In just a few short years, Twitter has transformed from an odd little sort of public IM service where people posted what they just ate for lunch or what their cat was doing at the moment into one of the big four social networks and a significant channel for news, PR & marketing, politics and more. It has enabled revolutions in real life as well as in digital marketing.

Twitter’s 200 million users collectively tap out a billion tweets per week. Nearly 3/4 of active Twitter users are bloggers. More than 80% of U.S. governors, senators and congressional representatives use it, as do 87 of the Billboard Top 100 musicians. Twitter users are twice as likely to purchase from companies they follow than are Facebook users.

So how can marketers and PR professionals use Twitter more effectively? What’s the best way to build a quality, relevant Twitter following? Of the hundreds of third party Twitter tools out there, which are really worth utilizing? How can Twitter to used to support SEO efforts?

Discover the answers to those questions and many more here in 45 of the best guides to Twitter tips, tools and tactics of the past year.

Twitter Tips, Tactics and Techniques

40 Examples Of Creatively Designed Twitter Backgrounds by Tripwire Magazine

Got a boring Twitter background and need some inspiration to help you liven it up? Dustin Betonio here presents 40 “awesome and creatively designed Twitter backgrounds which use various and innovative illustrations to create a visually attractive and appealing look to their profiles” to get your creativity kick-started.

25 Suggestions For How To Use Twitter by Dave Fleet

Dave offers “25 ideas for ways you can get value out of Twitter, with a mix of business and personal focus,” such as meeting new people, staying on top of the news, influencing the influencers, and re-purposing content.

10 Twitter Features You Might Be Missing by GigaOM

Aliza Sherman highlights 10 features of Twitter that not all users may be aware of–including a few that may be news even to power users–such a list of helpful Twitter keyboard shortcuts.

How We Increased Our Twitter Followers By 250% – Whiteboard Friday by SEOmoz

Community manager Jen Lopez explains how SEOmoz increased its total Twitter followers by 250% to over 27,000 people. Hint: it helps to have a community manager.

Top 7 Ways to Save Time on Twitter by OPEN Forum

Noting that the top barrier to increased business use of social media is a lack of time and resources, Leyl Master Black shares “seven Twitter tricks from the pros that allow you to spend less time on the mechanics and more time engaging.”

20 Guidelines for Twitter Success by Global Copywriting

Sarah Mitchell presents 20 tips for success on Twitter, divided into four categories: Always Try To (e.g., answer every mention), Never Fail To (e.g., say “thank you”), Things NOT To Do, and “Keep in Mind.”

The Ultimate Guide to Twitter Marketing by Copyblogger

Curating the curator here, as Gabrielle Conde links to and summarizes 100 educational posts about Twitter, covering the gamut from setting up a Twitter account to using hashtags to marketing and prospecting strategies, from authors like Marian Schembari, Michael Brenner and the ebullient Diana Adams.

12 Most Stimulating Twitter Chats by The 12 Most

If you’ve never sat in on a Twitter chat, it’s quite an experience. If you have, you understand the metaphorical meaning of “drinking from a fire hose.” Think of those people-talking-over-each-other Sunday morning political talk shows and multiply it by a large number. In some cases, a very large number. Among the 12 best Twitter chats chosen here by Daniel Newman are Blogchat, hosted by Mack Collier; GetRealChat, moderated by the exuberant Pam Moore; and LeadershipChat, hosted by my fellow Lebronian Lisa Petrilli and Steve Woodruff.

The Right Way to Build Brand(s) via Twitter by iMedia Connection

David Sonn recommends a strategy combining a corporate Twitter account with accounts from key executives and other (properly trained) key individuals within a company to maximize credibility, interaction and business impact.

55 Tips to Get Retweeted on Twitter by ZoomFactor

The awesome Pam Moore supplies an extensive list of tips for getting retweeted more frequently and consistently, such as using your real picture, knowing your audience, knowing Twitter lingo, and making people laugh, cry, or learn something.

The Hidden Guide to Using Twitter Effectively by KISSmetrics
***** 5 STARS

The delightful Kristi Hines digs deep into Twitter, explaining how to do things like deleting a “Recent Image,” create customized RSS feeds from Twitter, use Twitter’s Advanced Search, search Twitter results using Google, get the most out of your Twitter bio and more.

Twitter: Marketers Still Struggling To Understand Social Channel by MediaPost Online Media Daily

Laurie Sullivan summarizes a report from Forrester Research outlining the challenges and opportunities marketers face in using Twitter effectively. One key finding: “Forrester analysts believe it’s not only the 1 billion tweets that matter, but rather the 6.2% of online adults creating 80% of the influence from impressions. The research firm calls these users Mass Connectors…Along with Mass Mavens—representing 13.8% of online adults creating 80% of the posts, comments, rating—they are small in number, but strong in power when it comes to influencing others.”

Twitter’s New Look and Feel

Twitter gets new, Facebook-like feeds & features by DevBeat

Jolie O’Dell summarizes the changes in Twitter’s new interface, such as the “new Activity tab, which shows all the non-tweet activity from people you follow. You can see new follows from your friends, friends’ retweets and their favorites.” Overall, the UI is an improvement—with the exception of losing the ability to see how many lists a person is on. Hopefully, Twitter listens to user feedback and restores that feature.

Twitter Just Announced Brand Pages and a Redesign – What are all the details and why does it look like Facebook? by iMedia Connection

Katelyn Watson explains how Twitter’s recently announced brand pages work, what Twitter is aiming to accomplish with the redesign, and the benefits brand pages will provide to marketers.

Twitter Tuesday: Twitter’s New Changes – What You Could Expect by Hubze Blog

David Foster summarizes Twitter’s design changes and new capabilities, including four-tab navigation and the ability to embed tweets on any website.

Twitter and SEO

The Tweet Effect: How Twitter Affects Rankings by The Daily SEO Blog

In this somewhat long-winded but thoroughly researched post, John Doherty describes a number of experiments he ran to determine the effect of Tweets on a page or blog post ranking. The conclusion? Even a single tweet helps a page or post get indexed more quickly, though it has little effect on rankings. Retweets from relevant and highly influential Twitters, however, can have a significant impact on ranking.

7 Key Ways to Optimize Twitter for Search by HubSpot Blog

Anum Hussain details seven techniques for optimizing your Twitter presence for search, among them, “Don’t completely believe the “nofollow” warning…both Google and Bing (have) confirmed that tweeted links are in fact a signal for a search engine’s organic and news rankings,” create a special list of Twitter keywords, and use 1-2 core keyword phrases in your bio.

Finding Twitter Followers and Interesting Twitterers to Follow

How To: Get More Qualified Followers on Twitter by Social Media Today

Tracy Gold suggests eight tactics for increasing your Twitter following the right way—gradually building a relevant group of followers by using best practices such as hashtags, retweets and replies, as well as creating and adding followers to lists.

How to Find Twitter People that Don’t Suck by Soshable

JD Rucker presents a series of steps, starting with defining your goals on Twitter, to help find quality people to follow on Twitter. Each section is divided into guidelines for personal accounts and for business.

How to Get More Followers on Twitter by Graywolf’s SEO Blog

Michael Gray lays out an effective seven-step fan for gradually building a relevant Twitter following, starting with “raiding” the accounts of competitive and complementary Twitter accounts and using tools like Raven Event Tracking and manageflitter.

Twitter for B2B Marketing

5 Ways Twitter Can Be Leveraged for B2B Search Engine Marketing by Search Engine Watch

Derek Edmond details five ways B2B marketers can use Twitter as one of their online marketing channels, such as for link building initiatives and brand monitoring.

9 Twitter Tips for B2B Marketing Success by Modern B2B Blogs

Maria Pergolino shares nine tips for B2B marketing success on Twitter, such as sharing the workload for the corporate Twitter account among several people, sharing valuable content, and using Twitter tools (see below) to maximize productivity.

Twitter for PR and Media Pros

9 easy steps to add Twitter to your PR mix by ragan.com

The illustrious Anne Deeter Gallaher lays out a nine-step path to Twitter expertise for PR professionals, including using TweetDeck to follow multiple topics of interest simultaneously.

4 Ways to Build Your Influence on Twitter by Laura Kinoshita

When building influence on Twitter, start by following 10-20 people with modest follower counts (which makes it easier for you to stand out) who are connected to a key influencer in your market, then gradually build an influencer map for your industry.

Twitter Launches Twitter for Newsrooms by BizCloud

A review of the Twitter for Newsrooms guide, designed to “help reporters get the most out of the micro-blogging service. The guide contains valuable resources that will educate journalists and media organizations on how to best leverage various Twitter tools for finding sources, publishing their stories, and also for promoting their content.” Something PR professionals may want to take a look at as well.

Twitter Tools

Headhunters Using Twitter – The New Productivity Check by Minervity

Though his English is a bit spotty, Richard Darell provides helpful reviews of eight tools corporate recruiters can use to evaluate potential hires (and the rest of can use to evaluate anyone) on Twitter, including Retweet Radar and Twitalyzer.

These Two Twitter Clients Are The Best Conversation Agents for Digital Marketers by iMedia Connection

Noting that “88% of small businesses and 74% of midsized organizations now use Twitter as their social media application of choice. However, marketers do have a preference when choosing their conversation agent,” Courtney Wiley reviews her two favorite Twitter clients.

15 Useful Twitter Tools for B2B Social Media by Social Media B2B

Frequent best-of contributor Adam Holden-Bache reviews 15 helpful tools for managing Twitter, including Twtpoll for polling, Tweetreach to see how far your tweets travel, and Backtweets for better Twitter search.

The Top Ten Twitter Statistics and Analytics Tools by Dead Dinosaur

Chris Norton sorts through the hundreds of Twitter measurement tools available and reviews his top 10 here, among them TweetStats and Twitterholic.

Two Great Twitter Visualization Tools: Twiangulate & MentionMap by Affiliate Marketing Blog

Geno Prussakov reviews two helpful tools for finding relevant new Twitter followers. Twiangulate, which looks very cool, lets you “see the biggest (or the most influential) followers of any two or three Twitter users, as well as mutual followers and mutual friends, compare lists, and do much more,” according to Geno.

