Twitter Tools& Insights

Gordon Dymowski

Chicago Net Tuesday

May 12, 2009

Goals of this presentation

•Provide basic information on Twitter & use within non-profits

•Educate on some online/3rd party Twitter apps

•Provide basic resources for tracking Twitter Statistics

•Stimulate discussion & creativity on non-profit use of Twitter

• Popular “microblog” service – allows up to 140 characters to post (“blogging with sticky notes”)

• Creates communication channel via “followers” & “following”

• Can access via mobile phone, home computer, or on web

• Roughly 6 million unique visitors per month and 55 million overall visitors per month (compete.com)

• Although Twitter accounts have wide range of number of followers, average number of followers per account = 70

Twitter Vocabulary

• Followers – people reading your updates• Following – people whose updates you

read• Retweet – forwarding an update• @ (at) – addressing someone directly on

Twitter• Direct Message – Twitter version of e-mail

(only happens if people follow each other)• Hashtag (#) – way to organize tweets

around a topic (for example, #netsquared)

How Non-Profits Use Twitter

• Provide resources and updates (@foundersheart, @cancersociety)

• Organizing around a cause (@edemtim, @netsquared, @heartlandhelps)

• Fundraising (@twestival, @heartlandhelps)

• Networking with others (#followfriday, #netsquared)

• Forward articles of interest via link compression

• Most importantly – advocate for their mission

Case Study – Chicago Twestival• Worldwide initiative to raise funds for

clean drinking water• Recruited organizers in 200 + key

cities (Here = @mjcarter) for 2/12 event

• On same day (2/12) in various cities• Recruited, solicited online via twitter• Worldwide - $250,000 raised; Chicago -

$250• Lesson – even with little advance time,

can organize and mobilize towards goal

Twitter Clients/Software

• Twitbin (For Firefox – http://www.twitbin.com)

• Twitty Tunes (For Firefox - http://www.foxytunes.com/twittytunes/)

• Seesmic Desktop (http://desktop.seesmic.com)

• Twhirl (need Adobe Air platform - http://www.twhirl.org)

• Many open source clients available

Tweetdeck – The Client for Power Tweeters

http://www.tweetdeck.com•Uses Adobe AIR•Allows organization of followers

by groups•Allows for saved search agents for

monitoring•See all DMs, replies, online•Twitbuzz – see popular topics on

Twitter•Now integrates Facebook status

updates

Link Compression (or how to send URLS in under 140

characters)• http://is.gd• http://www.tinyurl.com• http://www.urltea.com• http://bit.ly (when

linked to Twitter account, allows for tracking of clickable links)

Web-Based Twitter Apps

• Monitter (http://www.monitter.com) – allows for monitoring of search terms in real time (similar to Tweetdeck functionality)

• Hootsuite (http://www.hootsuite.com) – Allows for management of multiple Twitter accounts

• Friend or Follow (http://www.friendorfollow.com) – allows you to see who’s following/not following you

• Qwitter (http://useqwitter.com/) – Receive e-mail when someone “unfriends” you

Avoiding the Followers/Following Trap

• Many services (like Twinfluence) measure reach in terms of following/followers

• Twitter “success” is based more on quality of conversation than quantity of followers

• Following/Followers are a means, not an end, in Twitter activity

Online Methods of Measuring Twitter Stats

• Twitter Friends (http://www.twitter-friends.com)

• Twitalyzer (http://www.twitalyzer.com)• Tweetstats (http://www.tweetstats.com)• Twitter Ratio

(http://www.twitterratio.com)These tools can be useful in helping determine

•How you’re using Twitter

•The quality of your conversations within Twitter

•How much of an impact you are having

Online Resources on Twitter

• Mashable Top 40 (corporate) Tweeters - http://mashable.com/2009/01/21/best-twitter-brands/

• Mashable Top 26 Charity Tweeters - http://mashable.com/2009/03/19/twitter-nonprofits/

• Twitter Pack - http://twitterpacks.pbwiki.com/Twitter-Pack-by-Topic#NonProfitPack

• Beth’s Blog list - http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/02/the-nonprofit-t.html

• State of the Twittersphere (PDF) - http://cdnqa.hubteam.com/State_of_the_Twittersphere_by_HubSpot_Q4-2008.pdf

• Twitter Jump Start (PDF) - http://www.corporatedollar.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/twitter-jump-start-free-download-version-4.pdf

Any Questions?

Contact Information

Gordon Dymowski

Gordon.dymowski@gmail.com

Twitter: gordondym(follow me and I’ll follow

you)

Cell: 312-316-2769

Facebook – http://profile.to/GordonD