5 Essential Twitter Chrome Extensions for Marketers

If you're a marketer, Twitter is one of the key tools in your arsenal for engaging with your audience. Maintaining a pristine, vibrant feed, and dealing with all the administrative tasks can be a bit of a drag. Thankfully there are a few browser extensions you can use to make the whole thing slightly less laborious and focus on what matters: interacting with your network!

Here are five of the best ones that we use daily.


1) Silver Bird

The Big Bird of Twitter extensions, Silver Bird holds a raft of features for better Twitter management. For a start, you can see your feed, profile, DMs, and custom filtered lists all from a button on your toolbar.

The fun doesn't stop with this genuine quality of life addition though, with Silver Bird boasting a wealth of other features. Small buttons on each tweet allow you to easily reply, retweet or like the tweet from within the extension. You can also create tweets, including shortening URLs, in-extension, and the app automatically caches to avoid hitting Twitter's API rate limit. All of the lists and notification settings can be customised to best fit your Twitter usage, making Silver Bird an absolute no-brainer.


2) Chromnitweet

To further streamline the ease-of-use Silver Bird started to provide, in steps Chromnitweet. This extension turns your very own address bar into a Twitter post box. Simply type into the address bar (Ctrl + L for a quickfire shortcut) "tw" followed by your tweet. This extension also automatically shortens links so you don't have to worry about it. The only restriction is that it's text-only, but it certainly lets you tweet in a hurry if necessary.

3) Riffle

So you've got your tweading and twiting methods down. But how to decide what exactly to write? Well, one way is to know your audience. Enter Riffle. Riffle acts as an in-browser analytics engine. You can see all the stats and analytics you could need about your own page to fine tune your Twitter game:

Riffle

The analytic enlightenment doesn't stop there, though, as you can turn your attention to other users, whether your audience, the accounts you follow, or even your competitors. Stats include their influence, the platforms they use to publish and more. On top of that, Riffle integrates with 16 Twitter platforms including Hootsuite and TweetDeck, ensuring it will slot seamlessly into your posting procedure.


4) Buffer

Armed with all this knowledge and ready to tweet, what do you do if you come across something that you think would be absolutely perfect to post, or just a random flash of inspiration crosses your mind? Well, you could quickly post it with Chromnitweet or Silver Bird, but if you want to schedule it for later, you could use Buffer. Buffer allows you to queue your posts and space them out to a custom schedule. The extension will then give you analytics on the post, so you can track results and see what time of the day may be best to post.

You can post content you create yourself, or easily share web content you stumble across. Buffer makes it easy to do either.


5) Twitter Follower

Now you have all this perfectly scheduled and targeted posts, you just need some more followers. The best way to gain more followers is, of course, to follow some users yourself. The Twitter Follower extension makes this process much easier, automating bulk follows.

It can also perform bulk unfollows, if you should somehow find yourself following a bunch of people you don't want to.


Finally, here are some honourable mentions for the ones who nearly made it:

• Tweets Counter for Twitter - shows stats and retweets for current URL.
• Reddit Check - Check if the current URL has been submitted to Reddit.
• Photo Zoom for Twitter - Adds a large size Twitter image in your feed so you don't have to leave it.
• Whom to Follow - For the grammatical pedants among(st) you. Simply changes Who to Follow to Whom to Follow.

Now, get out there and extend both your browser and your Twitter following. Your audience isn't going to engage itself!

Sam Franklin

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Twitter Trials Tools to Turn Trolls Tongue-Tied

Twitter is a valuable online haven for discussing current affairs without fears of censorship. Unfortunately, free speech comes at a price, and that price is the troll toll. No, not that one, Always Sunny fans. The one that means that allowing people to say what they want from the anonymity of their mum's basement will inevitably lead to a spewing forth of vile abuse towards anyone with the temerity to state a slightly unpopular opinion, go against the meta, or just be a woman online.

Thankfully, Twitter continues to implement and enhance features to deal with the troll brigade, and some more were announced today. The features include an upgraded mute function, easier reporting of hate speech, and revamps to the company's internal support teams.

Twitter has introduced several anti-troll measures in the past, such as the flagging of abusive tweets, creating a safety council, and adding a quality filter, but the new additions will help further refine the way the platform deals with the insidious troll threat.

