TweetDeck is one of my favorite\r\nTwitter tools because it puts you in charge of what you see and what you tweet.\r\nWith its customizable column view, you can add/remove columns, configure\r\ncolumns (based on custom filters), and move columns. TweetDeck also makes it\r\neasy to tweet images, schedule tweets, send direct messages, create lists, add\r\ncollections, and much more.
One of the best business-centric aspects of SocialBro is its\r\nreports feature. With this tool you can generate a number of types of reports\r\nto get the most from Twitter. You can quickly produce reports for content\r\noptimization, follower stats, and following stats, and you can customize data\r\nfor your report. You also get quick access to important data about your\r\nfollowers, such as which ones are influential and/or active. SocialBro is free,\r\nso long as you have fewer than 5K connections. More than that and you’ll be\r\npaying $13.95/month for up to 20K contacts, $39.00/month for up to 50K\r\ncontacts, and $149/month for up to 200K. The full pricing matrix can be found here.
Icotile is more a “friends” and “list”\r\nmanager for Twitter. This may sound like it has no bearing for business — but\r\nif used properly, it does. One of the most challenging aspects of Twitter is\r\nfollowing a feed that flies by faster than the eye can register. Icotile solves\r\nthis problem by letting you create lists of people to follow. These lists can\r\nconsist of influential followers, consumers, clients, and more.
It’s easy to drag and drop followers into lists with Icotile.\r\nThis feature alone makes it worth its weight in bytes. After creating lists and\r\ndragging users to your lists, you can follow those lists on your standard\r\nTwitter feed (or from one of the other apps). You can also add notes to\r\nfollowers, which is handy when you’re trying to remember specific information\r\nabout a certain follower. Icotile is free and can be used from either the website\r\nor as a Chrome app.
Notifier is a Chrome extension that\r\nsends Twitter notifications to your desktop. This handy tool helps ensure that\r\nyou don’t miss a feed update. Tweets, direct messages, and mentions will all be\r\nfed to your desktop. There is also a full Twitter timeline popup you can open\r\nfrom your browser. Click on the Notifier icon and your Twitter timeline will\r\nappear so you can view full tweets and even post to your account.
A couple of caveats here: If you follow a large number of\r\npeople, your desktop can get a bit busy. In addition, Notifier does have a\r\nlimited scope of options. Still, you can select what to display (from tweets,\r\nmentions, and messages), you can make certain notifications sticky, you can set\r\nthe display timeout, and you can disable auto-scroll in your timeline. Notifier\r\nis free and works as a Chrome extension.
Many users consider Hootsuite to be the best in breed\r\nfor Twitter managers. It allows you to manage up to five social profiles (for\r\nfree) or you can pay the premium ($9.95/month) and manage more.
Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic, The New Stack, and Linux New Media. He's covered a variety of topics for over twenty years and is an avid promoter of open source. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website jackwallen.com.
