Power Twitter 1.0 Review

New Firefox Addon Power Twitter just released a new version 1.o that is making headlines all over the Twittersphere lately.

Narendra Rocherolle over at 83 Degrees created this Firefox Addon found here.  (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9591)

This new Addon allows Twitter users to use some strong features within Twitter to become more of a Power User for Twitter.  Most recent famous Twitter Stars that associated with Power Twitter were Techcrunch, Problogger and Twitter founder Biz seen below.

The Hype

The Features

1.  Twitter Search Improved

Power Twitter enables a better call-to-action with the new location of the Twitter’s Search feature.  Not only is the main search feature moved to the sidebar but also you can search within a Twitter user’s specific timeline if you click on their profile.  This is a great feature that makes searching for content more accessible.

2.  Tweet History 

With Power Twitter installed you can now mouse-over a user’s profile picture in your Twitter stream to showcase a Tweet History of that user.  This is really effective feature because you can now keep track better of previous Tweets from your favorite Twitter friends.  I find this extremely necessary when you have more than 300 friends to follow.  This option may not be as organized as Tweetdeck’s group feature but still does the trick in keeping up with your priority friends on Twitter so you won’t feel guilty in missing a Tweet.

3.  Facebook Status Updates

This is a cool new feature where you can see your friends on Facebook status updates.  You can’t really respond or update your own Facebook status with this new tab in your sidebar but does keep you in the loop with your Facebook updates which might be handy.

4.  Embedded Pictures and Videos

Now this feature is really handy because now your Twitter stream will show you the Videos and Pictures that are linked on Twitter now instead of seeing the shorten URLS.  You maybe familiar with this type of set-up with Facebook wall posts that show you the automatic pictures and videos embedded in the profile.

5.  URL Improvement

URL’s are now showing the URL titles instead of the shrink URL links.  This removes the masking of the shorten urls so you might get  better picture in what you are clicking to.

6. Reply Feature Improved

If you ever used Tweetdeck, you may of noticed you pick up better detailed Reply messages in the client than the web browser.  The reason behind this is due to that Tweetdeck scans for all @(your username) regardless at the beginning, middle or end.  The web browser only shows the @ replies that only begin with your username, not showcasing Retweets or other conversation elements.

7. Web Browser Tool

Finally another feature of the Power Twitter is that this is just an add-on to your current Firefox web browser.  This is not a software client you need to download and install.  Some people may not like software clients and thus is why you may want to choose Power Twitter.  Another reason why web based is a good option is because many corporate computers will not let you download any software but will let you install addons to current software like Firefox.

The Complaints

With any new up and coming Twitter Power Apps there will be complaints and cons.  Below are a couple I have found.

*Multi-Platforms

Power Twitter is only made for Firefox toolbar and is missing support for Mobile, Mac & other web browser users.  They are missing a huge opportunity here.

*Options Menu missing

Power Twitter needs to have an options menu to configure because I sometimes want certain features like the URL expansion disabled or the Video/Picture removed.  People like Twitter because its very clean and having the Videos and Pictures keep auto-populating in the Twitterstream can clutter and slow down immensely.  Also with with the URL expansions, I would like to sometimes ReTweet with the shorten url attached but when you copy in Power Twitter mode you get the title formation instead.  Very, very aggrovating.

*Software Client Option 

This is simple.  Have an option of transferring these features to a software application like Tweetdeck.  Some users hate using the browser to Tweet.

*Extremely Laggy

Last but not least, Power Twitter has very delayed load times when loading the Power Twitter features on every refresh and new page on Twitter within the browser.  This may improve in the future or may not.   As of right now this is considered a slight hassle because the load time is not huge but is noticeable.

So there you have it, the Pros & Cons of the Power Twitter Tool.

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URL Shrinker

URL shrinking tools have become very popular over the few years with long links like EBAY auction links and the character limit in Plurk and Twitter.

The most popular and most classic URL shrinking tool is Tinyurl which even Twitter has adapted as the main URL shortening tool.  Tiny URL is the original URL shrinker and is the one that is most understood with the name.  Everyone knows what Tinyurl means when looking at the service where other services like is.gd or snipurl may not be user friendly to some.

Birth of Budurl

I have been using Tinyurl like most others have and I noticed there was something missing.  I wanted a way to see who was clicking on my links that I provide on Twitter to measure my results.

Within my Real Estate community I was introduced to Budurl where a lot of my fellow Real Estate professionals been throwing up Budurl links instead of Tinyurl links.  This sparked my interest in checking out the site because of so many Tweets I been noticing the switch.  

Budurl turned out to be great tool in providing Link Stats and a URL shrinker.  You can even create an account to keep track of your URL shrinks to see how many people have clicked on your link.  If you don’t want to create an account you can just put a “/s” at the end of your Budurl link to see the stats within your web browser.

So Budurl was only 22 characters while Tinyurl was 25 characters.  Budurl provided link stats while Tinyurl didn’t.

Budurl won my vote.

Bit.Ly knocks out Budurl

Recently there has been many new URL shrink sites out there that really do the same thing but with just different names.  I have experienced quite a few of these and still became loyal to Budurl.

2 Sites have caught my interest though recently, Is.Gd and Bit.ly URL shrink service sites.  Now these 2 sites have caught my interest to the simple fact that the Twitter client Tweetdeck has the shorten URL services within the client.

Is.Gd is by far the shortes URL service out there with only an astounding 17 characters total.  The only down side is this service still doesn’t provide good link stats and track like Budurl.  So I would only use Is.Gd if I need to utilize a very long Tweet, taking advantage of the extra 5+ characters I can save.

Character Limit

Bit.Ly is only 20 characters but does a whole lot more than Budurl.  I have been a Budurl fan for a long time and I didn’t think any URL shorten service will beat Budurl until I seen the features on Bit.Ly.

Traffic Sources

Bit.ly has a link tracker too like Budurl but always takes it a step further.  Bit.Ly displays all the referring sites and E-mail/Software stats.  So whether a user reads the shorten url via chat client, e-mail or Twitter, Bit.ly will show you how many clicks.

Conversations

The biggest reason why I switched to Bit.Ly is due to the c0nversation tracking in this URL shrink service.  You can actually keep track of your Retweets in Twitter and reposts in Friendfeed.  Not only can you keep track of sites displaying your shorten url but you can also view the comments left on the link as-well.

Convenience

Lastly on why I made the switch to Bit.Ly is because of this last feature which makes Bit.Ly more attractive to use especially at work when you can’t download Twitter clients like Tweetdeck, the feature is the last 15 recent shrinks.

Bit.Ly will display your last 15 URL shrinks without forcing you to create an account or log in an account.  This is perfect for on the fly and is so convenient to see all your stats on one page.  Budurl can display all your Budurl links to display clicks but you have to log in and create an account.

Yes I have made the switch to Bit.Ly now and I have nothing against Budurl they were a good service to use but for right now Bit.Ly has won me over.  What are your thoughts?

Post from: Social Media Vision

Bit.ly Trumps Budurl To Become Best Twitter Link Track, Stat & Shrink Tool