Twitter, Twitterfeed - Free Traffic for Your Blog

Most of us will be aware of Twitter, a popular social networking website where you can send updates about you to all your friends. These updates are called tweets in Twitter language. Tweet is a short text message of few characters.

Twitter becomes very popular in very short time. Twitter has Alexa rank 575 in United States and it's in the list of high traffic websites. Below is a snapshot of Twitter reach from Alexa.


As you can see from above image, Twitter is one of highest traffic website on the internet. How can you take advantage of such a high traffic of Twitter?

In this post, i will explain how can you use Twitter to promote your blog or website in order to get tons of free referral traffic. In order to effectively use Twitter for your blog promotion, now we will talk about Twitterfeed.

Twitterfeed is an independent service and it is not affiliated with Twitter. If you are a valid Twitter user, you can use Twitterfeed service to send the RSS feed of your blog or website to Twitter as tweets. Twitterfeed provide you a place to manage all your blogs feed. You can also set the frequency of checking your blog for latest updates.


Each time you will post in your blog. The reference to that latest entry will be available to all your followers in Twitter as your latest update on Twitter. You can post up to 5 new updates each time.
You can also prefix each tweet with a word, which is max 20 characters in length. You can shorten your links through TinyURL, Tweetburner or SnipURL.

All you have to do is add more and more followers and your updates will be available to these followers at the earliest. Many popular websites are providing their latest updates through Twitter to all its users and Twitterfeed is the way to achieve this.

How To you Download Facebook or Youtube Videos Without Any Web Tools

Have you ever liked a video shared by your friend on facebook and wanted to download it…Well this this tutorial is not only for facebook or youtube instead it can be used for any video streaming website like metacafe,dailymotion,veoh or yahoo videos.There are websites on the internet that will convert your video link into a download link but it has the following drawback

• If you already watched the whole video and then you decide to download it to your computer it will take double time becuase you already have spent time watching it and now have to spend time downloading it to your hardrive.
• Moreover, the download speeds are very slow and its very irritating to download the whole video again.

But if you have already played the whole video on the site then there is no need to waste the time on downloading it again.We simply have to locate the cache folder of the browser as when the video is streamed it is automatically saved in the cache folder and just have to copy paste the video file from cache folder to your desired location in your computer.


Here is the step by step tutorial with screenshots on how you can locate the cache folder for various browsers in various operating systems

Case 1:Google Chrome
For windows Vista and Windows 7
If you use google chrome in windows vista or windows 7 then here is the location of the cache folder
C:\Users\USER_NAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\UserData\Default\Cache
C, being the system root. If you are not sure about the system root you can replace C: with %systemroot%.
Also donot forget to replace USER_NAME to your windows username
For Windows Xp Users
In windows Xp the google chrome cache folder can be found at
C:\Documents and Settings\USER_NAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome
CASE 2:Mozilla Firefox
For Windows 7 and Windows Vista
The temporary cache folder can be located at
C:\Users\USER_NAME \AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
For Window Xp Users
The temporary cache folder can be located at
C:\Documents and Settings\USER_NAME \Local Settings\Application Data
CASE 3:Internet Explorer
In case of Internet Explorer you need to go to Tools>Internet Options and then in Genreal tab click on Settings button

A new window will popup in front of you now click on View Files button.



How To Find Your Video In Cache Folder
Once you have found the cache folder of your browser the next thing you have to do is locate your video file.To do this arrange the files of the folder according to their size because video files are usually large in size.Open the largest files with Vlc player.Once you have found your video just copy it to your desired location.
Note:There are usually Some data files with names like data_1 in cache folder.Donot open them with Vlc open the rest of the files with Vlc and you will easily find your video.
Note:Make sure that you replace the USER_NAME with your windows username in the above addresses

6 Tips for Using Your Twitter Profile to Get New Followers

Since Twitter’s focus is on saying a lot with very little, it makes sense that the Twitter profile space is very brief and the default settings leave little room to present yourself in detail. It’s also the first and last thing potential followers will see before deciding to click “Follow” or to click away from your profile. Here’s a few tips to customize your profile so that potential followers will be convinced they can’t miss your Tweets!

1. Create a Custom Profile Page Background

Since the visual impact of your Twitter background is the strongest tool you have available, customize it to give people an eyeful of who you are.
You can make your own image on your computer and upload it under Settings – Design – Change Background Image. The first 200-250 pixels width on the left hand side is a great place to put additional profile information and list websites.
For a quick solution, you can create just the sidebar (250×700) as your background image with “no tile” selected. Then, modify the rest of the Twitter color scheme to complement it. You can use the first 200 pixels from the top for your picture or “header” for a possible logo and tagline.
The rest of the 400-500 vertical pixels should be used to tell others what you’re about and most importantly, what you’re looking for. Are you using Twitter to get business? To gather ideas for a project? To get feedback from customers? This is the best place to reflect your interests and other facets of your professional life if necessary, so that others can see it immediately.
Alternatively, you can use it to tell people how best to contact you like @garyvee who encourages people to email him instead of sending a Direct Message on Twitter.


