11 Useful Twitter Tools That Don’t Require Your Password

Twitter tools have emerged all over the web, as this great service offers many ways to get in touch with people that really matter to you. However, safety is another of those things that matter and not all Twitter tools are trustworthy.
But don’t be alarmed, not all the tools out there are after your twitter identity! Let’s have a look at 11 twitter tools that don’t require your password and are still very useful and powerful:
Statistics:
TweetStats: Statistics for your Twitter account, this tool graphs the amount of hourly and monthly tweets of your account, the amount of replies and the interface that you use the most.
TwitterFriends: One of the most complete Twitter statistic tools, with just your twitter username you can find out very impressive statistics, but don’t just take my word for it, Darren wrote a more complete review of this tool: TwitterFriends – A Useful Twitter Metrics Tool

Ranks:
TwitterGrader: If you’re into ranks and grades, TwitterGrader will grade your account from 0 to 100 based on your account’s followers, following and number of tweets. You will also be given a rank, this will measure the impact of your account on the twitter sphere.
Are you in the Twitter Elite for your country? Use the tool and find out!
ReTweetRank: This tool ranks your account based on the number of retweets you get.
Tweeple Discovery:
NearbyTweets: Want to find tweeples near you? This tool finds people who tweeted near you, great tool for discovering new members to follow.
Twubble: Tired of subscribing to other accounts just so they can recommend people to subscribe to? (Yes @mrtweet, I’m talking about you.) By just filling out you twitter username, Twubble recommends user to follow based on your friends following. [Editor's Note: Update - Twubble does indeed ask you to log into Twitter's API with your username and password. - Lara]
Tweeple Unfollowing:
Twitoria: As time passes by and your “following” list becomes longer, there are bound to be a lot of spammy, unwanted, not used accounts, this tool tells your which of the accounts your following hasn’t updated recently in the last week, month or year and other time spans.
Qwitter: Besides having a very funny name, this tool will notify you by email when someone stops following you, and it only requires your username and an email address to send the notifications to (it also has a moving hand, so there’s another reason to use it).
[Editor's Note: Qwitter has been known to be pretty unreliable in terms of timely notifications. People have complained that they hear nothing for weeks or months, and then all of the sudden get 20 or 30 emails all at once, saying someone unfollowed them after their most recent tweet - when in reality, they may have unfollowed weeks ago, after a different one. - Lara]
FriendOrFollow: Find out who isn’t following you back with this tool.
Miscellaneous Fun Tools:
Tweetwasters: How much time do you spend on Twitter? This tool will tell you and only requires your username.
TweetWheel: This tool lets you find out which of your friends know each other, planning a party or going out for a movie? Find out who knows who with tool and avoid awkward moments.

Source : http://www.twitip.com

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The Most Popular Twitter Acronyms

Twitter, on account of the 140 character limit, encourages extensive use of shorthand typing. Most of these acronyms might be familiar to regular Internet users but some are very specific to Twitter.
Here is a list of top Twitter acronyms that we know so far.
RT = Retweet.
PRT = Partial Retweet / Please Retweet.
OH = Overheard.
DM = Direct Message.
@ : Reply to [username].
BTW : By The Way
FTW = For The Win.
FTL = For The Loss.
IRL = In Real Life.
FTF = Face to Face.
IMHO = In My Honest Opinion.
YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary.
BR = Best Regards.
b/c = because.
JV = Joint Venture.
LMK = Let Me Know.

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Not all ReTweets are Created Equal

