Twitter Tools Review

With the explosion of the popularity of Twitter, comes new tools and websites promising everything from helping you to make money to simplifying your life.  So, the biggest question on my mind, is “just because it is free, is it really is worth using”?

I went with a simple grading system:
-is it easy to start using
-will it save me time
-does it really do something unique and useful

If the product got a yes to all three questions above, they get listed in the “Hot” Column, if not, well, then they are “Not”.

Hot	Not
Twibs Find, follow and interact with businesses, apps and services on Twitter.	Twitpay TwitPay is a simple way to send payments via Twitter.
Why: Easy to follow business listing directory	Why: Doesn’t seem very secure and only works with Amazon payments.
TwitPic TwitPic lets you share photos on Twitter. You can post pictures to TwitPic from your phone, the TwitPic home page or your Twitter account.	GroupTweet Send private Twitter messages to specific groups of friends.
Why: Simple to use and a great way to easily tie-in to your Twitter account.	Why: Need to create a new account for each group.  Seems like I could do that directly thru Twitter too.
Mr. Tweet A personal networking assistant for Twitter, helping you identify relevant followers, recommending you to other users and regularly computing your Twitter usage statistics.	Twitter Alerts Keep track of conversations that mention you, your products, your company and anything else, via hourly email updates.
Why: Finding people you really want to follow can be difficult, so this kind of help is appreciated and a time saver.	Why: After setting up the account, I realized it uses Twitter Search.  So, why not just use Twitter Search?
TwitWall With TwitWall, you can embed your favorite videos and widgets and upload your photos, MP3 music, podcasts, you name it.	StrawPoll StrawPoll is the coolest way to follow the opinions of people on Twitter. With this app, you can create your own poll.
Why: Adds some 3d to the otherwise plain Twitter profile page.  Was up and running in minutes.	Why: I like the concept but had a hard time figuring out how it works and how to track results.
UnTweeps Unfollow Tweeps who have not posted tweets recently.	Twitter Friends Network Browser Browse through your Twitter friends, your friends’ friends, your friends’ friends’ friends.
Why: It seems the way to the best ratings on Twitter is to have more people follow you than you follow others.  So, using this tool might help increase your ratings.	Why: Although it looks cool, I couldn’t get it to do anything but get more confusing.
Twitter Grader Twitter Grader measures the power of your Twitter profile. How high do you rank?	Twittertise Twittertise allows you to advertise on Twitter and track the success of your branded communications with customers.
Why: Since I am competitive I like this.  Nice way to see how your postings compare to other similar profiles.	Why: Seems like what they offer–post a special or coupon–could also be done directly into your profile.
TwitterSheep Enter your twitter username to see a tag cloud from the ‘bios’ of your twitter flock.	Twitterless Twitterless tells you who stops following you and graphs your follower history over time, displaying the info in a variety of useful views.
Why: Looks cool and is functional too.	Why: Love the idea but I think the developers got overwhelmed with response.  Didn’t seem to be working.
Just Tweet It Just Tweet It makes it easier for tweeters to find other tweeters with similar interests.	Have a “Not” you would like to add? Contact me.
Why: Another cool directory that’s not just for business.
Twitter Search Search Twitter is an excellent search engine that allows you to find out what’s happening in the world beyond your personal timeline.	Have a “Not” you would like to add? Contact me.
Why: THE way to search for comments, people, hashtags, and more on Twitter.
twhirl Most of the features available on the Twitter website are accessible through twhirl, with usability enhancements.	Have a “Not” you would like to add? Contact me.
Why: When following comments and posts gets too hard to follow thru the web, this is a great next step.  Also has tools to shorten URL’s, add pics, and more.
TweetDeck TweetDeck aims to improve the existing functionality of Twitter by taking the abundance of Twitter feeds and breaking it down into more manageable bite-sized pieces .	Have a “Not” you would like to add? Contact me.
Why: Are you a serious Twit?  Than this software is for you.  Makes managing large numbers of followers possible.
Twitalyzer is a tool that calculates your influence based on your signal-to-noise ratio, generosity, velocity and clout, and it also allows you to calculate a score for any other Twitter user you want to keep tabs on. Since it displays increases and decreases to your influence over time, it is also a way to test the positive or negative impact of new Twitter strategies .	Have a “Not” you would like to add? Contact me.
Why: There’s not much analytics yet for Twitter, but this is about the best you’ll find at the moment.

As a side note, there is one thing that does concern me.  Almost all the related Twitter websites that offer these tools want you to give them your username and password in order to use their services.  That seems like a big problem waiting to happen.

Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my reviews.  Have a few to add?  Just let me know.