It started rather innocently. An instant messenger for the world wide web. But it has quickly grown into a phenomenon that took off as a titan of social media networking for the world! In fact, this pop culture forum may soon replace sliced bread as the standard of comparison excellence. Gone will be the days of declaring that an item or event is the ’...greatest thing since sliced bread’, as a new era is ushered in by this massive minimal character movement. Too far, you say. Well would anyone have guessed a few years ago, that this idea would create a ripple effect through the internet that overhauled the way the online masses would communicate and connect, possibly for years to come?

It certainly has revolutionized the social media networking scene, bringing a vibrant new connectivity to so many online communities that are thriving through this 140 character or less creation.

The Ripple Effect

Since its inception, Twitter has had a host of companion services and resources that have sprung up across the web to support this networking hub. The community at large has thrown its support behind the, now, social media giant, giving it new life and making the overall process more accessible for all. With this kind of dedication, it is hard to see a future without Twitter lingering in our cyberspace library. Articles are posted almost daily about this unstoppable force of online nature, and even one that credits Twitter with playing quite an important role in the California wildfire evacuations.

Here are a few of the tools we have gathered that have cropped up on to the scene to take Twitter to new heights.

@mayhemstudios - "It's awesome, there are so many Twitter apps out there to enhance a Twitter Ho experience, just ask my followers."
@mayhemstudios also recommends Twitter Search, iTweet.net, Twitter Feed, and Qwitter

Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck enables users to split their main feed (All Tweets) into topic or group specific columns allowing a broader overview of tweets. To do this All Tweets are saved to a local database. The far left column will always contain All Tweets. The GROUP, SEARCH and REPLIES buttons then allow the user to make up additional columns populated from the database. Once created these additional columns will automatically update allowing the user to keep track of a twitter threads far easier.

@dzovan - "I use TweetDeck, it works pretty well even on my crapy old laptop (which I use for everydy work."

blogdesigner - "I've only been using tweetdeck for 5 minutes, but I LOVE it and would recommend anyone who tweets a lot to download it."

Twirl

Twirl is a desktop client for the Twitter microblogging service. Most of the features available on the Twitter website are accessible through twhirl, too. Plus, a lot of usability enhancements have been added.

@imjustcreative - "after trying twhirl, then tweetdeck, i have gone back to twhirl. small, compact, discreet and works for me."

@marnieb "TBH, my fave has to be twhirl. Obvious, I know, but it's made tweeting and keeping up to date on twitter easy!"

Twurl.cc

twurl allows you to shorten a character stealing url to use on Twitter, then tracks how many clicks it gets. Twurl used to be one of the shortest services available which made it an easy choice over others like tinyurl.

However, now that tr.im is out there we'll see where it leaves twurl. Tr.im still tracks the clicks your links get and it also has a nifty bookmarklet to make trimming easy!

SoulTweet

SoulTweet is nothing more than a regular dose of featured Tweople. Suggest, choose, ask, nominate anyone you feel could do with a Twitter lift. Give some one a chance to rise above the Twitter chatter for a few days. SoulTweet is all about singling out one person from the Twitter crowd. It’s a good karma thing.

Qwitter

Qwitter e-mails you when someone stops following you on Twitter and lets you know after which tweet they stopped following you.

@imjustcreative - "twitterquitter just soi can unfollow those that unfollow me. It's a bit tit for tat, but i need to watch my numbers anyway."

Twitpic

TwitPic lets you share photos on Twitter. You can post pictures to TwitPic from your phone, their API, or through the site itself.

Monitter

Monitter is a twitter monitor that lets you "monitter" the twitter world for a set of 3 keywords and watch what people are saying. Just type three words into the three search boxes and within seconds you'll start seeing relevant tweets streaming live.

@imjustcreative - "i do use monitter for keepin track of various words, domains etc. llike my own, soultweet etc"

Twitter Karma

Twitter Karma is a Flash application that fetches your friends and followers from Twitter when you click the “Whack!” button, then displays them for you, letting you quickly paginate through them. By default, the list contains all your friends and followers and is sorted by last update, showing those who most recently updated first. You can sort the list alphabetically either ascending or descending by Twitter ID. You can filter the list in several ways: only friends or only followers, all friends or all followers, and mutual friends.

tweetbeep

tweetbeep keeps track of conversations that mention you, your products, your company, anything! You can even keep track of who's tweeting your website or blog, even if they use a shortened URL (like tinyurl.com). Great for online reputation management, catching all your @replies, finding job/networking opportunities, keeping up on your favorite hobby, and more!