The mute function was first released by Twitter last month, allowing users to mute accounts that they don't want to hear from. This update will take that even further, allowing users to mute certain keywords, phrases, and even entire conversations from appearing in their notifications. This means that inflammatory or simply undesired content, especially those targeted specifically at the user, will be able to be filtered out without even making anyone aware of their existence. However, filtered phrases can still be seen on a user's timeline, so it's not yet a watertight feature.

The next part of the announcement concerns the way in which users can report trolls. Twitter's hateful conduct policy forbids 'specific conduct that targets people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.' The new reporting feature will allow anyone to notify Twitter of offensive speech whenever they see it, meaning the burden is not all on the victim to report abuse.

It's no good all these reports coming through if no one is there to deal with them. That's why Twitter has also promised a refresh of all the support teams that deal with the issue of hate speech. This is coupled with improvements to the internal tools and systems they use to address them. It is of course difficult to fully automate reporting, as that opens up the system to abuse, allowing the very trolls it's designed to target to use mass reporting as a brigading tool.

So just how big is the problem? Well, Mashable wrote an article questioning whether we've reached peak troll, and abuse on the platform has certainly been building to a fever pitch, especially during the recent US election. If users don't feel secure on the Twitter it could lead to dropping user numbers, with monthly user growth already a problem for the platform. There are even rumours that the hate speech issue was part of what led to Disney's withdrawal from a takeover, with Twitter struggling on that front.

It's a difficult dilemma for Twitter to deal with, as there is a fine line to walk between free speech and censorship. Customising user muting preferences seems like a good way to deal with that, allowing potential problems to be nipped in the bud. And that is important, as free speech also relates to people's right to have their voice heard without an oppressive barrage of abuse drowning it out. Twitter recognises the scale of the issue, and the task of dealing with it, stating: 'We don’t expect these announcements to suddenly remove abusive conduct from Twitter. No single action by us would do that.' Indeed, trolls can be resourceful creatures, even starting to speak in code to get their grim message out.

Still, it's admirable that they're trying, both for their own sake as a platform and for the sake of their users. Hopefully the trolls will be gradually driven back under their bridge, and we'll no longer have to pay the price for their shenanigans. Or the troll toll.

Author & Source

The Most Dangerous Messaging App?

It’s been on the forefront of the messaging app craze for almost 6 years, boasts upwards of 300 million regular users and its core market are teens and younger Millennials.

What is it?

It’s the wildly controversial messaging app, Kik.

What is Kik?

Kik is a Canadian-based messaging app that's totally free. Users can send and receive an unlimited amount of messages (which can be videos, messages, etc.) to anyone with a Kik account - the app works by accessing users’ data plan or a WiFi connection.

To create a Kik account, all you need is an email address and username. To find people, you can search usernames, scan a Kik code, or search a phone number.

Free and fairly private, especially from the eyes of parents, the app’s appeal to teens is obvious. In fact, 40% of American teenagers use Kik.

What’s the Danger?

What makes this app, and many like it, so controversial is that it enables users to remain totally anonymous. Users can communicate without revealing their actual names or phone numbers, and Kik doesn't track the content of messages or the phone numbers of users. This makes it hard for law enforcement and parents to get almost any information about the person on the other end of the message.

Over time, there have even been multiple reports of the app being used to commit heinous crimes, with law enforcement officials even going so far as to encourage parents to delete Kik altogether off of their children’s phones. The appeal of such anonymity is understandable, and a major reason why the app has garnered so many users, but what can be done about the dangers of an app like Kik?

In short, not much. Kik’s CEO Ted Livingston is confident that messaging is the future, and that “chat is the next once-a-decade platform.” If it’s around to stay - and it appear that it is - you can only wonder if the stigma associated with these apps is going to affect their longevity.

The Future of Messaging Apps

Despite the apparent risks of messaging apps like Kik, many people in the industry would agree that these apps will play a big role in the future of social media. Exclusive messaging apps open up new opportunities not available on other platforms. Kik’s CEO even speculates that it might be the “next great operating system”, with apps as browsers and bots as websites.