Still not sure about the dimensions? You can use Browser Shots to see what it will look like on different screen sizes and browsers.
For an in-depth look at how to create a custom Twitter background, read the Twitip article – Make a Good Impression with a Custom Twitter Background.
Also check out these resources on Background images”

• Boinblog provides two different Photoshop templates to download, or you can create your own!
• Several templates for free at TwitterBacks

Other interesting uses of Twitter backgrounds:

2. Create a Twitter Landing Page as your “Web”URL

@pistachio had a great tip for this months ago when she created a “Twitter landing page” instead of sending users to the front page of your website. Advertisers create custom landing pages for different markets, so why not treat your Twitter audience differently, too? You can create one that explains to potential followers how you use Twitter and how to interact with you.
Some things you may want to include on your Twitter landing page:
- who you are / an abbreviated intro with a link to your more detailed About page, if available
- how you use Twitter (including frequency of Tweets, topics and if you use Twitter to tweet your new blog posts)
- your “follow” policy and how others should contact you if they want you to follow them back (with a “@user hello,” for example).
See Laura’s (@pistachio’s) Twitter Landing Page (Who is @pistachio?) as an example of this.

3. Use a Profile Picture that Reinforces Your Brand (You!)

Keeping your profile pictures consistent across all your social networks will help people find you and recognize you online as well as offline. A picture of you with a hat obstructing your face or you in your Halloween costume should probably be swapped out for a picture that looks like you almost all of the time. A hard-to-recognize picture may result in users squinting at it and clicking away instead of clicking “Follow.”
Of course, using a photo of your face may not be the only way to be “recognizable”:
@photomatt Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of Wordpress, has a profile picture which is simple a bright pink square. It’s certainly recognizable in a Twitter lineup, but unless you’re on magazine covers like he is, you’ll want to use your picture as a way for people to identify you and to create a visual and hopefully emotional connection with your Tweets even if they haven’t met you in-person.
If your company has a memorable logo (and you have the permission to display it) you may consider using it to increase brand recognition. Note that this is best when the content of your Tweets is close to your company’s mission/communication strategy.

4. Utilize your Profile “Bio” to your Best Advantage.

Be clever, be witty, or just be yourself! In a few words, sum up who you are and make it sound interesting. Since that’s what Twitter is all about, writing an intriguing Bio in such a small space shouldn’t be hard. Here’s also another opportunity point your audience somewhere. If you are going to point users to a site that is not your website or Twitter landing page, I recommend putting it here so that users see the entire URL instead of in your Web link which gets cut off. Transparency is always best.
@jowyang uses his Bio to give a brief explanation of who he is and points those interested to an article he wrote “How I use Twitter.”

5. Break up any @ Reply Marathons with Useful Tweets

If your potential follower is still on your profile page, and they’re not yet convinced about following you, they are going to check what you’ve been tweeting recently. Hopefully, they won’t see a sea of @ replies, which might insinuate that you spend a lot of time in micro-conversations that they may be left out of if they follow you.

7 Ways to Be Worth Following on Twitter

1) Be Interesting

It’s fine to announce what you’re doing and thinking and what you had for lunch, as long as you do it in a way that is entertaining to your followers. Twitter is micro-blogging, and like on your blog, if all you do is give a play-by-play of your mundane daily happenings, you will lose followers. The people I enjoy following find a way to make me smile with their quips and one-liners, even if they are just informing me what they had for breakfast. Here are a couple of examples from the past few days.
@subdiva could have said, “Packing to go to Disney tonight!” but instead she wrote: “Packing up to ring in the New Year on the happiest place on earth. No, not the wine store…”
@rocksinmydryer could have said, “I hate dieting” but instead she wrote: “May I just say, for the record, that PORTION CONTROL STINKS? Thank you, that is all.”
Of course not everything you post has to be clever, but if you’re just sharing your thoughts and happenings, try to make it worth reading.

2) Be Informative

Not every tweet should answer the question, “What are you doing right now?” If you are going to participate in the Twitter community, you need to give something back. I love it when people post links to helpful articles or leave bits of advice and information. Post whatever comes naturally to you. @skinnyjeans reminds her followers every day to get up and drink a glass of water and gives us a much-needed pep talk in the middle of the afternoon. I love this! @problogger always links to the articles he is reading, and I have found lots of new bloggers to follow this way. Not all helpful information has to be your own. If you see a good tweet, do a “retweet” so your followers can get the benefit of the information that is being shared.

3) Be Interactive

Don’t be a “hit and run” tweeter! In other words, don’t just log into Twitter to tell people what you are doing or link to your post and then leave. Respond to tweets, ask questions, answer questions. Twitter is a conversation, not a monologue, and the more you participate, the more you will get out of it, and the faster your community will grow.

4) Be Promotional

Yes, it’s okay to promote your own work, as long as it’s not all self-promotion, all the time. I love it when people link to their recent posts on Twitter. I almost always follow the links, especially when it’s done in a thoughtful way. I can’t always log in to my feed reader and catch up on my favorite bloggers, but for some reason, if they post a link in Twitter, I usually take the time to follow it, especially when they introduce the link in a thoughtful and interesting way. Which brings me to my next point.

5) Be Personal

For a while I used a plugin that automatically tweets a link to every new post I write, but I have turned off that feature and opted, instead, to write a more thoughtful introduction to the link I’m sharing. Maybe ask a question, or make a comment or introduce the link in a way that pertains to the subject of the post. No one likes to feel that they are getting spammed. And they are more likely to read it if you make it sound like it will be interesting or helpful. Don’t, however, be tempted to use the old bait and switch tactic to get readers to follow your link. They will wise up and you will find yourself unfollowed.
And while we’re at it, TURN THE ROBOTS OFF. It’s impersonal and insulting. I unfollow and block people who use automated responses. Period. The end.

6) Be Considerate

This is definitely a case of “do as I say, not as I do” because I KNOW I am so totally guilty of this. And yet, it bears mentioning because it really does get annoying, at least when other people do it. Sometimes we get into so many conversations or we have so much we want to share that we find ourselves clogging the Twittersphere with a long series of tweets. This is annoying. I won’t promise never to do it again, but it’s something to keep in mind. If you find yourself going back and forth in conversation with one person, it’s time to take the conversation to Direct Messages. Or email. Or text. Or, gasp, the phone. Believe it or not, some people DO still use the telephone.