If you’re new to Twitter, you probably have no real concept of retweeting (commonly seen as RT) and what that can mean for your success and fun on Twitter. I’ve seen it go two ways with my clients who are new to Twitter: (1) some get on Twitter and don’t retweet – ever – because they either don’t know how to do it or don’t want to, and (2) some get on Twitter and retweet like the devil, but they either retweet junk, or they don’t know how to use it to their advantage.
Why ReTweet?
Well, it totally fits the purpose of Twitter, which is to share thoughts, news, insight, rants, advice and other things that are worth sharing to people who follow you. When you retweet, you are re-sharing something that is already on Twitter to your followers, who may not have seen it.
Retweeting is meant to enhance and improve social engagement on Twitter; but it can be abused, so just use some common sense. Here are some ways to become better at it.
Note: if you have no idea whatsoever about retweeting, check this out. There are new ways to retweet and strategies, etc., but that guide is a good place to figure out what we’re all talking about.
Don’t ReTweet Junk – Check out the links first
First of all, if you retweet external links (and I know this is not going to fly with everyone) you shouldn’t be retweeting stuff you haven’t actually looked at. I made this mistake once (in the spirit of being transparent) and when I opened the link after I retweeted it, it was a post written really badly with lots of cheesy ads and it was just something I would never have passed on. You must look at the link – it could be a link to a page filled with malicious software and/or viruses – you never know. Why ruin your follower’s day by passing on B.S.?
Add something to the ReTweet
I don’t always do this either, but I try to when I can. If you retweet directly from the Twitter website, you won’t be able to add your personal message or any hashtags. But if you use a service, like HootSuite, you can add something, as well as schedule that retweet for later.
ReTweet from the Source
Many blogs, news websites and magazines have a re-tweet option built right into the site. If this is the case, retweet from the source, because it gives the original Tweep some visibility, and sometimes their re-tweet function includes their desired hashtags.
ReTweet People Who You Want to Follow You Back
If there are people who aren’t following you, but you want them to notice you and follow you back, try retweeting some of their tweets. Retweeting is a huge sign of respect. So, if you respect what they say, retweet them and see if they don’t take notice of you and become a follower.
Don’t Let ReTweeting Take Over Your Twitter Account
The last thing I’ll add for beginner Tweeps is to not get caught up in retweeting. Add your own thoughts to the mix. There are retweeting bots and other spam accounts that just retweet other people’s stuff, and while that seems okay, it’s not and you don’t want to be “that” guy. I typically detest silly etiquette rules and lots of structure in something that’s supposed to be personal and social, but on Twitter you need to try and fit in. Your experience will be a lot more fun if you can.

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How to Drive Traffic from Twitter using @Anywhere

How to Drive Traffic from Twitter using @Anywhere
@Anywhere is a new set of widgets (or plugins) from Twitter that allows you to add Twitter Features to your Blog or Website. @Anywhere is great because it lets your users do the most common activities relating to Twitter (tweeting, following) without leaving your site. Not only that, there are a couple of ways you can use @Anywhere to drive traffic to your site.
Hovercards
This plugin automatically converts every Twitter username (in @problogger format) on your web pages to Twitter links, complete with hover cards (think tooltips on crack) that have the all important “follow” button in them.
Tweet Box
The Tweet box option simply puts a tweet box on your site that users can post tweets with without leaving your site. The benefit of the Tweetbox is anything your user posts to their account includes your website name (even if they didn’t type it).

Adding @Anywhere To Your Site
1. Sign Up
You’ve got to let Twitter know that you’re hosting @anywhere and this is the part where you can set the text that will appear in tweets user make from your site (See above screenshot). Go to this URL on Twitter and fill out the form: Sign Up for @Anywhere
On the form, make sure you set the following correctly:

• Application Name: This text is what will appear on your user’s tweets
• Callback URL: Just set this to your home page address
• Default Access Type: Has to be Read & Write – make sure you set it!

Don’t close the next screen when you’ve submitted the form!
2. Copy API Key
Once you’ve submitted the form, Twitter will provide you with an API key – this is the bit of information Twitter will look for to tell that users are Tweeting from your site. Copy this, and save it some place you can refer to it.
3a. Add @anywhere to your site manually
I’ve created a really small HTML sample page showing both hovercards and the tweetbox in action. You’ll need to edit this and put your API in it to get it working. Once you can see it in action, you should be able to integrate the same features into your site. Download Here (zip, 1kb, right click & save)
One thing I’ve done in this sample is to get the Tweet box pre-populated with the title of page your user is reading. If you *really* know what you’re doing, you’ll want to add a shortened URL to the text box via server side code (not for the faint of heart).
3b. Add @anywhere to your site as a WordPress Plugin
If you can’t edit the code for your blog / site, there is a WordPress plugin you can try, you’ll need the API keys for this as well: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/add-twitter-anywhere/
Summing Up – @Anywhere is a great start to Twitter breaking out of it’s own walls, in a similar way to Facebook’s Connect platform. As you’ve seen there are useful options for integrating it with your website,
You can find out more (including documentation) about @Anywhere at Twitter’s dedicated site:

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