5 Great Twitter Track Tools to Organize Followers by Search Engine Journal

Noting that unlike other social networking sites, Twitter is an “open-format chat setting that invites communication and connections with anyone who happens by. This is why you might need a little extra something to help keep track of all of your followers,” Ann Smarty reviews five helpful tools to help accomplish that task.

10 Twitter Tools to Increase Your Productivity by SloDive

Leo Widrich outlines the features of 10 popular Twitter tools (including his own Buffer App for scheduling tweets) as well as what makes each one “killer.”

Twitter Noise Reduction: The Twit Cleaner by Social Marketing Forum

Jim Ducharme review Twit Cleaner, a handy tool to help keep your tweet stream clean by identifying people you follow who are Dodgy (spam phrases, @ spamming, duplicate links etc.), Absent (o updates in a month, or fewer than 10 tweets), Repetitive (igh numbers of duplicate tweets or links) or guilty of other Twitter sins. You can also have the tool evaluate your own behavior to make sure you aren’t crossing any lines.

6 Ways To Monitor Your Brand On Twitter by OPEN Forum

Heather Allard discusses six tools for monitoring brand conversations on Twitter, including Backtweets, Monitter and Sprout Social.

Organize Your Twitter Following with Formulists by Business2Community

Kristi Hines explains the features of Formulists, “a service that will allow you to create customized Twitter lists and automatically update those lists with new followers that fit your specifications”—ideal for organizing large numbers of Twitter followers without manually picking through all of your followers.

How Twitter Web Analytics Will Help Your Business by PCWorld

Angela West looks at how Twitter analytics (based on their acquisition of BackType) work and the key benefits they provide to business users.

The 11 Twitter Tools and Apps I Use Every Day in 2011 by Business2Community

Neal Schaffer recommends HootSuite, Buffer, tweetspinner, Triberr and other tools for functions like SEO and content curation among his favorites.

14 Twitter Tools for Enterprise Business by Sprout Insights

In a slightly different twist, Susan Gunelius presents 14 useful Twitter tools based on the function that would benefit from them (Marketing and Customer Service, Human Resources, and Communications and Networking).

10 Tools to Significantly Increase Your Twitter Efficiency by arkarthick.com

Guest poster Leo Widrich details his top ten tools for Twitterers to “check out to step up your Twitter game and significantly increase your efficiency,” including Twinbow, Buffer, Tweriod and PeerIndex.

Twitter Facts and Stats

Twitter Growth Skyrockets, Settles Privacy Case With FTC by MediaPost Online Media Daily

Laurie Sullivan reports on some interesting Twitter statistics, such as that Twitter users now collectively post about one billion tweets per week, and mobile use has increased 182% in the past year.

Twitter Stats that will 100% get you tweeting by Carvill Creative

Michelle Carvill amplifies some stats to win over Twitter skeptics, among them: there are 200,000,000 registered Twitter users,with 450,000 new accounts created each day. There are 1.6 billion Twitter search queries every day. The majority of twitter users are between the ages of 30 and 49. And 67% of users are likely to recommend a brand they follow to others.

Big Brands Tested On Twitter Effectiveness by MediaPost Online Media Daily

Mark Walsh reports on an experiment by a digital agency “not to see whether corporate Twitter hands could answer tough questions, but to find out if they would engage in a conversation at all.” Among the findings: of the Fortune 50 companies in the study, 16 apparently don’t have corporate Twitter account. of the remaining 34, 23 responded to the test tweets, with GM, UPS and Best Buy responding most quickly.

Twitter: The Single-Greatest Relationship and Branding Tool by Bruce Clay

Guest author Shannon Downey extols the virtues of Twitter for enabling Tweetups and shares some interesting stats showing that brand followers on Twitter are roughly twice as likely as brand fans on Facebook to purchase a brand after following, and 50% more likely to recommend it.

Twitter’s Changing Complexion by iMedia Connection

Daniel Flamberg shares some fascinating intelligence on Twitter users, such as that:

• • 72% of active Twitter users are bloggers
• • 61% write at least 1 product review per month
• • 56% write articles for third-party sites

Twitter By The Numbers: Are You Listening to 100 Million Voices? by B2B Marketing Insider

Michael Brenner makes the business case for using Twitter, answers some common questions about the network and shares a selection of stats like: 84% of U.S. state governors, 82% of U.S. congressional representatives and 83% of senators use Twitter. 87% of Billboard’s top 100 musicians are there. And more than half of all Twitter users log in daily.

Note: a version of this original post appeared previously on the B2B Twitterer of the Year (B2BTOTY) blog.

If you regularly read blogs like this, you’re probably already a Twitter pro. This post will be review for you. But, you also almost certainly come across new followers and others who haven’t attained your level of expertise. You know the type. You may want to pass this along as needed.

1. Complete your Twitter bio. You’ve got 160 characters to tell the world who you are, what you do, who you do it for, what you’re passionate about. Plus a link. Use it. Seems like a no-brainer, but it’s amazing how many people leave their profiles blank. Or type in something short and lame like “Always learning!” or “Master of the Universe.” Whether trying to be mysterious, or just lazy, it looks bad.

2. Use your real picture. Find one that reflects you in your best light. If tweeting for a company, using a logo is okay, but accounts with a real person behind them tend to get more followers. Again, seems like a no-brainer, but it’s surprising how many people use photos that look like Nick Nolte’s mug shot, or worse – the default Twitter egg.

3. Avoid stop words in your bio. Most people have figured out that “MLM,” “network marketer,” “work from home” and “Internet marketer” are synonyms for “spammer.” Don’t be that person.

4. Avoid obnoxious words in your bio. Unless you are actually a Hindu mystic, have recorded an album that’s gone platinum, or are extremely skilled in the martial arts, avoid the terms “guru,” “rock star” or “ninja” in your bio. They are over-used and just kind of silly.

5. Watch your following/follower ratio. The numbers will never be identical, but you don’t want to let them get too far out of whack. The worst case is when someone is following 2,001 people but has only like 300 followers and is on four lists. That smacks of desperation. Or like someone who’s ignored tips #3 and #4 above.

6. Neber twet when yur drunk. It wont com out good an u will end up regrething it.

7. Never tweet when you’re angry. If you’re tempted to do so, go get drunk. Then see tip #6.

8. Retweet others! It shows you’re paying attention, helps build your network, and will make others more likely to follow you and share your content.

9. Say “please” and “thank you.” It’s common courtesy, something people learn from grandma, but not always common on Twitter. Again, thanking someone for a retweet or an answer to a question makes it more likely they’ll do for you again in the future, and it shows followers you have manners.

10. Know when to DM. A little bit of banter back-and-forth with another Tweeter shows you are social. Too much makes your Tweet stream look worthless. If the interaction goes beyond three tweets, it’s probably time to take it offline and use direct messages.

11. Be careful with repetition. If you’ve come across something, or written something yourself, that is truly brilliant and deserves to be shared far and wide, it’s okay to tweet it more than once. Just be sure to 1) space your tweets at least an hour apart (preferably longer), and 2) tweet other content in between. Nothing turns off current and potential followers like a Tweet stream with the same message repeated over and over and over and…

12. Don’t use automated welcome DMs. One would think that Twitterers would understand by now that automated DMs are pointless and annoying—but like some of the more regrettable music from the 1970s, they refuse to go away.

Bonus tip: be very careful with automation, not just on Twitter but any social media site. While it’s okay to automate certain tasks like using an app to pre-schedule tweets for off-hours, social media is fundamentally about engagement. In other words, unless you really are a broadcaster (i.e., it’s your job to tweet on behalf of CNN or Fox News)—don’t be just a broadcaster.

Following these tips will make you look classy and sophisticated to others on Twitter. Or at least not like a dork. As noted above, feel free to pass this along to anyone who demonstrates the need for it. In the meantime, got any tips you’d like to add? Feel free to share them in the comments below.

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Note: This post, a joint effort between Cheryl Burgess and me, originally appeared on the Blue Focus Marketing Blog last month.

Today, Tom Pick (@TomPick), Online Marketing Executive at KC Associates, who blogs at his award winning B2B Webbiquity, and I (@ckburgess – Blue Focus Marketing @BlueFocus360) present 50 remarkable men on our 2011 #Nifty50 Top Twitter Men list. These men are indeed using Twitter to rewire and reorient the Web. But, by no means, is this list complete.

Tom contacted me a few weeks ago with this idea and we’ve been working collaboratively on this project ever since. So, as promised in Tom Pick’s blog, “2011 #Nifty50 Top Twitter Women”, in honor of mothers, our 2011 #Nifty50 Top Twitter Men now honors fathers. Just in time for Father’s Day, as we’re pretty certain that every man on this list is a dad, has a dad, knows someone who’s a dad, or some combination thereof.

It takes a community to build a community

So much of building a community requires understanding people and engaging with them. Experts tell us the number one networking tip is to help others and they’ll return the favor — large or small. Adding explicit or implicit promises to a relationship up front can kill it before it starts. Perhaps our focus should be to gain credibility and trust — then work to build an enduring, meaningful relationship.

Now you may wonder, “How do we build a community?” According to Tom Grant, Ph.D, Senior Analyst at Forrester (@TomGrantForr) “You don’t build a community. You expand it.” He said, “Few communities appear ex nihilo at the behest of a technology vendor.”

Should there be an ROI on relationships?

Mother Teresa, a great innovator on relationships said, “Love does not measure; it just gives”. Twitter, not unlike Mother Teresa’s virtues of love, is a delicate ecosystem of real people. Some experts may want to rethink their advice and look deeper into the real meaning of relationships.

Social Networking: Like Falling In Love

Adam L. Penenberg’s (@Penenberg) Fast Company article: “Social Networking Affects Brains Like Falling in Love” examines research by neuroeconomist Paul Zak that suggests social networking triggers the release of the generosity-trust chemical in our brains: Oxytocin (known as the cuddle chemical). This should be a wake-up call for companies’ content on pursuing outbound marketing initiatives.

Revolutionizing Communication

“Twitter isn’t just changing how we communicate — it is changing how we innovate…It’s revolutionary because it brings 21st Century DNA roaring raucously to life”, stated Umair Haque (@umairh) Director of the Havas Media Lab and author of The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business. What’s most interesting is that Umair made this statement in June, 2009 when Twitter had recorded approximately 2.5 million tweets per day. Today, Twitter posts 50 million tweets per day.