7) Find a balance.

Finally, balance all of the above. If all you do is promote yourself, people will tire of you. NO ONE is that important. If all you do is update your daily happenings but never respond to others or give anything back, people will tire of you. NO ONE is that interesting. Balance is key.

Tips for Bloggers on How to Use Twitter

Define the Outcomes that You Want to Achieve

When I first started Twittering I gave little thought to my reasons for doing so. My Tweeting was unfocused and scattered – and so was the impact that it had. Before you write another ‘Tweet’ to your Twitter account ask yourself what you want to achieve from Twitter?

• Do you want to build your profile and perceived expertise in a niche or industry?
• Do you want to drive traffic to your blogs?
• Do you want to use it to network with others in your niche?
• Is it a branding exercise?
• Do you want to show your readers a more personal side of yourself?
• Is it more of a social exercise?

There are many things that Twitter can offer a blogger (check out my last post for more) – but one lesson I’ve already learned is that Twitter is a more effective tool if you know why you’re using it and focus in on just one (or a few) objectives rather than all of the above).
Suggestion: if your Twitter goals are wide – why not start multiple Twitter accounts – one for each objective. For example you could have a social one for your friends, one for each blog that you have to drive traffic and another to build profile.
Homework – grab a pen and paper or open up a text document and come up with your top 2-3 goals and objectives for Twitter.

Stay Disciplined with Your Objectives

Once you have your Twitter objectives set you need to work towards them. It’s like any goal or resolution that you make – you’ll only achieve what you set out to achieve if your actions match your objectives. This doesn’t mean that you can’t occassionally Tweet things in a way that is outside of your objectives (I mix mine up a bit) but it does mean that the majority of your tweets probably need to stay on track.
Homework – take the list of objectives that you’ve come up with and put them somewhere that you’ll see them regularly. Each time you twitter ask yourself – ‘is this Tweet getting me closer to these objectives?’

Be Original and Useful

This tip will sound familiar to those who’ve been reading ProBlogger for a while because it’s ProBlogger’s rule #1 when it comes to building a successful blog – build a blog that is unique and useful. If you build a blog like this people will keep coming back for more. The same is true for Twitter (in fact most of these tips can be applied to Twitter or blogging).
There are many thousands of people using Twitter – and there’s a lot of conversation buzzing around the Twittersphere. The problem is that it’s hard to stand out from the crowd and get noticed. Providing your followers with something original and useful is one way to do this. The benefits of doing so is that you’ll get people ‘replying’ to you – which catches the attention of those who follow them and can find you new followers.
Ultimately it’s about adding value to the conversations that are happening on Twitter. When you become someone who goes beyond adding to the noise of the Twittersphere you’ll become someone that people seek out and want to interact with.
Homework: Ask yourself a second question before you Tweet – ‘is this original and useful to my followers?’ If the answer is yes – publish it. If it’s not – either take a few extra moments to improve your Tweet or consider dropping it.

Learn that Every Tweet Counts

This is another thing that I speak about when it comes to blogging that also applies to Twitter. Every time you publish something on your Twitter account (or Blog) you can potentially improve or hurt your reputation, brand and profile. This is an important lesson to learn – particularly for Twitter where it’s so easy to post something out of anger, in a drunken moment or that could hurt your reputation in some way. Sure posting in this way can add ’spice’ to your Twittering – but it can also hurt your reputation.

Monitor your Reply Ratio

There are two types of public ‘Tweets’ or posts that you can make on Twitter. The first is a normal Tweet (where you publish something that you’ve been thinking, post a link to a good post you’ve seen, share an idea, ask a question etc). The second is a ‘reply’ to something that someone else has said (an answer to a question, a question of your own, a suggestion etc).
Both types of Tweets are very important to building a successful Twitter experience. Publishing normal Tweets shares something of yourself and adds to the ‘orginal’ factor that I mentioned above. Replies take Twittering to a more personal and conversational level. They are also one way that can spread your profile wider (the more people reply to you the more chance of others seeing, joining the conversation and following you).
The challenge is to keep the ratio of normal Tweets to reply Tweets in balance. I don’t know that there is any one perfect ratio – but I do know that some Twitterers frustrate me by going to the extreme in one way or the other. There are dangers in the extremes:
If you reply too much you run the risk of just blending in to the noise of the Twittersphere. Your tweets can become less useful to your wider community of followers and can end up being confusing. Remember that most of your followers can only see half of the conversations that you’re having.
If you don’t reply enough you could be missing one of the real benefits of Twitter – that of the interaction and conversation that is possible. You can also end up coming across as unapproachable and allusive.
My own approach is to attempt to keep my replies down to a level where my ‘normal’ Tweets are appearing every few Tweets. If I find myself replying too much I attempt to throw in some non reply tweets or take things to direct messaging (see my next point).
Homework – do a little analysis of your ‘reply ratio’. How many replies do you send for every normal Tweet? Is this something that you’re comfortable with? You might even like to ask your followers directly if you reply too much or not enough? Another quick exercise is to look at some of your favorite Twitter users and see what their reply ratio is. I’d be interested to see someone do some analysis on this from top Twitter users.

Learn to Use Direct Messages

If your reply tweet ratio is out of balance in that you ‘reply’ too much a good way to combat the problem is to consider using direct messages. My own approach to this is that I almost always publicly ‘reply’ to something that someone has Tweeted the first time – but if the conversation continues I’ll take the conversation to ‘direct messages’ after the second or third reply unless I think the conversation has something of value to my wider following community.

