Whether you’ve joined Twitter or not, here’s four websites that offer interesting methods for viewing messages as they are being shared across the popular network. Plus for those who don’t what Twitter is, I’ve included some basic information and my own answer to the popular question “What is Twitter?”  

What Is Twitter? What Are Tweets?

Like a coin in a fountain, a wish upon a falling star, or a message in a bottle, Twitter is a place where you can send out a quick thought to the world at large. It’s a way to mark a moment in time, to wink at the cosmos or ponder wistfully at it all. Some messages are mundane, others poetic, many offer a wry commentary on their own human condition, and many more indulge in the popular gossip of the day.

Oh how the world can listen. Users can search the Twitter network by keyword. Type in “Monster Trucks”, “Boudelaire”, or “Old Time Hockey” and you’ll receive any thoughts that match from the millions of users sending out tweets. If you find one person that is particularly insightful, you can subscribe or “follow” them to have all their messages sent to you.

If someone’s thoughts move you, you can send them a reply, small and quick and in this way small, but uplifting exchanges are made, helping to make Twitter a positive activity. There are many celebrities (as well as people posing as celebrities) on Twitter and these are often the most popular to follow and the best deliver an unusual candor in their expressions.

What Is A Twitter Client?

One you get used to using Twitter, you’ll discover many of its hidden tricks. You can include links to articles or photographs in your Tweets, for example. It’s easy to get carried away and end up following hundreds if not thousands of users and organizing them all and their tweets can be quite a hobby, especially if you’d also like to use Twitter from your mobile phone or across multiple computers. There are numerous programs and online services designed to help advanced users manage Twitter to their own needs. Here’s two I recommend:

TweetDeck 

http://www.tweetdeck.com

Designed for both Macs and PCs, TweetDeck organizes your Twitter accounts into columns, so you can display the incoming information in a way that’s easier to read, and to organize the people you follow and their tweets into groups based on interests and similarities. It will notify you of important messages and replies plus it includes services to add web links and photos to your Tweets and includes a connection to your Facebook account. The best part is that, like Twitter itself, it’s free.

Tweetie

http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/

Tweetie is both an application for the iPhone and the Mac. Both are available for purchase, but the Mac version is also available for free as an ad-supported program. The program is compact design, taking up little space on the screen, but with a few clicks can deliver great depth in information about profiles, searches, and replies. It has a very pleasing esthetic and displays direct messages as linked speech bubbles. The free version has all the same features as the paid version and the ads take up little space.

What Else Can You Do With Twitter?

Here’s four websites you can use with Twitter that will display its Tweets in interesting ways.

Twitterfall 

TwitterFall.com

Type in a list of searchwords and watch as the matching Tweets from the Twitter network appear at the top of your computer screen and cascade down like a waterfall. Popular search terms are loaded in by default, but you can use the menus on the sides to change the settings however you wish. You can even include a specific world location to receive your Tweets from.

SpreadTweet

http://www.elliottkember.com/spreadtweet.html

Your Boss doesn’t want to see you use Twitter at work, even if it’s on your lunch break. Well that’s where you can use SpreadTweet, a program that will display your Twitter account as an excel spreadsheet. To anyone passing by your desk in the office, it’ll look like you’re putting in overtime, not overtweet.

TwittEarth

TwittEarth

If you are following a lot of people, chances are they’re not all from the same place. TwittEarth creates a 3D globe of the Earth and as your messages arrive, displays which geographic location the user is tweeting from. When you create a Twitter profile, one of the details you can share is which country or home town you’re from. TwittEarth uses cute little monster characters to represent each user with their messages appearing as little speech bubbles above their heads. You can watch the earth display random Tweets or enter in your own account information to see it showcase your own incoming tweets.

Twist

http://twist.flaptor.com/?tz=-4

The hot topics on Twitter can change from minute to minute, but some, especially those that dominate the headlines can have real staying power or return again and again. Twister will help you measure what kind of an impact specific keywords are having. A timeline graph will show you how a keyword’s popularity changes from day to day, but also measure what percentage of tweets at any given moment contain it. An interesting way to get a snapshot how what kind of people, and their interests, are driving the popular network.