Umair went on to say in his post “The business of business is to create value — and that’s why Twitter’s not playing the tired, old game of value extraction. It is trying, instead, to create a more authentic kind of value — and to do that, you need ideals. Twitter pursues its ideals — democracy, peace, equity — with the quiet intensity of a true revolutionary.” Since 2009, we have seen revolutionary wars and unspeakable natural disasters. Umair is not only an innovative thinker but a man with astounding vision.

Ecosystems Rewiring: Real Relationships and Feelings

Twitter has become one of the most participatory public mediums in history and continues to grow exponentially as ecosystems of real people rewire with real relationships and feelings.

Now, along with Tom Pick (@TomPick) and myself, we would like to introduce the recipients of the 2011 #Nifty50 Top Twitter Men Award.

If you have missed the#Nifty50 Top Twitter Women, click here.

Award recipients who wish to display the #Nifty50 badge on their own site may do so by clicking here. If you need a different size, contact @TomPick

COMING …Two Blogs You Don’t Want to Miss – COMING in June!

Subscribe to Blue Focus Marketing’s Blog Today!

Your Twitter followers really want you to sell to them. You should only tweet your own content. To keep your costs down, it’s best to just automatically tweet all of your press releases and sales messages.

Really? Of course not! But these are only some of the more obviously fallacious beliefs still unfortunately extant in the Twittersphere. Check out more of these erroneous notions (and countervailing truths) in 7 Twitter Myths Busted, my guest post on Arik Hanson’s Communications Conversations blog.

Arik is a Minneapolis-based PR pro who works with big consumer brands, co-founder (along with #Nifty50 recognee Missy Berggren) of the Minnesota Blogger Conference, PRSA member, regular contributor to Mark Ragan‘s PR Daily, and general social media rock star.

So check out the 7 Twitter Myths Busted post, because you never get a second chance to beat a dead horse with a mixed metaphor.

Few phenomena have ever spread as far and grown as rapidly as social media; obviously, this has tapped into something essential to our nature. What is it? The answer may come from the email marketing field. According to a recent study by email service provider Aweber, four simple words virtually guaranteed to get an email opened are: “You are not alone.”

That is what has driven social media adoption. From freedom seekers living under oppressive regimes connecting with each other and with people around the world who support them, to individuals with uncommon viewpoints or highly specialized professional interests connected with the like-minded anywhere on the globe, social media is about not being alone. It’s a way to find and form relationships with others who share our particular interests and passions, whether down the street or on other continents; interesting people with whom there has been no practical way to engage before.

Talking recently with Cheryl Burgess (@ckburgess)—partner and CMO at Blue Focus Marketing, a B2B social branding consultancy firm in Bridgewater, New Jersey; 2011 & 2010 winner of the Twitter Shorty Awards in Marketing; and author of the Blue Focus Marketing Blog—we were both struck by how many of the same people we know through social media (and we both learned about some interesting new people to follow as well). Many of these were other B2B marketers, but others were social media experts, journalists, PR professionals, or just plain fascinating personalities.

Cheryl and I thought it would be a great idea to collaborate on this special social media project—and so the process began for creating the 2011 #Nifty50 List of Top Twitter Women.  We decided to recognize and share the names of some of these noteworthy individuals with our respective readers and followers, starting today with 50 remarkable women (just in time for Mother’s Day, as we’re pretty certain that every woman on this list either is a mom, has a mom, knows someone who’s a mom, or some combination thereof).

One source of inspiration was Twitter’s Top 75 Badass Women by Diana Adams (@adamsconsulting) and Amy D. Howell (@HowellMarketing), a list on which Cheryl was honored. Though it’s a remarkable list, to keep ours distinct we haven’t duplicated any of Diana and Amy’s picks.

Next month, we are following up with our list of 50 men, just in time for Father’s Day.  This list will be posted on Cheryl Burgess’ Blue Focus Marketing Blog.  Whatever your role in social media, we hope you find this list valuable in expanding your knowledge and your network.

Jennifer Aaker
@aaker

Jennifer is the General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School or Business, and author of The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change.

Diana Adams
@adamsconsulting

Diana is a USC grad now based in Atlanta. She heads up Adams Consulting Group, a technical services firm specializing in Apple Macintosh desktops, servers and laptops. Diana writes for BitRebels.com and InkRebels.com, and as noted above, her post on Twitter’s Top 75 Badass Women was one source of inspiration for this #Nifty50 list. She’s smart, personable, sometimes controversial and never dull.

Alicia Arenas
@AliciaSanera

Hailing from San Antonio, Alicia is founder and CEO of Sanera, a professional development and training firm for sales and business leaders. She describes herself as a “small business coach, speaker, corporate trainer, blogger, singer, lover of life, dreams, family and God.” Alicia is a warm and outgoing social media pro and creator of March Marketing Madness.

Allison Mooney
@allimooney

Allison lives in the New York City area and works with the Marketing team at Google to explore the changing face of media, mobile and consumer behavior, drive new thinking internally, and communicate Google’s visionary concepts to wider audiences.

Ambal Balakrishnan
@Ambal

Ambal is co-founder of ClickDocuments, based in Silicon Valley. She’s an entrepreneur, marketer, blogger, and alum of Wharton and Purdue. Her Connect the Docs blog—frequently featured on the B2B Marketing Zone—is a platform for her own thought leadership content as well as frequently solicited insights from other B2B bloggers.

Amber Buhl
@amberbuhl

Director of Sales for @klout. Though fairly new to Twitter, Amber is active and highly engaging, and her following is likely to grow quickly. A USC grad, Amber’s past includes stints at Hulu, Yahoo!, and the E! Entertainment Network.

Amy Nelson
@AmyPioneerPress

Amy serves as social media editor for the St. Paul Pioneer Press as well as the Features/Travel editor for the newspaper. She’s an informative and prolific Twitterer, and active in Twin Cities social media.

Ardath Albee
@ardath421

A B2B marketer, strategist, writer and Author of eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale. Friend, mentor, and source of inspiration. Also an expatriate Minnesotan now living in southern California (we miss her, but can’t blame her).

Angie Schottmuller
@aschottmuller

Interactive Minnesotan skilled in web strategy, conversion rate optimization (CRO), e-commerce, SEO, social media, QR codes (she knows a lot about QR codes), design, UX, analytics and inbound marketing. Angie is also a Search Engine Watch columnist and speaks at national events including SMX, SES, and OMS.

Becky Denniston
@Becalynd

Expert Community Manager with the Focus Expert Network, a network of thousands of leading business and technology experts who answer questions and post thought leadership content. Becky is also an MBA Candidate at San Francisco State University with a strong appetite for Social Media and Marketing.

Jenara Nerenberg
@bopsource

Jenara is an Asia-based filmmaker, organic farmer, and freelance journalist for Fast Company magazine and CNNGo, as well as a Harvard and Berkeley grad. She’s interviewed the famous and not-so-famous from high fashion superstars to up-and-coming designers to UN leaders, literary giants, cashmere producers, and royal mistresses, and her work has also appeared in TIME, BlackBook Magazine, and NextBillion.

Maria Popova
@brainpicker

Brooklyn-based Maria calls herself an “interestingness curator and semi-secret geek obsessed with design, storytelling and TED.” She’s also the editor of Brain Pickings and writes regularly for Wired UK magazine, The Atlantic and Design Observer.

Connie Bensen
@cbensen

Connie is the Community Strategist for the Alterian (formerly Techrigy) SM2 social media monitoring platform. She’s been named by Forbes.com as one of 20 top Women Social Media & Marketing Bloggers. Connie recently migrated from the frozen tundra of northern Minnesota to much balmier climate of Minneapolis.

Deirdre Breakenridge
@dbreakenridge

Diedre is the president of Mango! Marketing, author of PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences and Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR, an adjunct professor in the New York city area, and co-founder of #PRStudChat.

Deborah Weinstein
@DebWeinstein

Deb is a journalist-turned-PR pro. She’s president of Strategic Objectives, an award-winning PR agency in Toronto. And she’s energetic and inspirational on Twitter.

Eileen O’Brien
@EileenOBrien

Eileen has more than 14 years of digital healthcare marketing experience. She is an opinion leader on social media, and has been invited to speak at industry conferences and quoted in publications. As @eileenobrien she moderates the #SocPharm tweetchat on Wednesdays at 8 pm EST which discusses pharma marketing and social media.

Ekaterina Walter
@Ekaterina

Oregon-based Ekaterina is a corporate social media strategist as well as a “speaker, connector (and) passionate marketer.” She’s also a frequent guest-poster who’s written bookmarkable pieces like 9 Ways to Sell Social Media to the Boss.

Ellen Hoenig Carlson
@Ellenhoenig

Based in New Jersey, Ellen is focused on simplifying consumer and healthcare marketing for “elegant solutions in a complex world.” Though she writes mainly on pharma-related subjects, her blog topics also include branding, family, fundraising, innovation, leadership, and Twitter.

Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt

Ellen writes for Fast Company magazine and helps run the 30 Second MBA site.

Elise Segar
@Esegar

Connecticut-based Elise is active in social media, an enterprise technology sales and business development pro who is passionate about inside sales and sales strategy. She’s a fellow member of the #Lebronians team “drafted” by Robert Rose in FollowFriday & Who’s The Lebron In Your Strategy – Maybe It’s You.

Gail Nelson
@gail_nelson

CMO with Siegel + Gale, a brand strategy, customer experience and design consulting agency in New York.

Gini Dietrich
@ginidietrich

CEO of Chicago PR agency Arment Dietrich, author of spinsucks.com, Vistage member, author, speaker, communicator and writer of amazingly entertaining and insightful rants like Get Rich Quick! Lose Weight Tomorrow!.

Gretchen Rubin
@gretchenrubin

Based in New York City, Gretchen is the best-selling author of The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun, the account of the year she spent test-driving studies and theories about how to be happier. On her blog, she shares her insights to help readers create their own happiness projects.

Heidi Cohen
@heidicohen

Heidi is a fascinating marketer who shares practical advice about marketing and life from New York, NY.

Jill Konrath
@jillkonrath

Minnesota-based keynote speaker, sales trainer, motivator, creator of fresh strategies for selling to crazy-busy people; author of SNAP Selling (#1 Amazon sales book) and Selling to Big Companies.

