Twitter

How Twitter Can Enhance — Or Ruin — Your Online Reputation

by Mike Zammuto on May 1, 2013

Twitter is something of a mixed blessing. There is no doubt that it can be an invaluable and effective tool for reaching out to online users. If you doubt it, simply survey the long list of celebrities and political figures who use Twitter to send their messages to the masses. At the same time, however, most of us can think of a few instances in which social media faux pas did significant damage to a corporation’s public image, suggesting that perhaps Twitter can prove detrimental, at least when used improperly.

How to use Vine to Share Animated GIFs and Stand Out on Twitter

by Diana Urban on January 25, 2013

Vine is a new iOS app by Twitter that lets you record and share 6-second videos in the form of animated GIFs, right from your iPhone, iPad, or or iPod touch. It’s perfect for Twitter — if your tweets are 140 characters or less, then your videos should probably be short as well.

It’s like Instagram — but in motion. It’s obviously going to be the next social media addiction — even if Facebook did already block auto-sharing from the Vine app. In addition to the social ramifications, it will also be a useful marketing device for bloggers, small businesses, and big brands alike. Visual content is the most highly shared content on the web, so this provides new opportunities for you to stand out online.

Why People Should Stop Being Jerks on Twitter

by Diana Urban on January 21, 2013

For better or worse, social media has changed the way we communicate. One could argue that we’re either bringing the world closer together, or we’re creating a new generation of social misfits. I can see both sides of that argument. But what really rubs me the wrong way is when people are jerks on Twitter. People are saying things to each other that they would never say in person, just because they can hide behind their Twitter handle.

It seems that some people think the mantra, “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it at all” doesn’t apply to the Twitterverse. Well guess what? Just because you said it in 140 characters or less doesn’t make it any less personal. You may not even realize that you’re being mean, but every time you criticize or insult someone, even if you think you’re @ replying them individually, the whole world can see it. And that makes it worse — because you’re belittling them in front of an audience.

Free Twitter Badges For Your Website or Blog

by Diana Urban on December 12, 2010

Want to encourage your visitors to follow you on Twitter? Here is a large selection of Twitter buttons to choose from, with a variety of colors, button styles, and sizes. To add a Twitter button to your website or blog, just copy the code below the Twitter badge of your choice, paste the code into the HTML of your site, and replace USER in the code with your Twitter name.

If you have any suggestions, or requests for color or a different Twitter button size, please comment below and I will add them as soon as I can. Each Twitter button size and color comes in a “Follow Me” and “Follow Us” version.
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The 9 Worst Ways to Use Twitter for Business

by Diana Urban on December 6, 2010

I originally posted this article to the HubSpot blog, where I work as an Head of International Marketing.

Twitter is a fantastic network for businesses. You can monitor your brand to garner valuable feedback, keep tabs on the competition, engage your customers in conversation, or even choose to use Twitter as a customer service channel. But there are several common mistakes that companies make on Twitter.

How to Add Official Twitter Button to Your Site or Blog

by Diana Urban on August 13, 2010

Say goodbye to Tweetmeme! Twitter has just released an official Tweet button for people to install on their websites and blogs. This Tweet button allows users to easily share content on Twitter and see how many times the content has been retweeted.

4 Easy Ways to Eliminate Twitter Spam

by Diana Urban on July 27, 2010

Twitter can be a very powerful networking tool. While you want to increase your amount of followers and have your Twitter profile stand out, you’ll also want to follow individuals who will comprise a useful Twitter stream of information and knowledge. Direct messages are especially useful so that you can do some of your networking behind the scenes.

But with all the spammers and self-promoters, your direct message inbox can quickly fill up with garbage links, and your Twitter stream bombarded by promises of increasing your Twitter count by 10,000 overnight.

Top 10 Signs Not to Follow Back on Twitter

by Diana Urban on March 23, 2010

I’ve recently seen an influx in spam accounts following me on Twitter. And it’s not just the usual amount. Hundreds of spam accounts a day will follow me, only to stop following me a couple days later (I can tell using Qwitter, an unfollow notification service). But these Twitter spammers have made it harder to sift through my new followers to see who’s worth following back.

I could just turn off all notifications and wait for someone to @ reply to me to follow them back, but I like to consider someone for following right when they follow me. However, I’ve learned how to quickly tell if someone is not worth following on Twitter.

How to Find Out Who Stops Following You on Twitter

by Diana Urban on March 22, 2010

Qwitter is a Twitter tool that notifies you via email when someone stops following you on Twitter. Sounds depressing, right? Back in 2008, curiosity killed the cat for thousands of Twitter users, eager to find out who was unfollowing them so they could return the favor. Even though knowing when people unfollow you was useful, it was still be kind of depressing to receive these notifications daily. Then in December 2008, the notifications stopped.

Since 2008, other Twitter tools like Friend or Follow have cropped up where users can find out who they’re following that aren’t following back. But Qwitter has come back to life.

15 Ways You Can Use Twitter Lists

by Diana Urban on March 1, 2010

Using Twitter lists is the best way to organize the people you follow on Twitter. Before Twitter launched this feature, the only way to organize your contacts was via a 3rd party desktop application like Tweetdeck or Seesmic. Now you can create a list on Twitter and access that list on any desktop application, so you don’t need to keep recreating them.

So what are you using lists for? Many people on Twitter seem to be creating lists for the sake of creating lists; e.g. “Awesome people” and “Interesting to follow”. But did you know that you could use Twitter lists to further your professional and personal goals? Here are several creative ways to use Twitter lists.