Saturdays at CPA Success are usually spent reviewing online tools that can help increase our productivity. Keep in mind that we do not endorse any of these services. We simply offer them up for your consideration. Do your own homework and find the service that best meets your needs.
I’ve never been particularly graceful, but last week was remarkable even by my clumsy standards.
I was on my way downstairs to grab a soda when I slipped near the bottom of the staircase, flailed about 180 degrees and landed on my butt. In the process, I whacked my right hand on the railing and rearranged the layout of said hand.
“Hmmm,” I said to myself, examining the large welt and the unnatural position my right pinky had taken. “That’s definitely not right.”
Twenty minutes later, I was in the ER waiting room, sharing my frustration with my Twitter followers. (My texting thumbs were just fine, thank you.)
“Oh, my God!” replied one colleague, “not your Twitter finger!”
No, thank God, not my Twitter finger. Because Twitter is quickly becoming the application I can’t do without. A while ago, I wrote a post in which I said I was “cautiously optimistic” about being able to use Twitter for business purposes. Today, you can change that assessment to “enthusiastically certain.”
I’m using Twitter to get ideas and advice from colleagues, and to share new content and important alerts with our members. I’ve connected with inspiring entrepreneurs, Web 2.0 evangelists, association leaders and fellow state CPA society employees, and all of them are great sources of information, advice and entertainment.
Twitter really comes alive, though, when you start using some of the third-party tools that work seamlessly with Twitter. I’m talking about things like:
- twhirl, an application that sits on your desktop and allows you to read, post and reply to Twitter entries without having to visit the Twitter Web site. (TweetDeck does essentially the same thing.)
- TwitterFeed, a brilliant little application that works this way: Enter an RSS feed of your choice, and TwitterFeed will automatically post new entries to that feed to your Twitter account. No need to “tweet” about your latest blog entries or Web site articles; TwitterFeed does it for you automatically.
- Tweet Scan, a powerful Twitter search tool. You can save your searches as RSS feeds and get alerts whenever a new tweet that matches your search criteria is posted.
- TwitPic, which lets you share your photos on Twitter.
And that’s only the beginning. In his Tech Sanity Check blog, Jason Hiner outlines “10 tools that will make you a Twitter power user.”
So tell us, Twitterati: What did we miss? What are your favorite Twitter tools?
- Follow the MACPA on Twitter.
- Follow me.
- Follow Tom Hood.
- Read Chris Brogan’s list of “50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business.” Great advice there.