How to make the most of Twitter

The last time we looked up adlanders who are on Twitter, we found several whose Twitter pages read something like this. 'Yaay...I'm finally on Twitter', followed by 'Trying to figure out Twitter', followed by 'How different is this from FB status updates' to 'Still trying to figure out Twitter' and the very conclusive, 'WTF is this Twitter!'

The learning has been this - either you're into Twitter completely or you're not. Users who snack on Twitter have little to benefit compared to those who’re totally hooked. So tweets from casual Twitter users are as good as shooting in the dark - you post 140 characters, hoping someone will react or someone will follow. Your existence on someone else’s timeline depends on what you tweet, how often you tweet and how often you react to what’s been posted.

So while there are thousands of people in India who've immersed themselves into it - there's a reason why it’s called Twitter stream - there are also those who may not have the inclination to unlock what Twitter does and what it could do for them. Campaign India decided to make things easy for you. Here's how to make the best of Twitter:

There's actually a sea of blue on the Web right now - these are Twitter apps - made using open source applications which have encouraged app developers from around the world to come up with applications that enable you to do a variety of things with your Twitter feed and your followers. All you need is a Twitter handle. i.e. a Twitter username.

For example, if you're busy, pressed for time or maybe plain lazy to check what your Twitter friends have been chirping about, there's Twitter for Busy People. Generally, when you use the Twitter website, your 'active' friends often push their tweets of less active friends far down the page or off the page completely. This site, meanwhile helps you see each of your friends at one go. Then you can roll over your mouse on each of them and see what those friends are up to - basis their last tweet. Want to know more? Simply click on his photo.

If you're new to Twitter, or you want more of the kind of people whose tweets you've been reading, there's help at hand. Who Should I follow is an app designed to find other interesting people to follow on Twitter. The website suggests people who are similar to those you already follow.

Next. If you're a snob and choose to follow only the most popular Twitterati, then Twitterholic is just for you. The app lists the most popular Twitter users in the world. No surprise then, Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga are right up there. Want to be in the top 10? Here's a tip. Keep tweeting. All the time! The crawlers from Twitterholic will find you.

Twitter apps can also be useful search engines. Why depend on the wisdom of Google alone when you can benefit from the chatter of the crowds? Try Tweet Scan to find out what Twitter users across the world have tweeted about that your search term. I typed Ogilvy and and the app threw up results in multiple pages, refreshing the results automatically in 87 seconds. You can also find out the most popular searches. Social media marketing, intelligence (!!), NYC apartments, green living are some of the phrases people are searching for on Twitter.

Almost like a corollary to the above app, there's Twitt(url)y. It basically is an app that tracks all the URLs (links) being tweeted all over the world and provides a quick, real-time view of what people are taking about. Each time someone tweets a link to their followers, Twitturly takes note of it and applies it as a vote for that URL. The more votes a URL has in the last 24 hours, the higher it ranks in Twitturly's top 100. This could possibly be an app to watch out for, in terms of what news, what links are being read the most, globally.

Say hello to the Yellow Pages of Twitter - TwitDir. It’s neither bulky nor yellow - it’s a thin search bar. The directory lists every Twitter user in the world, also showcasing the number of followers they have and how many people they're following. Which brings forth some trivia: There are 53,67,117 Twitter users in the world right now.

And here's a fascinating app to finish. Wonder if the creators of this app are pure geeks or psychologists. Twistori is an app which searches all the tweets in the world where have mentioned any of the following six words - love, hate, think, believe, feel, wish. Open the webpage, click on one of them and a regular stream of tweets scrolls up. Fantastic for research, this link gives one a sense of what is the most common things people express on Twitter.