Ask Questions

One of the most effective types of Tweets that I’ve done is to ask my followers questions.
I highlighted the power of asking questions in yesterday’s post when I asked followers about their RSS subscribing habits (there are now over 50 or so replies).

• Asking a relevant question will draw many followers out of lurk mode and into an active engagement with you.
• Asking questions will draw people to ‘reply’ which (as I’ve already mentioned) will have a viral impact as those answering will show their own followers that they follow you
• Asking questions is great for helping you to learn which can be very useful if you’re researching a blog post
• Asking questions can lead to fruitful discoveries and real relationships with followers

I don’t ask questions with every Tweet – but try to throw one in most days.
Example a quick example of using a question was my recent Twitter Poll on how people use Twitter on the weekend. The question got around 40 responses, started some interesting discussion and over the 30 minutes that it ran for I had an extra 30 followers join up.
Bonus tip: once people have stopped replying to your question report back to your followers what the results were. This keeps the conversation going and gives followers a sense of how their response fits into the overall response.

Don’t be a self centered Twitterer

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been twittering from my feed reader and Tweeting the best links and posts that I find on other people’s blogs.
The tool I use for this is this Firefox add-on (and alternative is this one). In a sense what I’m doing is ’speedlinking’ to posts about blogging.
What I’ve found in doing this is that I get a lot of replies and direct messages from followers thanking me for these links and asking me questions about them. It seems to be helping my own profile and perceived expertise to be seen to be across what’s going on in my niche.
I think it also helps to balance the Tweets that I’m doing that are more self serving (pointing links to my own posts). My Twittering becomes more about the niche of blogging about blogging and less about me – I think that this is more useful to my followers.
I guess what I’m saying is that if you’re using Twitter to promote yourself or your blog (and this is fine) then it might be worth considering how you can add some variety to your Twittering by also promoting the quality work of others (note: don’t just link to others for the sake of it – keep the quality high and links relevant).
Question: what is your ’self linking’ to ‘linking to others’ ratio? Could you mix it up a little more?

Be Active

I was asked yesterday how I’ve manged to grow my Twitter followers up to the 1000 mark in just a few weeks. There are numerous reasons (including that I’ve promoted my Twitter account on my blog) – but I do think that the number one reason is that I’ve been quite active and using the medium more and more.
The more you Twitter the more chance you’ll get others find you through others replying to you. I’ve noticed the days that I Tweet more than others are the days I get most followers.
Forgetting to Tweet? – one of my biggest problems in the early days was forgetting to Tweet. It wasn’t a natural part of my daily rhythm. So I decided to remind myself by setting aside a few minutes in the mornings and a few minutes in the evenings to specifically use Twitter. I even set alarms in my calendar to remind me. Since moving to a tool like Twhirl (see below) I find that I’m reminded more regularly and see new Tweets from others come in – this has helped me be more regular on Twitter myself.

Promote Your Twitter Feed

The other reason that I’ve been able to grow my followership is that I’ve actively promoted my Twitter profile in numerous places. I’ve added a link to it in the footer of this blog, on my contact page and have posted about it here on ProBlogger numerous times over the last month. I’ve also added it to my facebook profile and have mentioned it to others that I know use Twitter.
It’s like promoting a blog – you want to leverage the profile that you might already had when launching a new project. Don’t spam people with it or force it down their throat but don’t be afraid to promote that you’re Twittering.
Homework – if your Twittering is relevant to your blog – think about where you could add a link to your Twitter profile.

Connect with Others in Your Niche

I want to connect with as many Twitter users as possible – however there are some that I’ve attempted to connect with more than others – simply because they are people who are active in niches that I interact in.
Really this comes back to your objectives – if you want to become known in your niche and build your own profile in it then you need to be interacting with others who are also in that niche. Add yourself as a follower to other key Twitterer users, add value to these people’s conversations, interact with them via direct messaging etc.
Homework – go Twitter Surfing. The best way that I’ve found to add find people who are Twittering in my niches is to simply go surfing. Start with those that follow you and see who else they are following and what they Twitter about. You’ll find that these followers will lead you to others (and so on).

Pick an Avatar and Profile Page that Reinforces Your Brand

Twitter doesn’t allow a lot of customization – but the subtle things that it does allow you to change can have an impact.
Your Avatar is one important factor – it appears next to every Tweet you make as well as on your profile page. If you just allow the default brown avatar to represent you you’re missing a great marketing opportunity. I would recommend using an avatar that reinforces your brand. If you’re brand is YOU then a picture of you would be worth adding. If your brand is your blog – then use a logo of some kind.
Similarly your profile page can be tweaks with an image and colors. I’ve not really done a lot with colors but added a ProBlogger Logo to mine to reinforce that in the mind of those who follow ProBlogger. I’m not completely satisifed with this yet and have it on my to-do list to think through a better way to do this.
Question – what does your avatar and profile page say about you? Does it add to your brand?

Consider Your Personal Tweet Strategy

This is one that I’ve grappled with a bit. In the earlier days of my Twittering I posted more personal Tweets than I currently do. Some followers seemed to like this but others were quite vocal about not liking them. I realized that my objectives for using Twitter were not for it to be a personal space – so I cut back the personal Tweets.
Having said this – I do include some more personal tweets from time to time as I think it can show a different side of you to your followers and add interest. However for me it’s about keeping things in balance.

