The Hottest Twitter Tips, Tools, Topics And Warnings This Week

The Week in Twitter Tools

A great post on 8 hot updates to some of the coolest free Twitter tools out there hit the web this week.

Problogger talked about spending a month with Bufferapp, and we learned in 3 Tips To Make Your Daily Tweeting Easier how to use Buffer to make Twitter work for you even when you can’t or shouldn’t tweet, or are not in the mood.

Hot news

► New Data On Sharing

Some highlights from data released this week included:

1. Twitter had nearly seven times the growth of Facebook over the last five years
2. Highest clicks on shared content occur 9:32 AM EST Wednesdays
3. Google Plus cost 585 million dollars to build

See all the info at Amazing Infocharts: How The World Shares Via Social Media

► Twitter

Twitter finally acquired the trademark for “tweet” after years of trying, and won the “Digital Service Of The Year” Award just before losing its head of engineering.

Hijacked accounts remained the biggest Twitter news, after Twitter reset thousands of hijacked accounts, mostly from people falling for the ‘real bad blog about you’ scam.

In other Twitter news, MPs voted to allow Twitter in the House of Commons, rescinding an earlier ban, Twitter began converting all URLs—no exceptions—to its t.co shortener, and we learned that mobile Twitter users share 3x as much as Facebook users.

However, it was Apple that dominated the news on Twitter this week, probably being part of the reason for Twitter’s poor uptime this week.

► Steve Jobs

After stats showed that Steve Jobs death generated the fourth highest tweets/second, Sony quickly snapped up the movie rights to Steve’s life story, and hundreds of people switched their avatars to this iconic image, by artist @jmak (similar to an image by Rad71):

Of course, unfortunate Steve Jobs death scams quickly spread following the news of his death (e.g. there are NO free iPads/iPhones in memory of Steve Jobs).

► iOS 5

Apple’s release of iOS 5 and OSX 10.7.2 fixed nearly 200 security vulnerabilities, but iOS’s popularity caused Apple’s servers to go down, causing update problems for many. (Top 5 Things to Know about iOS 5.)

Twitter quickly rolled out a site dedicated to the iPhone/iPad for iOS5 and guides to iOS 5 Twitter integration proliferated.

► Siri

Jokes about the Siri intelligent assistant in the new iPhone 4s began overshadowing posts about how impressive it was.

How to get Siri to Tweet for you was a popular topic, particularly as hackers began making Siri work on old, non-upgraded phones.

► Google Plus

It was revealed that traffic to Google’s new social network fell 60% after its public launch, and Twitter users continued to seem unimpressed with Google Plus.

► #OccupyWallStreet

As protests against banks spread worldwide, different hashtags for the movement were tried to get around Twitter’s “old news doesn’t trend” algorithm for trending topics. A persistent rumor was that Twitter had suspended the @OccupyWallStreet account, though most people eventually figured out that it never existed.

And of course, well-known celebrities continue to join and be welcomed to Twitter:

Great Twitter Tips This Week

6 must-read posts this week that were very popular:

► How To Build A Great Twitter Reputation And Get More Followers And Retweets

Explains how content, style and connections are the three steps to a great Twitter reputation, and exposes the amazingly powerful “Super Advocate” technique for growing your Twitter network and reputation.

► Dozens Of Cool Ways To Use Twitter In Classrooms

A collection of dozens of projects and ideas to get teachers started using Twitter, including the popular infochart “A Matrix For Teaching With Twitter” and a bonus infographic.

► Five Keys To Getting More Followers And Keeping Them Happy

1. Find your tweet frequency
2. Don’t be too angry, too often
3. Be funny!
4. Let people know who you are
5. Interact with people

► 8 Secrets To Use Twitter For SEO From @RandFish

1. How Serendipitous Connections Can Help You Build SEO from Twitter
2. Create A “Top X List” To Build Links With Twitter
3. How To Build Twitter SEO by Helping Others
4. Become a Story Teller To Build Links With Twitter
5. Suggest Links To Others On Twitter For SEO
6. Produce Content To Answer Every Day Queries For Better Twitter SEO
7. Offer A Powerful Testimonial To Create SEO With Twitter
8. Create Biz Dev Deals With Other Small Business To Get Links Via Twitter

►

5 Ways To Battle Social Media Fatigue

1. Stop Tweeting and Start Communicating
2. Draw Inspiration from People You Respect
3. Deviate from the Standard
4. Persevere
5. Take a Break!

► 3 Kinds of Twitter Fools And The Mistakes They Make

Each of these three kinds of fools makes 5 different kinds of mistakes:

1. Never learned the Twitter basics.
2. Doesn’t try to be a real person on Twitter.
3. Is always using tricks to promote themseves.

Security

Some great posts on Twitter security this week included:

1. When good Twitter accounts go bad—The Twitter Hacks Infographic
2. What To Do If Your Twitter or Facebook Account Gets Hijacked
3. Beware of fake Twitter warning of ‘real bad blog about you‘
4. How hijacked accounts begin sending messages without the owner’s consent or knowledge after their password is stolen, how it happens, and what you can do to protect yourself and help others.