I recently watched a documentary called “Hear and Now” about a deaf couple that decides to get cochlear implants at the age of 65. While the surgery allows them to hear, they are unable to process what they hear and they find it difficult to translate the words they hear into their intended meaning. They can still only read lips, as they have been doing for 65 years, in order to follow a conversation.
I couldn’t help but compare this couple’s frustration to the frustration that many job seekers feel when they try to incorporate the microblogging tool Twitter into their job search. Twitter can help job seekers “hear” multiple messages about job search strategies and job leads, but it can sometimes be quite difficult to process so much information and figure out what to pay attention to and what to block out. Unfortunately, many abandon Twitter quickly if they can’t get the hang of it and end up not taking advantage of what could be an excellent tool for complementing their job search.
Below are some tools to help you better manage your Twitter account and remove some of the frustration that can come with using it.
Research
Twitter Search. It’s like Google for Twitter. Put in any search term and see what’s being discussed on Twitter.
Tweetscan. Works like Google alerts and searches tweets based on keywords.
Twist. Allows you to view popular trends discussed on Twitter or show more recent tweets on a particular topic.
Twubble. Lets you search who your friends are following and pick out others you may want to follow.
Twemes. Follows tweets that have embedded tags that start with a # character. This is particularly useful for keeping up with real-time activities associated with a live event such as a conference.
Twitterholic. Lists the top 100 Twitters based on number of followers.
These tools can help you locate other like-minded people who are discussing topics that interest you. They can also help you come up with content for your own tweets and find more people to follow and build community with.
Organization/Time Management
Tweetdeck. Personal browser for staying on top of your tweets and peeps and connecting you with your contacts across Facebook and Twitter.
Tweetake. Allows you to backup your Twitter followers, favorites, direct messages, friends, and tweets.
My Tweeple. Lets you alphabetize and manage your followers. You can easily locate and follow others and block followers.
TwitterSnooze. Lets you temporarily block tweets from your “verbose” Twitter friends.
TweetLater. Lets you schedule tweets for future release, automatically follow new users, and send automated thank you notes to new followers.
Twitsay. Lets you leave a voice message that is converted into a tweet.
Twitter can get very crowded and very noisy very quickly. These tools are great for creating efficiencies and ensuring that you are using Twitter to optimize its value rather than rob you of critical job search time.