Find Your Voice

I think it’s important to think about the voice that you Tweet in. One thing that I’ve found followers responding to is by Twittering in a more humorous voice. Telling a funny story or posting the occasional funny link can show a more personal side of you. Other Twitter users seem to get good responses from people when they Tweet in a more gruff and blunt tone. I guess it’s about finding what works for you.
Try Different Twitter Tools
There are a good variety of twitter tools available to help you manage your twittering. One of the things that stopped me getting into Twitter in the early days was that I only used it when I thought to go to my actual Twitter page. On discovering desktop twitter clients my Twittering changed completely. They are like instant messaging tools that notify you of when people make updates and more importantly when replies and direct messages come in. They also make adding a Tweet as easy as typing an instant message.
I use Twhirl as my Twitter client of choice at the moment – but there are many other methods. I’ve also tried and liked:

• Twitterific – another desktop Twitter client (mac)
• Tweetbar – twitter from the sideb ar of Firefox

Another useful tool if you want to promote your Blog’s posts to Twitter is Twitterfeed.
There are many other tools to try and experiment with. Frantic Industries has a good list as does Mashable.
I think the key is to try different tools and find the one that fits with your own rhythm.

Work With the Rhythm of Your Followers

I linked above (in the ‘question’ section) to a poll I did of my followers asking whether they used Twitter more or less on weekends. The results were:

• More: 3
• Less: 21
• Same: 8

This is useful information to know and on many levels makes sense. With this in mind you can time your Tweets to get maximum impact. Obviously the time of day has an impact also. As someone in Australia I notice this quite a bit with a real lull during my afternoons when the US is asleep.
This doesn’t mean that ‘dead’ times are a waste of time – in fact I find Twittering in these times can be good because it’s easier to cut through the noise of busier times.
Take home lesson: experiment with different times and days to see what impact they have.

5 Steps To Model Successful Twitter Users

1 – Assemble A Swipe File of Users

A “Swipe File” is an old copy term, which is a collection or great ads or sales letters that you keep as reference or inspiration. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to select 5 really good “Pro Twitter” users.

To get the most out of this exercise, you also need to assemble a swipe file of 2-5 “Personal Twitter Users”. As these people do not have a high profile, I will not be sharing any here, but the point behind having 2-5 personal twitter users in your swipe file is so that you can see how “normal” people act on twitter.
These are people who use twitter to connect with friends, and family, as well as just to have conversations with the world. A problem most people have who start using Twitter is not knowing how to act. By combining “Pro Twitter” users with “Personal” you will be able to offer a more satisfying Twitter experience.

2 – Choose 5 Twitter Users To Model

You need to come up with 5 “star twitter users”. I selected the following 5 because:

1. The Provide Value – They are not trying to get you to buy something, digg something up, or sign up for their lists.
2. They Are Successful – Some help people reach success, some have achieved success, and others provide tools to make you successful.
3. They Are Somewhat Famous – The reason this is important is because if they have time to tweet, so do you.
4. They “Get It” – These people understand how to use Twitter, and as such are worth modeling.

Here are 5 pro twitter users you can follow now (or atleast keep track of).
Here are their twitter accounts, as well as a very brief bio explaining who they are.
@problogger – Darren Rowse, Author of the ProBlogger Site
@LeoLaporte – Leo Laporte, (you may remember him from TechTV)
@KevinRose – Founder of Digg
@tferriss – Tim Ferris – Author of “The 4 Hour Workweek”
@wilw – Wil Wheaton – Actor from Star Trek The Next Generation
You may wish to come up with a different list, based off your own needs or desires, but make sure the ones that you choose meet some of the criteria above. You do not want to model spammers, who spend half of their tweets promoting their own products. Choose people who provide value.
I also selected these users because I think their habits are easier to emulate, and anyone can do it. If I were to select some Twitter power users, such as @GuyKawaski who posts 50 tweets a day on average, with a CQ of 43.5% and LQ of 64.5%, it might be harder for you to emulate them, and you likely wouldn’t want to anyway.

3 – Analyze Their Stats At Twitter-Friends

Twitter-Friends is a great tool that lets you analyze your habits as well as the habits of others. For this exercise we will take these 5 users, and check out their stats on Twitter-Friends, and see what we can learn.
If you do not understand how to use Twitter-Friends, check out this article for more information.
What We Learn From @Problogger

• Posts an average of 24 tweets a day
• @replies 13 times a day (about 50%)
• Out of 24 tweets, 10 are links.
• CQ = 54.1% LQ = 42.4%

What We Learn From @LeoLaporte

• Posts about 4 times a day
• @replies about 1 and a half times a day
• Out of 4 tweets, 1 and a half are links
• CQ = 42.7% LQ = 37.3%

What We Learn From @kevinrose

• Posts about 7 and a half times a day
• @replies about 5 times a day
• Out of 7 tweets, about 2 and a half are links
• CQ = 65.6% LQ = 32.1%

What We Learn From @tferriss

• Posts about 2 times a day
• @replies about .3 times a day
• Out of 2 tweets, about 1 and a half are links
• CQ = 13.3% LQ = 70%

What We Learn From @wilw

• Posts about 10 and a half times a day
• @replies about 4 times a day
• Out of 10 tweets, about 2 are links
• CQ = 38.8% LQ = 18.9%

What We Learn From TwitterFriends Averages
Here are the averages from twitter, not from our 5 users.

• Average Tweets per Day per user 10.4
• @replies per day is 4.6
• Out of those 10.4 Tweets, 2.2 are links
• CQ = 44.1% LQ = 21.6% Leaving 34.3% to plain text

4 – Analyze Your Stats

Now that you know how “the pros” tweet, it’s time to see how you stand up.
Check out your:

• Average Tweets Per Day, @replies, your CQ% and LQ%.
• Ask yourself, how do you stack up against your list of stars, your list of personal tweeters, and the average.
• Is there anything you need to focus more on?