Judy Grundstrom
@JudyGrundstrom

Minnesota social media rock star, Business Development Director at Pixel Farm Digital, founder of the annual Twin Cities Top 10 Titans in Social Media awards, talk show regular on myTalk 107.1, and never boring.

Karen Emanuelson
@KarenEman

Karen heads Reciprocate LLC, a small business marketing consultancy in Minneapolis. She’s an expert in social media marketing (particularly LinkedIn optimization), a small business advocate, trainer, speaker and coach. She’s active in local community and business organizations as well as social media.

Katie Rosman
@katierosman

Katie reports on technology and pop-culture for one of the world’s greatest newspapers—the Wall Street Journal—and is the author of If You Knew Suzy: A Mother, a Daughter, a Reporter’s Notebook.

Eve Mayer Orsburn
@LinkedInQueen

Eve is the author of Social Media for the CEO: The Why and ROI of Social Media for the CEO of Today and Tomorrow and CEO of Social Media Delivered, a firm that helps companies leverage LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook & blogs. And yes, she really knows LinkedIn.

Lisa Petrilli
@LisaPetrilli

Based in Chicago, Lisa is CEO of C-Level Strategies Inc, CEO Connection Co-Chair, Leadership & Executive Marketing Consultant, and #LeadershipChat co-Founder. Like Elise Segar and Cheryl Burgess, Lisa is a star of the #Lebronians team.

Liz Strauss
@LizStrauss

Liz is the founder of SOBCon, a brand strategist and leadership trainer based in Chicago.  She’s also an insightful, prolific and generous social media presence.

Lorna Li
@lornali

Officially, an expert in inbound marketing, online visibility and personal branding, via social media, SEO and SEM. Also big on green business marketing. Unofficially – friendly, smart, and writer of many highly bookmarkable blog posts.

Lucretia M. Pruitt
@LucretiaPruitt

Living in and tweeting from beautiful Denver, Lucretia refers to herself as a “random muse, speaker, ex-CIS Professor, social media devotee, geek, mom, wife, & insomniac.” Lucretia is a highly engaging and sophisticated observer of technology developments.

Lisa Grimm
@lulugrimm

Digital PR Specialist for the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, Lisa describes herself as “a gal constantly awed by the intricacies of human behavior. Love my family, peeps, dogs, film, food and learning.”

Mari Smith
@MariSmith

Mari (like Ferrari) describes herself as a “passionate leader of social media, relationship marketing and Facebook mastery,” but most of us know her as the ultimate guru-ess of Facebook marketing and co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. Formerly Canadian, now living in San Diego (nicer weather, but even worse taxes).

Missy Berggren
@MarketingMama

A phenomenally busy yet amazingly prolific blogger, Missy is a marketing pro at healthcare network Allina, co-founder of the Minnesota Blogger Conference, and is also active social media as the MarketingMama.

Martine Hunter
@martinehunter

Idea generator, b2b marketing professional, creative director, process engineer and writer at MLT Creative in Atlanta, as well as a mother, friend, sister, daughter, diabetic, crocheter and jazz fan. She’s also really nice.

Sally Church
@MaverickNY

Sally is a scientist with Icarus Consultants in New Jersey, a pharmaceutical / biotechnology-focused marketing strategy firm. She blogs about marketing strategy, market research, science, oncology, hematology and immunology.

Michelle Tripp
@michelletripp

Working and tweeting from New York, Michelle is a creative director, brand strategist, and author of The BrandForward Blog. She spends her time exploring the future of advertising, social media, and emerging technologies and just being pretty cool.

Jennifer Preston
@NYT_JenPreston

A staff writer for the New York Times, Jennifer writes about the use of technology and social media in politics, government, and real life.

Susan Kang Nam
@PinkOliveFamily

Splitting her time between New York, Andover (MA) and elsewhere, the dynamic Susan Kang Nam is founder of Cebisu Research Inc., a member of Andover’s Harvard Club, founder of Boston-based career club Salty Legs, “an entrepreneur, former recruiter and non-profit advocate who grew up in Asia (Korea, Japan) and US (Hawaii, California, New Jersey, NYC) and since 1994…using the world wide web exploring different platforms to engage in various of conversations”—and a classical pianist.

Laura Fitton
@Pistachio

Prolific Twitterer, Bostonite, CEO and founder of the oneforty social business software hub, as well as co-author of Twitter For Dummies.

Rebel Brown
@rebelbrown

Rebel has been a marketing and business consulting for more than 20 years, is a popular speaker and author of Defy Gravity. She’s also a self-described “spiritual seeker, horse crazy, ski freak, and animal lovin’ nature gal.”

Rebecca Corliss
@repcor

Based in Boston, Rebecca is a singing Inbound Marketer with all-in-one marketing software platform developer HubSpot. She’s also a founder of a cappella group Common Sound. And yes, she is a rock star.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter
@RosabethKanter

Harvard Business School Professor, author of SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good – a look at how a new generation of values-driven businesses do well by doing good, and a living legend in the world of business strategy.

Stacey Acevero
@sacevero

A social media communications manager for PR/social media monitoring provider Vocus in Washington DC, Stacey runs the popular monthly #prwebchat on Twitter. She is a former model, auxiliary member in the U.S. Air Force, and a self-proclaimed “SEO nerd” who loves NASCAR, steak and rock n’ roll. Definitely one of the most awesome and unique bios in social media.

Anita Campbell
@smallbiztrends

CEO of Small Business Trends, an online small biz community reaching over 250,000 each month. Anita tweets from Cleveland, Ohio, the hometown of rock n’ roll.

Liana ‘Li’ Evans
@storyspinner

Liana describes herself as “an online marketing geek girl who loves all things social media.” She’s a top expert in social media and SEO, and the author of Social Media Marketing.

Wendy Blackburn
@WendyBlackburn

Wendy is a blogger and digital marketer focused on the pharmaceutical industry. She’s an executive vice president at at Intouch Solutions, a marketing agency serving the pharmaceutical, animal health, medical device, and similarly regulated industries.

Wendy Marx
@wendymarx

Based in Trumbull, CT, Wendy is an award-winning PR and marketing communications executive who helps B2B companies become well-known brands, and a truly engaging social media personality.

There you have it, the Nifty 50 Women of Twitter for this year. To keep it to 50, we had to leave off some deserving names—it was a tough call. Maybe next year…

Watch next month (close to Father’s Day) for the Nifty 50 Men of Twitter for 2011.

Jeremiah Owyang recently published a fantastic List of Corporate Social Strategists for 2011 (Buyer/Brand Side), an impressive compilation of  individuals either holding the title or performing the role of corporate social strategist, defined by Jeremiah as “the business decision maker for social media programs – who provides leadership, roadmap definition, and governance; and directly influences the spending on technology vendors and service agencies.”

It’s an outstanding list, categorized by industry including Automotive, Chemicals, Electronics, Telecommunications, and a dozen other sectors, but all of the names were linked to the individuals’ LinkedIn profiles—no Twitter links! You can follow Marshall Kirkpatrick’s entire Social Strategists list, based on Jeremiah’s list, here, but what if you want to get a bit more granular and be a bit more selective in your following?

Here you go. This list is a tad shorter than Jeremiah’s original as some of these strategists appeared not to have Twitter accounts (an odd omission for a “Corporate Social Strategist,” or possibly just inadequate searching on my part) and includes only the Twitter accounts I could fairly confidently match up with these names, that tweeted in English, and that did not use “protected tweets.” (If your title includes “social media,” why on earth would you have a Twitter account but protect your tweets? Serious disconnect there.)

Followers range from less than 10 (no, that’s not a typo) to more than 10,000. It is somewhat surprising how many have only a few hundred followers, despite being social media managers, practitioners and strategists at large corporations. Not that number of followers means everything, of course, and those few hundred followers may be really highly engaged. It’s also possible there may be errors in my list; please let me know in the comments or through my Twitter if you find any, and I will correct them. Anyway, on to the list!

List of Corporate Social Strategists for 2011

Airline

• Morgan Johnston – Manager Corporate Communication at JetBlue Airways

• Bowen Payson – Manager of Online and Digital Marketing at Virgin America

Automotive

• Kim Snedaker – Social Media Manager at AAA Mid-Atlantic

• Christopher Barger – Director, Global Social Media at General Motors

• Scott Monty – Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager at Ford Motor Company

Business Services

• Matt Anchin – Senior Vice President, Digital Communications at The Nielsen Company

• Collin Douma – Vice President Social Media at Proximity Worldwide (CAN)

• Debbie Curtis-Magley – Public Relations Manager at UPS

• Aneta Hall – Social Media Marketer at Pitney Bowes

• Jaimee Clements – Senior Online Product Manager, eBusiness at AAA NCNU

• Kenny Lauer – Vice President, Digital Experience at George P Johnson

• Rick Mans – Social Media Strategist, Capgemini

• Jodi Gersh – Manager, Social Media, Gannett

• Stephanie Gaspary – Director, Social Strategy and Creative Services, CareerBuilder.com

• Niall Cook – Worldwide Director of Marketing Technology at Hill & Knowlton

• Yianni Garcia – Digital Marketing & Community Manager, The McGraw-Hill Companies

Chemicals

• Kristina Bobrowski – Social Media Manager, Dow Corning

• Alison Buckley – Social Media Manager, Dow Corning

Consumer Product Goods

• Matt Ceniceros – Director, Global Media Relations at Applied Materials

• Philippe Borremans – Chief Social Media Officer at Van Marcke Group

• Jordan Williams – Manager of Digital Engagement at REI

• Bonin Bough – Global Director of Digital and Social Media at PepsiCo

• Michael Donnelly – Group Director, Worldwide Interactive Marketing at The Coca-Cola Company

• Jennifer Cisney – Chief Blogger and Social Media Manager at Eastman Kodak

• Jim Deitzel Sr. eMarketing Manager at Newell Rubbermaid

• Bert DuMars – Vice President E-Business & Interactive Marketing at Newell Rubbermaid

• Marisa Thalberg – VP, Global Digital Marketing at The Estee Lauder

• Gareth Hornberger, Digital Marketing Manager at Levi Strauss & Co.

