contacts are a phone call away. Twitter is a different network where almost all the people we follow and more importantly consume information from are complete strangers.
#3. Breaking News
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Twitter has consistently broken news from around the world a lot faster than traditional news media. This has made even the traditional new media scan Twitter and tap into it for local updates and opinions. I doubt any news channel or web service can compete with the ability of Twitter to make a 140 character update into a trending global story within minutes. Presently no other web service can compete on this point with Twitter.
#4. Twitter has more potential to make money than others
Even if Facebook is selling ads and making millions if not billions, there is always the problem of having relevancy to their ads. Facebook has all my personal data and can sell me personalized ads, but I am unlikely to click on a Facebook ad. The reason for this is because I am not on Facebook trying to check the latest trends but rather to connect with friends.
I might actually click on a sponsored tweet as I often check out latest trends on Twitter. The idea is simple, selling something to people who are looking for something is easier.
#5. Platform Vs Network
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Facebook is a great place to connect with people but it expects you to play by their rules. They expect users to access Facebook on the website or through their official apps. Twitter is incredibly open and I won’t be surprised that a majority of Twitter users access it through 3rd party apps. Twitter seems less like a network and more like a platform. Platforms are not specific to a particular purpose and users have to define why and how to use these platforms.
A lot of tech experts might not give Twitter a great chance ahead of Facebook, but then nobody gave much of a chance for a web search engine called Google or a free email service called Hotmail.
What are your views on Twitter and it’s future on the internet? Do drop in your comments.