5 – Assemble A Twitter Template

Now that you know how often you should tweet, and what type of tweets you should tweet. The next step is to generate a “Tweet Template”.
What you do is select a few tweets, maybe 10-20 interesting tweets from each user on your list.
Then take those Tweets and break them down into their core components. Can you see any trends? And similarities?
For example here are 5 Tweets
Here are 2 samples from Darren @problogger. Consider these for use as posting updates.
@problogger wrote -> Reading: Simon and Garfunkel’s 10 Blogging Lessons – http://tinyurl.com/89nme4
Template – Reading: Title – Link
@problogger wrote -> New at ProBlogger: Add Social Proof to Your Blog With TweetBacks http://twurl.nl/djz7gx
Template – New post on my blog -> Title -> Link
Here are 2 samples from Kevin Rose @kevinrose. Consider these as a template for your social posts.
@kevinrose wrote -> Lunch then movie at home, relaxing weekend. http://twitpic.com/zeeb
Template – What I’m doing -> picture
@kevinrose wrote -> listening to a little ‘hot chip’ while reading the emails
Template – What I’m doing, no sell, no link.
Here is a tweet from Tim Ferriss @tferriss. Consider this as another template for when you post a link that is non-promotional.
@tferriss wrote -> Experimenting w/ various ways to start a fire in a fireplace. How about a Coke can + bar of chocolate? http://tr.im/2nor Your tips + tricks?
Template – Ask question? Offer potential answer (or title) -> link -> question?
Conclusion
To get the most out of this article try and implement these 5 steps.
1 – Create a list of 5 users who are in the same field as yours that you would like to model.
2 – Create a list of 5 personal users (or more) so you can see how they act and behave, feel free to analyze their stats as well.
3 – Visit Twitter-Friends.com and analyze the stats of those users.
4 – Analyze Yourself
5 – Form a few templates
After you complete these tasks, you will know where you stand up in the “twitterverse” as well as how you can improve your twitter experience.

5 Ways I Benefit from Twitter

1. Research Tool

One of the things that I value very highly about Twitter is the way that it allows me to tap into an amazing community of people from around the world to find out what they are thinking, feeling and experiencing in different ways.
I’ve often said that Twitter makes me smarter because among those in my network are 18,000 people who collectively know and have experienced a lot of stuff.
I’ve always known that together a group is smarter and more powerful than any single member from within that group – but I’ve never really been able to tap into that power…. that was until I started using Twitter.
I use this every day as I write posts for my blogs (and ask readers for their ideas and experiences to help deepen what I write), as I tackle issues and problems that I face (there’s always someone ‘out there’ who has been through something similar and will quite often have a solution), as I face questions and as I develop my business.
Being able to tap into the Twitter community is incredibly illuminating. In fact these days Twitter is starting to replace Google for me. If I want to know something I’ll quite often ask my followers before I ask Google.
Also what I consider to be research is the ability for me to use a tool like TwitScoop at any point in time to see what is trending up in the Twitterverse at any point in time. In a sense Twitter becomes a news service with this and you’ll quickly find if there is a breaking story somewhere in the world by watching it.

2. Branding

I once wrote a post on ProBlogger about how a personal online brand is made up of the many ’strands’ of ‘presence’ that you have. You might have a blog or website – but when you’re also present on other social networking sites, forums, social messaging sites (etc) you reinforce that brand.
I’ve definitely found this to be true for Twitter.
Here are some of the comments that I’ve gotten from people in the past:

• ‘I used to read you at ProBlogger but had lost track until I found you on Twitter’
• ‘I subscribe to your RSS feed on the blog but seeing your posts on Twitter reminds me to read them more’
• ‘I was scanning through someone else’s Twitters yesterday and saw your face. I recognized it from your Facebook account so thought I’d check out you.’
• ‘I saw your name mentioned the other day on Scott Karp’s Twitter feed. I hadn’t seen your blog for a while and it reminded me to resubscribe.’

Twitter is a place that people are searching for connection and information. For me as a blogger who is interested in giving people information and drawing people together into community it is a logical place for me to be present because it reinforces my brand.
For me it’s like having a billboard on a busy virtual intersection.

3. Collaboration and Networking

I’ve lost count of the many opportunities that I’ve had to interact with amazingly talented, smart and insightful people on Twitter.
Some of these interactions have led to new ideas, others have led to temporary collaborations while still others have led to ongoing partnerships over time. The collaborations that have come out of Twitter for me have been both big and small – but collectively they’ve been incredibly significant.
In fact the opportunities have been almost overwhelming. There are days when I Tweet that I’m looking for someone to work with on an idea when the response is simply too much to handle.
Not only does Twitter open up new relationships – it’s a great place to cement and deepen existing ones. For example after a trip to Los Vegas for Blog World Expo earlier in the year I was amazed to find how many of those that I met were on Twitter when I returned home. In the months that have followed quite a few of those that I met in person at BWE have become regular Twitter buddies to this day.

4. It’s my Water Cooler

I’m a solo entrepreneur, working out of the front room in my house in suburban Melbourne Australia. Most of my contemporaries, readers and business partners live in other parts of the world (many in North America) – so at times it is easy to feel quite disconnected, isolated and even lonely.
Having previously worked in workplaces with teams of people – since starting to work from home I have always missed the banter, collaborative opportunities and companionship of having people around me.
Twitter in many ways has fulfilled some of these needs. There’s always someone around to bounce ideas around with, have a joke with or just to talk with about what you did over the weekend. While it doesn’t’ quite match up to real life workmates – it certainly has helped (and at times is even better….. because you can’t switch off work mates when you need to get work done!).