• Brian Snyder – Senior Manager, Interactive Communications and Knowledge Management at Whirlpool Corporation

• Andrew D. Nystrom – Digital Marketing Manager – Social Media, Red Bull

• Debbie Weinstein – Senior Director, Global Media, Unilever

Educational Services

• Mike Rivera -New Media Strategist, University of Denver

Electronics, Devices, Mobile

• Jussi-Pekka Erkkola – Digital Marketing Manager at Nokia

• Marcy Cohen – Sr. Manager at Sony Electronics

• Ray Haddow – Senior Manager at Nokia

• Ian Kennedy – Head of Service Innovation at Nokia

• Esteban Contreras – Social Media Manager at Samsung

• Dan Anderson – Emerging Media Manager at T-Mobile

• Christopher Baccus – Executive Director of Digital and Social Media at AT&T

• Michelle Kostya – Social Media Support Program Manager, Research in Motion

• Baldev Solanki – Manager, Self Service, Research in Motion

• Angela Losasso – Director, Social Media, Research in Motion

• Felix Leander – Senior Social Media Marketing Manager, Research In Motion

• John Pope – Senior Communications Manager, Nokia

Energy

• Maria Amezaga, Global Social Media Advisor, Shell

• Lanie James – Social Media Specialist, Chesapeake Energy

Financial Services

• Ken Hittel – Vice President, Corporate Internet Dept. at New York Life Insurance Co.

• Allan Schoenberg – Director, Corporate Communications at CME Group

• Ed Terpening – VP Social Network Marketing at Wells Fargo

• Betsy Flanagan, Social Media Strategist, Wells Fargo Bank

• Christine Morrison Roszak – Social Media Marketing Manager at Intuit

• Annalie Killian – Director Innovation, Communication, & Collaboration at AMP Ltd

• Shawn Morton – Director of Mobile, Social and Emerging Media at Nationwide Insurance

• Zena Weist – Director of Social Media at H&R Block

• Stacy Gratz – Social Media Marketing Manager at American Express

• Steve Furman – Director, Design, Customer Experience and Social Media at Discover Financial Services

• David Meiselman, Director of Digital/Web Strategy, The Hanover Insurance Group

• Jennefer Meyer – VP Social Media Strategies at BBVA Compass

• Suzanne Stull – Social Media & Brand Manager, E-Business at Discover Financial Services

• Michael Rubin – Social Media Strategist at Fifth Third Bank

• Kimberly Mahan – Director of Emerging Technologies, Genworth Financial

• Ryon Harms – Director of Social Media, Farmers Insurance

• Jim Rosenberg- Head of Social Media, The World Bank

• April Hammons – Social Media Manager at Bank of Oklahoma

• Jason Diperstein – Online Channel Coordinator at Aetna

Health and Life Sciences

• Jessica Soulliere – Social Media Communications Coordinator at University of Michigan Health System

• Ryan Squire – Social Media Program Director at The Ohio State University Medical Center

• Bob Stanke – Community Manager, Interactive Community Manager | Social Marketing Strategist at Life Time Fitness

• Shwen Gwee, Lead New Media Communications, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

• Charlie Schick, Sr Media Producer, Children’s Hospital Boston

• Lee Aase – Syndication and Social Media Manager at Mayo Clinic

• Holly Potter – VP Public Relations at Kaiser Permanente

• Vince Golla – Director, Digital Media and Syndication at Kaiser Permanente

• Erin Macartney – Public Affairs Specialist/Social Media at Palo Alto Medical Foundation

• Nick Dawson – Director of Communications & Community Engagement at Bon Secours Health System

• Jamey Shiels – Director Social Media and Digital Communications at Aurora Health Care

Hospitality, Food Service

• Vanessa Sain-Dieguez – Social Media Strategists at Hilton

• Virginia Suliman -Vice President – Websites at Hilton

• Kara Imai – Senior Director, Online Marketing at Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau

• Shannon McDowell – Director, Website Management & Communication at Hilton Worldwide

• Diana Plazas – Director, Doubletree Online Marketing at Hilton Hotels Corporation

• Scott Gulbransen, Director of Social Media & Digital Marketing at Applebee’s

• Nick Ayres – Social Marketing Manager at IHG

• Rick Wion – Director of Social Media, McDonald’s Corporation

• Eric Schechter – Social Media Manager, Carnival Cruise Lines

• Joe Curry, Social Media Manager, Global Web Communications at McDonald’s Corporation

Government, Armed Services, Education

• Christina Whitlock – Social Media Management, Supervisor at Marine Corps Recruiting

• Kevin Jones – Social Media Manager at NASA / SAIC

• Scott McIlnay – Director, Emerging Media Integration, Dept. of the Navy, Office of Information at U.S. Navy

• Paul Bove – Social Media Strategist/Web Developer at Air Force Public Affairs Agency

• Mike Boehmer – Senior Public Relations Specialist at Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services

• Sonny Gill – Online Marketing and Social Media Strategist at DeVry University

Media and Entertainment

• Brett Rudy – Director, Strategic Consulting at Epsilon

• Charles Miller Director – Digital Care/Social Media Strategy at DIRECTV, Inc.

• Michael Hall – Director of NESN.com at New England Sports Network

• Amy Worley – Vice President of Marketing at Andrews McMeel Publishing

• Robert Michael Murray – Vice President, Social Media at National Geographic Society

• Kelly Owen – Social Media Manager and Strategist at SPEED Channel, Inc., Fox Entertainment Group

• Tom Fishman – Manager, Social Media & Community at MTV Networks

• Kate Farber Gold – Social Media Director at Scripps Networks

• Ryan Osborn – Director of Social Media at NBC News

• Matthew Milner – VP, Social Media, Hearst Magazines Digital Media

• Gayle Weiswasser -Vice President, Social Media Communications, Discovery

Retail

• Winnie Hsia – Social Media Specialist at Whole Foods Market

• Tracy Benson – Digital / Interactive & Emerging Technologies at Best Buy

• Gary Koelling – Director Emerging Media Technology at Best Buy

• Vanina Delobelle – Manager, eCommerce Product Management at Sears Holdings Corporation

• Alexandra Wheeler – Digital Strategy at Starbucks Coffee Company

• Sarah Molinari – Senior Manager, Social Media, The Home Depot

• Dan Beranek – Social Business Strategy Leader, Target

• Daniel B. Honigman – Social Media Manager at Sears Holdings Corporation

Technology: Hardware, Networking, Component, Computer, Devices

• Bill Johnston, Head of Global Community at Dell

• Todd Shimizu – Director of Communities at Juniper Networks

• Len Devanna – Director Web Strategy & Operations at EMC

• Gunjan Rawal – Developer Marketing Manager, Intel AppUp dev program at Intel Corporation

• John Earnhardt – Senior Manager, Global Media Operations at Cisco Systems

• LaSandra Brill – Senior Manager, Global Social Media Marketing

• Richard Binhammer – Senior Manager at Dell

• Bill Pearson – Manager, Intel Software Network at Intel Corp

• Aaron Tersteeg – Communities Team Manager at Intel Corporation

• Bryan Rhoads – Sr. Digital Marketing Strategist at Intel Corporation

• Amy Barton – New Media Communications Manager at Intel Corporation

• Bob Duffy – Social Media Strategist at Intel Corporation

• Ken Kaplan – Broadcast and New Media Manager, Global Communications at Intel Corporation

• Adam Christensen – Social Media – IBM Corporate Headquarters at IBM

• Jeanette Gibson – Director, New Media at Cisco Systems

• Deirdre Walsh – Community and Social Media Manager at National Instruments

• Annie Rodkins, Program Manager at Intel Corporation

• Kelly Ripley Feller – Social Media Strategist, Sales & Marketing Group at Intel Corporation

• Adam Gartenberg – Program Director, Information Management Marketing and Strategy at IBM

• Todd Watson – Social Media and Search Marketing Manager, IBM Software Group at IBM

• Jamie Pappas – Manager, Social Media Strategy at EMC Corporation

• Colleen Swanger – Director, Graphics and Digital Marketing at NCR

• Tony “Frosty” Welch – Lead Social Media Strategist and Community Manager : Personal Systems Group at HP

• Amy Paquette – Sr. Manager, New Media Communications at Cisco

• Zoya Fallah – Social Media Expert, Consumer Marketing at Cisco

• Frank Days – Director, New and Social Media at Novell

• Stephanie Marx – Social Media Marketing at Cisco Systems

• Steven Lazarus, Lead Strategist, Social Media & Interactive Marketing for SOA and WebSphere Software at IBM

• Carolina Velis – Social Media Strategist at Intel

• Ekaterina Walter, Social Media Strategist at Intel

• Petra Neiger – Senior Manager, Global Social Media at Cisco

• Becky Brown – Director, Social Media Strategy at Intel Corporation

• Deanna Govoni – Social Media Marketing Manager, Cisco

• Allison Johnson, Social Media Manager, Cisco Systems

• Sharon Crost – Global Online Marketing/ Social Media Manager, Hitachi Data Systems

• Shanee Ben-Zur, Social Media Manager, NVIDIA

• Kerry Bridge Social Media Communications Manager, EMEA

• Chris Byrd – Social Media Strategist – Dell Corporate Reputation & Relations, Dell

• Cory Edwards – Director, Social Media & Corporate Reputation at Dell

Technology: Software, Internet

• Diane Davidson – Sr. Manager of Customer Success and Community Program at Cisco WebEx Technology group

• Steven Tedjamulia – Head of Social Commerce Innovation at Dell

• Alison Bolen – Editor, blogs and social content at SAS Institute

• Marty Collins – Director of Emerging Media at Microsoft

• Mark Yolton – Senior Vice President – SAP Community Network at SAP

• Brian Ellefritz – Sr. Director, Social Media Marketing at SAP

• Maria Poveromo – Director, Social Media at Adobe Systems

• Shashi Bellamkonda – Director Social Media, Network Solution

• Natalie Hanson – Senior Director, Strategic Programs & User Experience Consulting at SAP

• Lorna Li – SEO & Social Media Marketing Manager at Salesforce.com

• David Kim – Group Manager, Consumer Content Strategy at Symantec Corporation

• Fred “Fritz” Alberti – Director of Social Media at Salem Web Network

• Vishal Ganeriwala – Sr. Manager Citrix Ready Program at Citrix Systems

• Peter Parkes – Social Media Communications Lead at Skype

• Betsy Aoki – Sr. Program/Product Manager, Social Media at Microsoft Bing

• Marcus Nelson – Director of Social Media, Corporate Communications Salesforce.com