For one, the marketing potential is huge. Marketers can use messaging apps to contact potential and current customers by using chatbots - Facebook Messenger is already beginning to see success with this ability. Another future use for these messaging apps could be what Kik CEO Livingston calls the idea of the “chat platform” where users coan use messaging apps to do more everyday things like hailing an Uber or ordering flowers.  

Use at your Own Risk

So is Kik one of the most “dangerous” apps when used in the hands of teens or criminals? Probably. But there are others like it and once a technology or product has been created, it’s impossible to take it away completely, especially since 42% of all teens are talking to their friends on private messaging apps already. If Kik were banned, other messaging apps would fill the void.

For parents, be knowledgeable about your child’s smart phone usage and the apps they download. As far as the problem with tracking criminals, maybe this is something law enforcement can look into as a way to bolster their efforts in tracking offenders by using the technology to their advantage too. 

Author: Alyssa Sellors
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How to Handle Multiple Social Media Pages for Your Business

Info People

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are perhaps the most obvious social media channels to build your brand awareness. However, due to the ever-increasing range of platforms, and the inclusion features such as micro-blogging and media sharing, it can be difficult to keep up with the who (to follow) what (to post) and when (you should publish). All in all,multiple social media pages can be greatly beneficial to your business, provided you are implementing them properly.

There is plenty of software available to help out, but the first tool to managing your digital marketing is to distinguish the different types of social media. The model below, courtesy of Cite.co.uk, charts the different types and channels available:

It is important to note that these are not rigid categories, and many of the features of each overlap one another. Imagine some helpful Venn diagram that would take me the best part of a week to create. For example, the 'status update' feature of Facebook could be seen as a micro-blogging tool.

The following are some generic tips to help organise the running of your chosen platforms:-

• Choose wisely. It is crucial to gage which social media platforms your target audience are most likely to engage with, and these should be prioritised first. For example, Pinterest is largely used by women, whereas Facebook use is growing fastest among users aged over 65. Snapchat has a primarily teenage base. If there is one area of social media which is using up a lot of your time but is yielding minimal results, then it is probably time to refocus your strategy.

• Adapt. Each platform is capable of distinguishable features, and it is vital to work out which best work for you. For instance, Instagram is highly pictorial with a focus on images and short video, and the message that you may have sent out on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter could need to be adapted to fit the mould. Research suggests that posts with a photo on Facebook yield 120% more engagement than plain text alone. 

• Organisation is key. Perhaps create a folder or email address that is strictly designated to social media. That way your digital marketing will not get lost amongst other areas of business. Be cohesive and consistent in the tone and look of your online branding on all platforms. Designate specific time purely for social media, as this is likely to make your posting more effective than if it were sporadic. Socialmediaweek suggests that 5 hours a week is suffice, but obviously this is largely dependent on the scale of your campaign. 

• Monitor and analyse.  There are plenty of tools out there ready to help you analyse the data extracted from social media channels, but the problem is what to look for. Determining the best time to post to have the best outreach, measuring your click-through rate and how many posts you need per day are all vital to better digital marketing.

The following software is designed with your business needs in mind as they save you the near-impossible task of manually monitoring the aforementioned data. We have hand picked some of the best :-

Google Analytics

Google Analytics allows you to find out which online campaigns are bringing the most traffic and conversions, where your best visitors are located,  identifies your least performing pages and much much more. The app condenses all this information in an easy to use format that is an invaluable tool for any online business. Not to mention, it's free!

Hootsuite

Hootsuite allows your to monitor all of your channels in one, delegate tasks and eliminate the trouble of co-ordinating responses to consumers. Free when using in accordance with 5 social profiles.

Bitly

Featuring real-time analytics along with the ability to track clicks and remember your favourite posts and pages, Bitly has a neat and clean interface and allows your to shorten URLs for posting on sites like Twitter. Once again, the tool is completely free.

With the digital marketing opportunities and resources available these days, there is no reason why you shouldn't build a big online presence through the use of different social media channels. Social media is an incredible tool - used wisely and effectively, it can have a dramatic, positive impact on your business. 

Author: Katie Gascoyne

SMF rookie, fresh out of academia, looking forward to more creative ventures. With a love of current affairs, green tea and an ever insatiable wanderlust, Katie is ready to have her voice heard. Follow her @KatieAtSMF

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