5. Direct Traffic

As a blogger I’m interested in building traffic to my web properties. Twitter has been an increasing source of this traffic over the past year or so. While it isn’t my primary reason for being on Twitter it certainly is nice to be able to post a link to a post that I’ve written or an online project that I’m launching and to see people coming directly from Twitter to that page.
What is even more special is seeing others promote my links on Twitter on my behalf either by ‘Retweeting’ my tweets with the links or simply by finding something I’ve written on their own and promoting it to their followers.
It is difficult to know exactly how much traffic Twitter has driven to my blogs (particularly difficult as so many people don’t actually follow Twitter on Twitter.com but use desktop clients that don’t come up with a referral metric) but as the picture to the right shows – last month Twitter.com alone directed over 8500 visitors to my blog at ProBlogger – I’d estimate at least that much again came from other Twitter clients.

8 Sure-Fire Ways To Tick Off the Twitterverse, Twitter tips

Have you ever been to a social networking event and watched someone make a complete fool out of themselves? It’s like watching a car wreck in slow motion. Or like listening to a violinist who doesn’t know the difference between an A flat and and A sharp. It’s painful.
The whole point of a social networking event is to get to know people and build relationships. But if you don’t have a handle on the right social graces, you’ll make the wrong kind of lasting impression.
To the uninitiated, Twitter may seem like a collection of random conversations and annoying mini marketing campaigns. But the Twitterverse is really a big community that you build up around you. And as with most communities, there are certain rules—spoken and unspoken. There’s etiquette on Twitter—or as I like to call it—Twittiquette.
People new to the Twitterverse can’t help it if they make a few social gaffes now and then. Because they simply don’t know what they don’t know. In these cases, social missteps are forgivable. I made a few myself when I first joined up. One time, a new follower thought I was a bot. A bot I most certainly was not, I told her. I just couldn’t figure out the status updater I was using and ended up pinging my poor Tweeps with multiple announcements about my latest blog post (my belated apologies again, Tweeps).
But there are others who have been milling around the Twitterverse for a while and they clearly should know better. These are the folks who you would never ever in a million years want to run into at a chamber of commerce event. In person, they would probably corner you for a half hour or more and talk at you about how fantabulous their company/product/service is and why you should give a gosh darn.
And if you haven’t figured it out already, some of these folks are mingling about and icking up the Twitterverse too. You might even have a couple in your list of followers. Or maybe you recognize yourself in one of Twitter types below.
In any case, here’s my list of the eight most difficult Twitter types. The kind of folks that you want to unfriend, unfollow, and unTwitter.
And hey—if the shoe fits, I trust that you’ll know what to do. Or if you are guilty of some of the below but simply are in denial, I hope for your sake that one of your Tweeps will be kind enough to pull you aside via Direct Message and tell you to knock it off already!

1. TwitterNarcissist

This is the guy or gal who thinks that you and every other Tweep is actually waiting with baited breath to find out what they did at every moment throughout the day. They clutter up your page with inane details like: “Watching CSI, eating popcorn, and loving every minute of it!” “Cleaned the kitchen counter!” “Making chili for dinner!!!” Most people are inundated and bombarded with information every day, all day long. The inbox overfloweth. So if you’re going to Twitter something, make it useful or meaningful to your Tweeps. Or send a direct message to the people who really do care what you’re eating for dinner, watching on TV, or listening to on your MP3 player. But please don’t pull the stream-of-consciousness baloney that so often gives Twitter a bad name. I don’t have the time, energy, or desire to track or filter the drivel—and I suspect, neither do your other Tweeps.

2. TwitterSpammer

A few weeks ago, I suddenly found myself followed by a real estate company, a funeral home, and someplace that specialized in Botox treatments—all from California. WTF? Okay, I am not going to be buying a house anytime soon, and if I was, I certainly wouldn’t be buying one in California. And I don’t plan on dying any time soon, so leave me alone you mortician marketing person—your branding campaign is just plain creepy. Besides, I live in Michigan. And Botox facility, I have nothing to say except “Buzz off!” How did these weirdo marketing flunkies find me? I have no clue. But I blocked them as soon as they announced themselves in my inbox. If you own a business or are new to marketing, keep this in mind: Twitter is great for growing your business—as long as you target the right audience and observe proper Twittiquette. Otherwise, you’ll just tick people off. Word-of-mouth marketing is great if you make a good impression, but not so great if you make a bad one.

3. TwitterDigMeDude

These are the types of people who have thousands of followers but who follow no one. To my knowledge, I am only following one of these guys, and his name is Timothy Ferriss—author of the 4-Hour Workweek. I suppose if he followed all of his fans, he’d have to rewrite his book and call it the 80-Hour Workweek. But actually, if he does start following people at some point, he’ll probably just hire a virtual assistant to do it for him. For the time being, I’ll forgive Timothy for not following me because it seems to fit into his overall strategy of doing as little work as possible and getting away with it. For the rest of us earthlings, though, Twitter is about having dialogues and building relationships. So if you’re not following anyone, you’re having a monologue and you’re asking everyone to dig you and everything you have to say. And how boring is that? That’s like the guy who won’t shut up about himself at a cocktail party, but who starts to nod off the moment someone else starts talking himself or herself.