• Michael Procopio – Social Media Strategist at HP Software

• Karen Wickre – Senior Manager, Global Communications & Public Affairs at Google

• Gurmeet Dhaliwal – VP, Internet Marketing at CA Technologies (formerly Computer Associates)

• Justin Kistner – Sr. Manager Social Media Marketing at Webtrends

• Winton “Sonny” Adcock – Program Manager, Social Media & Customer Channel for Technical Support at Intel Corp

• Jamie Grenney – Sr. Director of Social Media at Salesforce.com

• Brian Kling – Social Media Manager, eService at Autodesk

• Kirsten Watson – Director, Marketing at Kinaxis

• Gail Lyon – Global Internet & Social Media Manager at Siemens Enterprise Communications (UK)

• Venson Kuchipudi – Senior Director of Social Computing Strategy, Infor

• Benjamin Gauthey – Digital Marketing Manager/Marketing Technopologist at Microsoft

• Chip Rodgers, Vice President and COO, SAP Community Network

• Diane Beaudet – Vice President, Marketing Programs and Communications, Webroot Software

• Kris Kozamchak, Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications, NEC Corporation of America

• Doug Kern – Director, Corporate Communications at GXS

• Rawn Shah – Social Software Practices and Business Transformation Consultant at IBM

• Laurie G Buczek – Social Media Strategist & Platform Vision Team Manager at Intel

• Kirsten Hamstra – Social Media Manager at SAS Institute

• Rob La Gesse – Director of Customer Development, Rackspace

• Mario Sundar, Social Media Manager, LinkedIn

• Alan Belniak – Director of Social Media Marketing at PTC

• Dora Smith – Director of Global Social Media, Industry Automation, Siemens

• Robert Dell’Immagine – Director of Community at Qualys

• Adam Kranitz – Social Strategy, Segment & Product Marketing, Avid, Inc.

• Atom McCree- Digital Marketing Manager, ASG Software Solutions

• Charl Pearce -Sr. Marketing Manager, Emerging Media, US Integrated Marketing Programs, Microsoft Corp.

• Jacob Mullins – Sr. Marketing Manager, @BizSpark & Windows Phone 7, Microsoft Corp

• Claire Flanagan -Director, Social Collaboration Strategy, CSC

• Justin Levy – Senior Social Communications Manager, Citrix Online

• Tony Dunn – Social Media, Community & Web Marketing Manager, VMWare

• Nicholas Polt, Manager of Online Marketing and Social Media, MicroStrategy

Telecommunications

• Sherri Maxson – Director Interactive at US Cellular

• Keith McArthur – Senior Director of Social Media and Digital Communications at Rogers

• Bill Strawderman – Digital Marketing Lead, AT&T Business Marketing

• Trish Nettleship – Social Media Lead, AT&T Business Marketing

• Heather Thoms – Senior Communications Specialist, Tellabs

• Ronan Keane – Social Media Marketing Manager, XO Communications

Twitter came of age in 2010, growing at a scorching pace—from 75 million users at the beginning of the year to more than 190 million by the end of December. Twitter is used (officially) in 65 of the Fortune 100 companies, 63% of small to midsized businesses, and nearly half of all B2B enterprises.

As adoption skyrockets, marketers are striving to optimize their use of the world’s most popular microblogging platform. And that leads to questions, like: What are the best ways to attract more (relevant) followers? What types of information are worth sharing, beyond blog posts? Which companies are really succeeding on Twitter, and how are they doing it? How can I get more retweets? What’s a Twitter chat, and how do I participate in one? Which are the most helpful third-party tools for Twitter?

Get the answers to these questions and more here in some of the best Twitter guides, tips and tools of the past year.

How to Get More Followers on Twitter

How to grow your Twitter following by iMedia Connection
***** 5 Stars
Based on research, Courtney Wiley reveals what type of content to tweet, when to tweet it, and the ideal frequency of tweeting to use in order to grow a Twitter following.

47 Twitter Power Users’ Secrets To Getting Many Followers by JobMob

A selection of the Twitterati share their advice—ranging from short snippets to fairly detailed guidelines—on how to grow your Twitter following. Robert Scobel, Dan Schawbel, Peter Shankman and many of the others are legit no doubt, though a few of the “power users” here are questionable. Still, lots of good advice.

Get More Twitter Followers by Treating Your Profile Like a Landing Page by Social Times

Darko Johnson shows how to apply the principles of effective landing page design to your Twitter profile in order to increase the likelihood that people who see your profile will choose to follow you.

20 ways to increase the number of your followers on Twitter by Web SEO Analytics

Wisely warning against the use of automated programs or techniques, Vasilis Vryniotis offers 20 “white hat” best practices for increasing your Twitter following naturally, such as promoting your Twitter handle in online and offline locations (your blog, website, email signature and business cards), adding yourself to Twitter directories, and perhaps most important: mentioning and thanking the people who help you.

Why 150 Followers Is All You Really Need by TwiTip

Then again, do you really need more followers? Srinivas Rao uses the theory of Dunbar’s Number to argue that 150 followers is all one needs on Twitter. The author makes an intriguing case, but I’m not sure I buy it (particularly given that he follows over 1,300 people on Twitter).

How to Do Lots of Other Things on Twitter

16 bitchin’ commands and shortcuts for Twitter by eConsultancy

Want to quickly see the last tweet from a particular Twitterer? Or the most recent tweets mentioning that person? How about performing advanced searches on Twitter, like exact match, either/or, hyper-local (with x miles of…), or find questions you can answer? Chris Lake shows you how to do all of this and much more with these helpful Twitter shortcuts.

40 useful things you can share on Twitter besides blog posts by Social Media Today

Frequent best-of contributor Adam Vincenzini contends that “the more unusual and varied your stream is, the better—both for you and your followers.” And with that in mind, he lists more than three dozen types of items you can share on Twitter other that stuff from your RSS stream, such as a new app or tool (with a quick tweet review), an interesting hashtag or discussion, an interesting/relevant YouTube video or a link to a Twitter list you think is worth following.

7 Really Cool Things About the New Twitter by Social Media Today

Tia Peterson praises seven features of the new Twitter interface (such as the “Recently Listed” box, easy DM replies, and ability to send a tweet from any page) but also cites three areas that still need improvement.

How Many Times Do You Tweet Your Blog Post? by Ask Aaron Lee

Most bloggers tweet each of their posts only once. How many times should a post be tweeted? In this post, Aaron Lee and Guy Kawasaki recommend an ideal frequency, backed up with some highly logical reasoning. Spock would approve.

How Twitter increased my blog’s traffic by 300% in one week by MackCollier.com

Ever wonder exactly what impact Twitter can have on blog traffic? Mack Collier details an experiment he ran and shares the nitty gritty numbers and percentages, as well as the process he used, concluding “even if you only have 100 followers, you can still leverage Twitter as a tool to build your blog IF you are active on Twitter. Active interacting with others, engaging in conversations, and linking to valuable content.”

13 Twitter Tips for Increasing Engagement by Sazbean

Sarah Worsham lists helpful tips for increasing engagement and growing your following on Twitter, such as sharing and retweeting, asking questions, attending tweetups and using Twitter directories to find people in your industry.

Twitter success stories: Explaining the ROI of Twitter by {grow}

As Mark Schaefer explains, “There are MANY benefits to Twitter besides direct sales.  You might gain information, competitive intelligence, insight,  a new supplier or partner, publicity, brand awareness, an idea, customer insights, and yes, even a potential customer. And while all of these are great, most are intangible and difficult to display in an Excel spreadsheet! So why keep trying to do it?…When benefits are difficult to quantify, the best way to explain the value is through a story.”

8 Ways to Not Get ReTweeted by HubSpot Blog

Dan Zarrella uses extensive HubSpot research to show that practices like talking about yourself, dumbing down the readability of your tweets, eschewing links, and repeating the same things everyone else is saying are great ways to avoid being retweeted.

26 Twitter Tips for Enhancing Your Tweets by Social Media Examiner
***** 5 Stars
Debbie Hemley provides a highly creative A-Z list of practical tips for maximizing the business impact of your tweets, from Answers and Behind-the-Scenes info to utilizing YouTube and a Zippy Writing Style.

4 Rules for Marketing on Twitter by Practical eCommerce

Paul Chaney reveals the “unwritten” rules for earning influence on Twitter, for example: “Don’t Follow Just to Pitch. A distasteful trend has developed among newer Twitter users. For example, people are following me and when I respond in kind, their first tweets are frequently to pitch me on a website they want me to visit or a service they provide…If you want a formula for how marketing via Twitter and other social networks should work, it’s this: Connect > Converse > Convert.”

Calculating and Improving Your Twitter Click-through-Rate by SEOmoz

The brilliant but oblivious Rand Fishkin illustrates how to calculate your Twitter click-through rate (CTR) and notes some findings from his own experience: shorter tweets and those that are on-topic (whatever your primary topic is) tend to get retweeted more frequently. Somewhat surprisingly, Klout scores appear to have little correlation with retweet rates.

Twitter Dictionary | 35 Twitter Abbreviations by Bit Rebels

Primarily for Twitter newbies, Diana Adams defines nearly three dozen common Twitter / texting abbreviations such as DM (direct message), IRL (in real life) and Gr8 (self-explanatory).

Typecasting Twitter: 7 Top Uses by iMedia Connection

Noting that “Twenty nine percent, one in every three tweets yields some kind of reaction—comments, re-tweets or clicks. Ten percent prompt a reply to the original tweet. These are direct marketing nirvana numbers,” Daniel Flamberg dissects research to isolate the seven most common uses of Twitter.

How to Participate in a Twitter Chat Session like #BlogChat or #AgChat by ag – a colorful adventure

For those who haven’t participated in a Twitter chat session before, Janice Person provides clear, step-by-step instructions for getting setup, using controls, and keeping up with the stream of conversation.

3 Absolutely Cool Twitter Search Tricks to Help You Save Money! by Sexy Social Media

In this helpful but brief post, Annie Wallace shares three clever Twitter search tricks you may not be aware of.

Best of 2010: 14 Ways Every Business Should Be Using Twitter by Inkling Media

Ken Mueller lists 14 practices businesses can adopt to optimize their benefit from Twitter, such as providing customer service, promoting events and monitoring competitors.