@imjustcreative - "Tweetbeep emails me when my domain has been tweeted, even tiny url. So great for keeping on top of who's talking."

Tweet Later

Tweet Later keeps your Twitter stream ticking over with new tweets even when you're not in front of your computer. Or, use it as your personal reminder system. PLUS... Send automated thank you notes to new followers, and automatically follow new followers, if you choose to do so.

@imjustcreative - "tweetlater for sending auto hello replies with a personal message. soultweet i have set up to autofollow, but not with IJC."

Mass Twitter Action and Retrieve Script

Mass Twitter Action and Retrieve Script allows you to mass follow, defollow or retrieve friends or followers from Twitter. This can be useful for several reasons, like retrieving all your followers and automatically follow them back at once. Or de-friend a couple of people you follow because they're only spamming. I'm sure you could think about more reasons where you can implement this script.

Twitter Page

Twitter Page - Set up a unique website for your Twitter updates. Features include; set the number of tweets, set the number of friendly tweets, set the number of random followers, show username and avatar of friendly tweets, with link to Twitter account, detect if message is a reply; If so, add "reply" icons, and more.

Twitterrific for the iPhone

Twitterrific for the iPhone - Like the popular desktop client, Twitterrific displays all recent posts, or “tweets”, including replies and direct messages for the Twitter social network. The mobile version can be optimized for either right or left-handed use and easily allows users to attach photos, locations, specify favorites and much more. The application recently won a prestigious Apple Design Award at the 2008 World Wide Developer Conference in San Francisco for Best iPhone Application in the Social Networking category.

nassoskappa - "twitterrific for iPhone is my fav tool, cause I can have on all the time sharing ideas and not missing others' tweets"

Talking with Just Tweet It

Of the numerous resources dedicated to the tweeting cause, one that has really exploded on to the scene is JustTweetIt. Dedicated to this social networking tool, Dani McDaniel and Adelle Charles have brought even more connectivity to this compact comment crazed community. This huge directory brings the tweeters together, where they can browse the different categories that Twitter divides itself into, finding other users that share their interests. Not to mention, you may just get a chance to nab that nifty featured tweeter spotlight on the main page, and find all kinds of new interesting followers as well as people to follow. We had a couple of questions about the site that we sent to Dani from Just Tweet It, and she was kind enough to give us a quick insight.

Where did the idea for Just Tweet It come from?

The idea for Just Tweet It came very simply from the fact that I wanted to be able to connect with more creative types on Twitter and Twellow (the only directory I could find) was just so impersonal! It made me feel very uncomfortable in the respect that you have to “claim” your twitter account there so I thought creating JTI would allow people a way to add themselves to a directory if they chose to be added rather than without consent.

What kind of growth are you expecting for this project and how can the community help you to achieve these goals?

I realize that JTI is confined to users on twitter and I believe its growth and success depend on tweeters using it, finding it useful, and telling their friends/colleagues.

The Qwitter Wars

If no one could have anticipated the masses embrace of Twitter, then surely no one could have expected the emotional fallout that Qwitter would unleash on the world wide webbers deeply committed to this social media lifeline. Outbursts of despondent rage are released as abandonment angst comes over the tweeters when some of them learn through this service, that someone has just stopped following them on Twitter. Scathing, and admittedly, somewhat childish back-and-forths ensue as people launch into a mission of libelist character assassination assaults, in 140 characters or less, aimed at those who found the will to quit them.

It really has opened up a can of emotionally unstabilizing worms, on a rather unsuspecting social sect. Exposing the darker side of this phenomena in a very David Lynch-esque way. Blindsided by plot twists delivering hate-tweets that you never saw coming, and in the aftermath you are left wondering what the hell just happened. It seems that Qwitter lacks a sense of closure that some users need. Desperately, it would seem in some cases. Without which they are unable to achieve the moving on they know they should proceed with, and so they retaliate. If you have not witnessed the Post Qwitter Trauma, then consider yourself lucky, for it is anything but pretty (unless you follow pretty with funny, because is can certainly be that.). If you have succumb to PQT yourself, then we hope that you have been able to get over it, especially since prolonged PQT can lead to further Qwitter messages popping up in your inbox.

Find Fellow Tweeters

• Just Tweet It
• One Uber Twitter Follow List for Creatives & Geeks
• Social Media Directory for Designers

More From Arbenting:

• Social Media Networking And Your Blog!
• Social Media Profiteering — The Other Bad Tweet
• Designers Weigh In — Is there value in social media?
• Circular Social Media Icons
• Social Media Stars Icon Set