Top Twitter Tools & Resources Resource Center 

This excellent Twitter resource isn't a tool, app or add-on. It's a live human being; actually, a couple of them, Dave and Sarah Larson, two power-Tweeters whose mission is to help you Tweet smarter.

This high-volume feed features tips, tricks, and advice, monitors Twitter developments and sometimes answers followers' questions. Their blog offers more in-depth advice and discussion.

Start with this post, How We Manage The TweetSmarter Twitter Account if you feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with Twitter.

If you're looking for a Twitter management tool that will help you build a stronger follower/following base, spend some time with BrandChirp. This app bundles several services into a single, easy-to-use dashboard but focuses heavily on acquisition and management.

This is useful for companies that are either just launching on Twitter or that want to refine their follow base with more relevant or influential users, all for a monthly fee of $12 at present.

Three key tools help you find and follow people whose Tweets match your company's interests:

1. BrandWatch monitors your keywords and allows you to follow or reply to relevant Tweeters in real time.
2. Target Follow searches for relevant or influential Tweeters according to your search parameters.
3. Follow Stats lets you search the people you follow and drop out anyone who doesn't fit.

This focus on acquisition and your follow base is important because in the Twittersphere, following the right people enriches your database and is more likely to help you get the word out to the people who matter.

This scheduling tool has a simple purpose: You find great content, and they send it out for you. Social Media guru Jay Baer says he relies on Buffer daily for efficient link-sharing, and we can see why.

Setup takes minutes. Once you link your Twitter accounts to Buffer, specify your delivery times, and download the right add-on for your Web browser, you're ready to go.

Find a Web story or Tweet to share? Click the Buffer icon in your browser or in the individual Tweet; fill in the pop-up form with your comments, and then choose "Tweet Now," for immediate delivery, or "Add to Buffer," for automated delivery later. Buffer even shortens the link for you, and a user-friendly dashboard tracks your activity at a glance.

This complimentary tool saves us at least an hour of research a week because we can monitor our Twitter activity and track changes in influence in just a couple of clicks.

Below are a few of the things we do regularly on Crowdbooster:

• Monitor our follower growth and activity
• Schedule and deploy Tweets at times that are more likely to generate retweets, replies and "favorites" (Twitter's equivalent of the "Like" button on Facebook)
• See a list of our most influential followers
• See who's acting on our Tweets so we can thank them via Twitter or some other contact channel

We also like Crowdbooster's weekly stats summary that shows you at a glance how many followers you're gaining or losing, how many retweets and mentions you got, and which Tweets generated the most responses and got the widest reach.

Although brevity is the soul of Twitter, there are times when you do need those few extra characters, especially if you want to post two URLs, such as one to your own site and one to an image hosted on a third-party site like Flickr or YouTube.

You must be using TweetDeck, a third-party Twitter app, in order to use Deck.ly. Once you install TweetDeck and set it up to pull your Twitter stream, you can start typing your update. When you hit the 140-character limit, check the "Long Post" box and finish what you have to say.

One caution: Use Deck.ly judiciously. Be sure you can justify every extra character in your Tweet. Otherwise, you could end up turning off people who don't find value in your mini-essays. Remember, readers must click a link to see the rest of your Tweet so that extra step could cost some views.

Cross-pollinating your Social Media postings can increase your visibility, your influence and your following. Dlvr.it takes your blog's RSS feed and automatically posts it to Twitter as well as other social networks, including LinkedIn and Facebook.

Dlvr.it also tracks performance and delivers your statistics in a user-friendly dashboard, showing relevant metrics for each SocMed network you've specified. If you aren't using any other routing or tracking services, this would be a great place to start.

Tweeting and texting and emailing all day leads to information overload. InnerTwitter sends alerts to you at pre-selected intervals throughout the day. When you receive said alert, you are to stop, breathe deeply and reconnect with the real world. :)

This visualization tool shows you who talks about you most often and who else they're talking about.

Use this information to find out and cultivate the Tweeters on whom you have the greatest influence. You'll also gain insight into the issues your influentials are talking about to help you get a foothold on their hot buttons.

Besides drawing you a picture of your influence, Mentionmapp can also help you get some competitive intelligence on your competition. Search on their Twitter usernames to see who's talking about them, who their influential followers are and whether you have any commonalities.

Mentionmapp is simple to use. Just connect via your Twitter account and then type in the username you want to research. Mentionmapp will present a universe of users who mention you as well as the hashtags they use most often in their Tweets.

Click on each username to get more detailed information about that person's Twitter habits and influence.

If you can't keep your eye on your Social Media accounts all the time, this application sends your notifications in a single customizable and scannable email, as often as you specify. You might never have to go back to the Twitter site again.

NutshellMail really pays off with Twitter. You can ask it to relay not just Tweets from the people you follow in your primary stream and on your Twitter lists but also the results of standing searches, such as brand or company mentions.

Plus, you can reply, retweet or unfollow right from the email. NutshellMail also tracks your Twitter statistics and passes on new followers, new quitters, Tweets that mention you and direct messages.

It also patrols other social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare, Yelp, Myspace and Citysearch.

Created specifically for companies with small marketing departments, Postling gives you the ability to manage multiple Social Media accounts in a single platform.

What separates Postling from other productivity apps, however, is that it emails you real-time Twitter mentions and allows you to reply via email without having to go out to the Twitter site. You can respond quickly to a red-hot Tweet (compliments, criticisms, calls for help, etc.) even if you have to take your eye off Twitter for a while.

Postling is built on multiplicity:

• Multiple users can access the dashboard.
• It tracks a variety of social networks.
• You can manage multiple accounts and brand names, all in one locale.

Postling also delivers simple statistics and analytics, although it won't substitute for high-powered applications such as HootSuite or CoTweet.