Twitter Tools

20 Top Twitter Monitoring and Analytics Tools by Pamorama

Pam Dyer serves up brief reviews of more useful Twitter tools including Twitscoop (trend-monitoring), TweetBuzzer (identifies popular brands on Twitter), Twitter Analyzer (kind of like Google Analytics for Twitter) and Tweeps (get stats that help you decide who to follow—or not—and find people you’d like to have following you).

How to Add a Tweet Button Anywhere by SitePoint

While there are several easy avenues to placing a Tweet button on a blog, Alyssa Gregory supplies simple instructions for adding Tweet buttons in other venues like emails, PDFs and Facebook pages.

11 Websites to Schedule Your Tweets Online for Free by TwiTip

Young Yang reviews free tools for scheduling tweets, like FutureTweets, HootSuite and SocialOomph. It’s important to remember that Twitter is a social platform, so your followers will expect interaction; if you’re busted relying too heavily on automated or pre-scheduled tweets, you will lose followers. However, these tools can be very helpful if used strategically and sparingly.

Tweetvolume

Type in any three words or phrases and compare how often each is tweeted about.

5 Best Twitter Tools For Smarter Blogging by Smedio

Sridhar Ramunajam provides quick reviews of five helpful Twitter tools including dlvr.it for auto-publishing blog content to Twitter and TweetStats, which provides stats about your account (e.g., tweets per hour, tweets per month, tweet timeline) in graphical format.

Six Benefits to Using Twitter.com Instead of an App by TwiTip

Shannon Albert makes the case for using Twitter itself rather than a third-party app (e.g., HootSuite or TweetDeck) for interacting on Twitter: it’s faster, has no limits on Tweets per hour and lets you see other users’ custom backgrounds among other advantages.

Twitter Stats

All You Need to Know About Twitter in 2010 [Infographic] by Mediabistro

Lauren Dugan presents an infographic from Flowtown that reviews Twitter highlights of 2010, from Bill Gates setting up a Twitter account in January through celebrity digital death at year end.

Related Post

50 (of the) Best Twitter Guides, Stats, Tips and Tools of 2010 (So Far)

Nominations and voting are now open for the B2B Twitterer of the Year (B2BTOTY) awards. Here’s your chance to recognize your favorite B2B organization or individual for their exceptional Twitter skills. Now in its second year, the B2BTOTY award recognizes examples of the outstanding use of Twitter by B2B personalities, vendors, publishers, organizations and institutions.

Nominations can be submitted in 10 categories:

• • National / International B2B Manufacturer (includes software developers)
• • National / International B2B Services
• • B2B Small to Mid-Sized Businesses (B2B SMB)
• • B2B Organizations
• • Business Schools
• • B2B Trade Associations
• • B2B Publications
• • B2B Business Journalists
• • B2B “Boss Tweet” Personality
• • B2B Twitter App

Nominating and voting couldn’t be easier; from any page on the B2BTOTY website, in the voting box near the top-right of the page, simply enter the Twitter handle of the company/person you’d like to vote for, select a category, and describe why you’re voting for that Twitterer (in 70 characters or less, so your vote fits as a tweet).

The steering committee for the awards includes some of the heaviest hitters in the B2B social media space, such as Ardath Albee, author of  eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale; Laura Fitton (aka Pistachio), CEO of oneforty.com; Ann Handley of MarketingProfs; and Joe Pulizzi from the Junta42 content marketing blog.

For an excellent in-depth look at the people behind the award, check out The Oscar of B2BTOTY Awards Needs Your Vote by Cheryl Burgess of Blue Focus Marketing.

Winners will be determined based on numerous criteria by the B2BTOTY judges, but voting plays an important role—and it’s the only way to submit nominations. So if you know of a deserving individual or organization (or several), submit your nominations and vote now!

One of the key characteristics I (and many other Twitter users) use when determining whether I should follow someone back on Twitter is the level of interaction in their tweet stream. Do they ask questions? Answer them? And most importantly, do they ever retweet others’ content?

Now virtually every blogger and business user on Twitter tweets their own content, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that—it’s one of the strengths of the platform. But Twitter is a social tool, not a broadcasting medium. Tweeting only their own stuff makes a person look like one of those cocktail party boors who only want to talk about themselves. More often than not, they end up talking only to themselves.

Retweeting is a key part of the social interaction on Twitter. Here are five great reasons to share content posted by others.

1. It helps those you retweet. Retweeting provides others with both social (“nice work!”) benefits as well as the practical benefit of driving more traffic to their content. It’s a nice thing to do, and (usually) appreciated.

2. It helps your followers. Tweeting and retweeting interesting and valuable content helps those who follow you. When you help your follows discover new knowledge and information, you become a valued information source and build trust.

3. It generates more retweets for you. Others are more likely to retweet your content when they view you as someone trying to share helpful content with the community rather than just broadcasting your own material.

4. It makes others more likely to follow you. People want to be retweeted. Having retweets and other interaction in your tweetstream makes you a much more attractive person/entity to follow than someone whose tweets are one-way and obviously done on auto pilot.

5. It gets you more #FollowFriday recommendations. For all of the reasons above, retweeting makes others more likely to recommend you to their followers, which in turn grows your following.

It all comes down to the “social” in social media; people value tools like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for the interaction with like-minded individuals they provide. Those who focus on “broadcasting” only their own content through these media tend to be shunned or ignored. Conversely, those who interact and add value grow their networks, influence and trust over time. Sometimes the best way to advance in social media is to retweet.

While a dwindling number of business executives still dismiss Twitter as a waste of time, recent research suggests it is one of the most valuable social networks for business. Awareness of Twitter has exploded; 87% of Americans said they were “familiar with” Twitter in a poll taken earlier this year, versus just 5% in 2008 and 26% in 2009. Although fewer Americans use Twitter than Facebook, Twitter users “are far more likely to follow Brands/ Companies than social networkers in general. 51% of active Twitter users follow companies, brands or products on social networks. Twitter users frequently exchange information about products and services.” 71% of business users now say Twitter is a useful tool, up from 59% a year ago. And 52% of journalists say they use Twitter to research stories and discover what’s hot.

So what are the best ways to use Twitter for business? How you can use it most effectively? Which tools are most helpful? You’ll find the answers to these questions and many more here in 50 of the best Twitter tools, posts, how-to guides and rants of 2010 so far.

Twitter Facts, Figures & Stats

New Data on Twitter Usage Can Strengthen Your Twitter Outreach by Search Engine Guide

Jennifer Laycock reports some fascinating statistics and insights from a HubSpot study, revealing factoids such as: the average Twitter user has about 300 followers and follows 170. Thursday is the busiest day of the week on Twitter, and the highest click through rate on tweeted links occurs between 2 and 3pm. Tweets that include links are far more likely to be retweeted than tweets without links. And much more.

The Truth About the Average Twitter User [STATS] by Mashable

Ben Parr digs into a study from Barracuda Labs demonstrating how power users rule on Twitter: “Only 26% of Twitter users had 10 followers or more by December 2009, while only 40% were following 10 people or more (in fact, a majority of Twitter users, 51%, were following less than five people)…only 21% of Twitter users are active users.”

I Tweet Therefore I Am by Brian Solis

How popular is Twitter? Who’s really using it? Brian Solis provides a wealth of statistics that answer these questions and more, e.g., 87% of Americans said they were familiar with Twitter in 2010, up from just 26% in 2009. Total volume is approaching 50 million tweets per day. Women slightly outnumber men, and one-third of Twitters are in the 25-34 year-old age bracket. 63% have at least a college degree, and roughly a quarter earn more than $75,000 per year (a figure that is likely higher, as 27% refused to answer the question).

The Ultimate List: 100+ Twitter Statistics by HubSpot

***** 5 Stars
Kipp Bodnar collects 17 Twitter infographics quantifying everything from the different categories of tweets and how Twitter compares to Facebook to the peak days for different types of tweets and the most-followed Twitter users (Ryan Seacrest beats CNN; that’s just sad).

Tracking the National Mood Through Twitter by The New York Times

Nick Bilton reports on how researchers from Northeastern University and Harvard have analyzed Twitter messages to keep tabs on the nation’s mood. Among the findings: during the work week, people are happiest in the early morning and late evening. When Twitter users get collectively upset, the most negative tweets tend to come from the central states and the East Coast. And as perhaps a hopeful sign, “the peak of happiness on Twitter is reached on Sunday mornings.”

Why should brands bother with Twitter? This table says why by Social Media Today

Dirk Singer uses data from an ExactTarget study to show that “US Twitter users in April 2010 were far more likely than general Internet users to post to forums (75% vs 25%), blog (72% vs 14%), comment on blogs (70% vs 23%) and post ratings / reviews (61% vs 20%). In other words, the 14 million odd people who regularly go on Twitter (as opposed to the 95 million that have signed up), are already active in social media, know how to make things happen and to create noise – good or bad – online, and take conversations elsewhere, be that to blogs, forums, other social networks, or even the mainstream media.”

How-To Guides and Best Practices

10 Tips to Getting More Retweets by TwiTip

Kiesha Easley shares her personal story of transition from Twitter newbie to expert and offers 10 tips for getting retweets she learned along the way including sending direct messages, tweeting others’ blog posts and responding to interesting tweets.

8 Simple Steps to Growing a Quality Twitter Following by Social Media Examiner

Cindy King supplies an excellent guide to creating a tweet plan, a strategic approach to using Twitter, though she helpfully warns “Don’t make the mistake of relying solely on the scheduled tweets in the tweet plan to connect with people and expect to build your business.  You still need live tweets to engage with people.”

Secrets of Twitter Hashtags (For Those Still Unsure) by Interactive Insights Group

For those unsure of what hashtags are or unaware of their many uses on Twitter, Robin Broitman offers an extensive list of hashtag resources and guides.

Twitter: The 7 Rules of Business Engagement by Smedio

Douglas Idugboe advises Twitterers to keep their Twitter handle as short as possible (to help with retweets), avoid automated DM welcome messages (hate these!), be conversant, and retweet others among his best practices.

HOW TO: Make the Most of Your Twitter Profile Page by Mashable

Amy-Mae Elliott offers guidance on writing a great bio, selecting a Twitter picture, making the best use of your URL link and using lists to optimize your Twitter profile.