4. TwitterBotty

Hey everybody—read my great blog post! Hey everybody—read my great blog post! Hey everybody—read my great blog post! Get the idea? Did you hear me yet? HEY! DID YOU READ MY BLOG POST??!! Yes, there are people on Twitter who keep repeating themselves because they are afraid you might not have “heard” them the first, second, third, or even fourth time. And yes, I did it a few times by accident myself when I was still trying to figure out one of those status updater thingiemajigs. But I am not a bot. There’s no need to repeat yourself on Twitter. If people like what you have to say, they’ll retweet it and repeat it for you. Otherwise, one mention of your blog post or other link is enough. More than that, you’ll start ticking off the Twitterverse. And trust me, you really really don’t want to do that.

5. TwitterDumbLinker

This is the guy or gal who says: “Hey! I read this great thing! Click here for major big-time chuckles!” Uh, sorry. Tell me more about the link and why I should care, and then maybe I’ll click on the link. If you don’t provide me with a good reason why I might be interested in taking the time to click, then I’ll just keep scrolling down the screen of Tweets and ignore you. Or worse, I might even block you if you pull that dig-my-secret-link trick too many times. Telling me that something is funny and that I should click on a link isn’t enough—especially if I don’t know anything about you or your sense of humor yet. Most people don’t have time for random clicking—I certainly don’t.

6. Twittermatic

I recently linked up with someone via Twitter, and a nanosecond later, they had written out an impressively lengthy response to my simple “Hello, how are you?” At first, I thought: “Wow! They’ve got fast fingers!” And then I realized that I was just another number in their list of followers—that they had the automatic, canned response that they sent to everyone after that initial Twitter linkup. Having said this, I do try to respond to everyone who chooses to follow me. But to be completely honest, sometimes what I send via direct message to a new follower is not too different from what I’ve sent to other Tweeps. That said, I always try to acknowledge people by name if it’s provided. And if I have time, I try to engage in a little dialogue. People don’t like to feel like a number—not even on Twitter.

7. TwitterJabberJaw

I linked up to this woman on Twitter a couple months ago who just would not shut up. I eventually unfollowed her because she was dominating my screen, and apparently, not taking a breath—every day, all day long. I began to wonder if she was independently wealthy because that’s all she seemed to do all day—Tweet Tweet Tweet. People don’t like to be held hostage by a manic conversationalist in person, and the same goes for Twitter. Don’t hog the conversation—you’re not that interesting. No one is.

8. TwitterSmarmySales

I was very excited to hook up with one gentleman on Twitter who had some interesting publishing connections. Until I realized that he was simply trying to hawk his e-book and other editorial services onto me and other Tweeps. I also received several spammy e-mails from him, but haven’t unfollowed him. Yet anyway. So if you’re just taking up Twitter space to sell your services, toot your horn about how awesome your business is, or aggressively market whatever it is you’re trying to market, then just stop it already. It’s a bad strategy. It gives you a smarmy reputation. Tweeps know when you’re full of it and not really interested in anything other than trying to do the hard sell. So if that’s what you’re interested in, just buy an ad that I can turn off or ignore, but please don’t Tweet me to death.

10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners

1. Set up your profile
The first thing you need to do is to set up that profile. See that bar on top of your twitter page? Click Settings and start filling up your profile. The notable areas in here are URL, bio, picture and design. Put up a link to your site or blog in here along with a brief description. Upload a picture to differentiate yourself from the others and then tweak your Twitter design. Like any other social networking site, it is important to completely express what you are or what you stand for in your profile.

2. Follow people with similar interests
Now that you have a profile, start following people. You can find these people in Twitter directories. I use Twellow and JustTweetIt. These sites can introduce you to Twitter users that have the same interest as yours. Follow these people and observe their tweets. You may also try following who these people follow but read up their descriptions and visit their blogs to make sure you’re still on the right niche. Being on the right niche will make it easy for you to build a community with a similar interest.

3. Get into the conversation
So now that you are following people, you will now see some tweets on your board. Read up on what the people your following are up to and reply if it interests you. For example, a person narrates how he is going to conduct a meeting. You may then reply with ideas. When someone asks a question, don’t hesitate to answer if you know it. Don’t be afraid to interact.
 

4. Don’t spam
Spam is the cause of many unfollows on Twitter. There is a character limit for a reason. Do not send repeated messages to people. Do not constantly direct message (DM) them with links.

5. Update daily
Alright so you’re blending in the community. Now update daily if possible. I know some Twitter users who unfollow because of inactivity. Reply to people and update people with what’s going on with your life. Soon you’ll be recognized and you’ll get some follows.

6. Find the latest buzz and contribute
Now it’s your time to contribute. Find a topic that will interest your niche and tweet it. Since you have established relationships with your followers (through replies), you will get more attention. It’s a nice strategy to always append “please retweet” at the end of your tweet. There will be some people who will be so interested that they will retweet. There are others who will reply to you about the link you tweeted. But you are not a “nobody” anymore. You are not just talking to yourself. People are now responding to your tweets.

7. Help other people out
The famous saying “Do unto others what you want others to do unto you” holds here. Before you can receive retweets, you must help others first by retweeting their messages. Help the people in your niche. One day you’ll be surprised on how eager they are to help you back.

8. Create relationships
Now it’s time to create constant connections. Soon you will find that some users are more active than others. You will get to talk with the same group of people at the same time every night. But don’t get bored. Interact with these people and create relationships. Ask how they are doing and try to touch on their interests.

9. Integrate Twitter with other social networks
Have a blog? Then post to Twitter when you have a post that will interest your niche. Have a Facebook profile? Then ask people to add you. Twitter is really a vital part of web 2.0. It can serve as the core. It can let you build relationships that can branch out to other social networks.

10. Establish relationships even outside Twitter
Have a lot of friends on Twitter? Then take it to another level. Ask for their messenger and talk to these people on a more intimate level. Call them through Skype or even arrange a meet-up. Twitter can create real relationships.