How to Monitor Your Brand Using Twitter Search by Pamorama

The always insightful Pam Dyer embeds and summarizes a video from John Hayden demonstrating how to create saved searches (for your brand, competitors, industry terms, etc.) in Twitter, track URL mentions, create feeds from searches and more.

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Tweets by Smedio

Jay Adams suggests that the “Twitter traits that make for effective tweets” include clarity, brevity (pretty much a requirement given the 140-character limit), and strategic use of keywords and links among other characteristics.

62 Ways to Use Twitter for Business by GigaOM

Twitter isn’t just for linking to blog posts or telling the world what you had for breakfast, as Meryl K Evans demonstrates in this extensive list of the business uses of Twitter such answering questions, providing highlights from a conference or event, getting and giving referrals, finding topic experts and tracking conversations about your brand.

The Ultimate Guide to Twitter Theme Design by 1stwebdesigner

***** 5 Stars
Anastasia Miles provides an outstanding, detailed, richly illustrated step-by-step guide to creating an attractive and effective Twitter background.

5 Secrets To Get Retweets That The Experts Won’t Tell You by Tremendous News

Am irreverent yet informative post that could have been included instead in the most-entertaining-of-the-year category, but is too helpful not to put here, on how to get more retweets. Example: “1. Focus On The Sexually Active. Think of a retweet as an STD.  But one that’s not devastating.  One that still retains a measure of hilarity. Crabs. Let’s do crabs. Now picture twitter as sexy college campus during the first week of school…Who is in danger of getting crabs?…Is the fat, hairy terroristy looking dude going to get crabs? Of course not. So don’t fill your followers with people like him. Focus on the sexually-liberated cool kids.”

21 Twitter Tips From Socially Savvy Companies by Fast Company

The ubiquitous Brian Solis offers tips for Twitter success based on the experience of real-world companies like Dell (special offers), Comcast (customer service), using dedicated brand channels (Ford) and developing new ideas (Starbucks).

Twitter 101 for Business: A Special Guide by Twitter

Must-reading for any business owner or executive who still doesn’t “get” Twitter – the folks actually behind the world’s most popular microblogging platform put together a detailed guide to using Twitter for business, covering everything from getting set up and learning the lingo to building relationships and measuring value.

The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter by Webdesigner Depot

*****5 Stars
In this ambitious, long and lavishly illustrated post, Angela West compiles a remarkable collection of Twitter tips, etiquette, jargon, tools, apps, icons, WordPress plugins and more.

50 Power Twitter Tips by Chris Brogan

Social media rock star Chris Brogan offers 50 tips for interaction, technical considerations, business, integration, and off-Twitter activities (e.g., “Think of Twitter as a guidance system to what you think is interesting. A lot of that is likely off-Twitter.”).

10 Reasons You’re Not Getting Followers on Twitter by Social Media Today

Paul Sutton lists factors that can turn off potential followers on Twitter including using your profile to sell, excessively automating your tweets and tweeting repetitive messages.

Twitter Tips – Things You Should Know by Trailblaze Social Media with Josh

Joshua Lyons provides a short but useful set of tips he believes can help “make the difference between mediocre Twitter use and excellent Twitter use.”

Twitter SEO

How to Turn Your Twitter Profile Page into an SEO Masterpiece by TwiTip

David McClellan presents an outstanding to optimizing all of the elements of your Twitter profile (name, bio, avatar, URL and feed) for search.

Twitter SEO Best Practices by SEOptimise

Tad Chef covers the best practices for SEO with Twitter: how to rank in search with your profile and tweets, get found in Twitter search, make your tweets spread virally and capitalize on Google real-time search.

Twitter Strategy

Successful Twitter Marketing Strategies by Social Media Optimization

According to a MarketingProfs study, monitoring and responding to brand mentions are ranked among the most successful Twitter marketing tactics by both B2B and B2C marketers. Driving sales directly was ranked by both groups as the least effective use of the platform.

In Social Media, Twitter is Just the Start by Social Steve’s Blog

Steve Goldner lays out a strategy for using Twitter in conjunction with other social media tools like blogs, YouTube and Flickr to optimize your social media marketing success.

7 Insanely Useful Ways to Search Twitter for Marketing by OPEN Forum

John Jantsch shows how to target Twitter users by occupation, bio or location and get the most out of Twitter by creating “some very powerful searches and alerts combining Google and Twitter.”

9 Questions for Analyzing the Tweet Stream by iMedia Connection

Frequent best-of contributor Daniel Flamberg outlines the two biggest issues facing brands on Twitter, nine questions for addressing them, and a strategy for answering those questions to “get a feel for what’s being said, understand competitive comparisons, potentially identify brand loyalists or opinion-makers worthy of extra care and attention and intervene before problems or negative comments cascade into real trouble.”

Benefits of Twitter by Boomtown Internet Group

I’m guessing English isn’t Priyo’s first language so pardon the grammar and word usage issues here, but he presents a nice list of the benefits of Twitter use for business such as for collaboration, promoting content and improving SEO.

The A-Z List: How Twitter Can Make You A Better Blogger by Ink Rebels

***** 5 Stars
Diana Adams puts together a remarkable and entertaining post, lavishly illustrated, extolling the benefits of Twitter from A (“A is for – Ask”) to Z (“Z is for – Zen”).

14 Cool Things People Do On Twitter by Penn Olson

Sarah Chong’s recommendations for Twitter use range from the common (learn, be heard) to the unusual (monitor sensors in your home, catch thieves) to the truly inspired (write poetry).

Twitter Tools and Reviews

Twitter stats and analytics tools – top 10 by Social Media Today

Chris Norton writes that “There are hundreds of twitter tools that measure different statistics out there but many can be a bit of a waste of time. I have been through most of them in the last few years and given them some kind of test” before setting out mini-reviews of his top 10 picks including TweetStats, Tweetmeme and Twitterholic.

Get rid of stale Twitter users that have stopped tweeting by Social Media Today

It’s Chris Norton again, this time providing a quick review of UnTweeps, an handy tool for culling inactive Twitter users from those you follow.

The Complete Twitter ‘Follow / Unfollow’ Toolkit by COMMS Corner

The brilliant Adam Vincenzini offers a concise but valuable list of tools and advice for managing your Twitter following.

Local Tweets: 9 Ways to Find Twitter Users in Your Town by Mashable

Josh Catone describes how to use local events and tools like Localtweeps and TwitterLocal to identify and connect with Twitter users in your local vicinity.

Busting through the Twitter noise to find a signal by {grow}

Guest author Frank Podlaha explains how to craft a search strategy and then use tools like LocalChirps, Twitscoop and Radian6 to cut through the clutter on Twitter and find exactly what you’re looking for.

Twitter ROI: Show Your Clients the Effectiveness of Twitter Campaigns by Web Analytics World

Chuckie Oliver reviews five key tools for measuring the effectiveness of Twitter activities including Twitter Analyzer, Klout and Tweet Stats.

36 Twitter Resources: Advanced Twitter Search for Business by Social Media Today

Coree Silvera compiles an outstanding list of tools for Twitter research and monitoring, directories and geolocation, along with links to articles on improving Twitter search skills.

9 Twitter Apps Worth Another Look by Web Analytics World

Manoj Jasra reviews “interesting Twitter apps” Tweetshare, ComTweets, TheCadmus and half a dozen others.

27 Twitter Tools To Help You Find And Manage Followers by 1stwebdesigner

Dainis Graveris writes brief reviews of more than two dozen Twitter follower management tools including FriendOrFollow, WeFollow, Twubble and My Tweeple.

4 Free Tools that Publish Blog Updates to Twitter by Freesourcing Blog

Mini-reviews of that use RSS to automatically publish blog posts to your social networking sites inclding Dlvr.it and RSS2Twitter.

Top 20 Sites to Improve Your Twitter Experience by Mashable

Vadim Lavrusik offers his list of “the top 20 third-party websites for making your Twitter experience more useful and easier to manage,” including tools for management, filtering (such as the very cool create-your-own-newspaper site Paper.li), spotting trends, making lists, finding new followers, measuring influence, sharing photos and video, conducting polls and more.

The Ultimate Collection of FREE Twitter Tools by Regillo Consulting Group

***** 5 Stars
An outstanding collection of Twitter tools for analytics, business, follower/following management, network building, information gathering, media sharing, organization, blogging and more.

Themeleon

Don’t want to go through the trouble of creating a coolio Twitter background from scratch? Themeleon is a cool tool that automates Twitter background theme development.

Tweetake

***** 5 Stars
One of the tightest Twitter tools around, Tweetake lets you export your followers and following lists to Excel for analysis, grouping, backup or any other purpose you can think of. In the words of the site, “The brainchild of Alfred Armstrong and Nikki Pilkington, Tweetake is here to allow you to back-up your followers, people you are following and Tweets with just one click.”

Tweasier

Sort of Swiss Army knife for Twitter, Tweasier’s functions include Twitter analytics, finding and sorting followers, email alerts, conversation tracking and more. Free and fee-based versions are offered.

Twellow

Slick map-based interface lets you zoom in on any geographic area to find local Tweeps to follow.

Twitter Rants and Musings

Why Your 4,243,564 Twitter Followers Don’t Mean Jack by aimClear

Another post that would have been a great post to include in most-entertaining-of-the-year as well. We’ve all seen the buffoons on Twitter who somehow manage to amass a large following despite offering no apparent value or even seeming to have a clue as to what “social” media means. Noting that “there are also bandwagon-jumping companies and celebrity glory-whores who go at Twitter like a portly dude at a buffet. They use it as self-centered bullhorn and nothing more,” Lauren Litwinka here brilliantly categorizes these Twitter-star wannabes into archetypes such as “You have 822,780 followers. You follow two people,” “Your feed consists of status updates. And only status updates” and my favorite: “You share would-be Zen gems through a f*cking API.”

Ten Things You Need to Stop Tweeting About by The Oatmeal

Simply awesome. Anyone who’s spent any serious time will relate to this entertaining and creative list of things we’re tired of seeing people tweet about, including what they’re eating, their workouts, their pets, and the incredible (or not so) number of Twitter followers they have.

Bye Bye Birdie: Why Twitter is On the Outs by Techi

Timothy James Duffy argues that Twitter’s popularity is fleeting, it offers most users little value, and it will never make money. Agree? Disagree? Check out the 72 comments in response to this post.