Source: “5 Online Marketing Resolutions for 2010″

We may already be a week into 2010, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to starting making resolutions.

Resolve to give your online marketing efforts a boost this year by recognizing areas for improvement and putting in place a plan to make positive changes.

To help you get started, TopRank Online Marketing has come up with New Year’s resolutions for 5 different online marketing channels: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media, Email Marketing, Pay-Per-Click and Mobile Marketing.

1. SEO:

I resolve to focus more on maximizing visits and conversions from organic searches.
With SEO efforts, it’s easy to get caught up in one goal: getting found via the search engines. But ranking in the search results is only half the story. If potential customers aren’t clicking through to your web page – or other piece of digital content – the ranking doesn’t mean much. Plus, due to variances in what each of us sees in the search results for the same query, rankings as metric are no longer as useful. Personalized search results according to location and web history means your site might rank high for one person, but not another.

Maximize the success of your online marketing efforts by analyzing your metrics report to determine which pieces of digital content are highly visible but producing less than ideal traffic results. Then take some time to ask yourself these questions:

• What competitive search results are your potential customers seeing? Assess the title tags and meta descriptions of competitive search results. Are competitors offering customers a free case study or a complimentary product sample? Then consider ways to make your own title tags and meta descriptions out-entice the competition.
• Does your content live up to the promise put forth in your title tags and meta descriptions? Put yourself in your customers’ shoes: When you first visit your web page or other digital content from an organic search, is the content you find relevant? Potential customers don’t want surprises; they want a solution to the problem that caused them to search in the first place. And they want it as promised.

Not only will searchers respond more favorably to customer optimized titles and meta descriptions, but the increase in clickthroughs will, no doubt, be noticed by search engines and may influence subsequent rankings.

2. Social Media:

I resolve to set goals and track the results of my social media efforts.
There’s no denying that social media is more difficult to justify in terms of ROI compared to other online marketing strategies.  But that’s not to say it’s impossible – or that tracking results should be placed on the back burner. And without goals, it’s pretty difficult to measure success. In 2010, put forth even more effort to set goals for social media participation and tie results back to specific tactics.

There are a host of free or near-free tools available to gauge brand mentions and traffic from social media channels. In December, we highlighted 5 of these social media monitoring tools.

Tracking results via social media monitoring tools is just a start. Those results must be tied back to business goals. Potential goals might be:

• Develop better customer relationships
• Reputation management
• Identify and energize brand evangelists
• Increase brand awareness
• Increase relevant visitor traffic
• Improve standard and social search engine visibility
• Build up a list for email marketing
• Increase leads or sales

Without setting specific goals upfront, social media efforts can’t be definitively quantified so be sure to implement a Social Media Roadmap and all or social bases will be covered.

3. Email Marketing:

I resolve to integrate my email marketing with other online marketing channels.
Regardless of what the naysayers may say, email marketing isn’t going to disappear as a result of social media in 2010. In fact, email will continue to play a significant role in most online marketing mixes this year. A study from Silverpop found nearly half of marketers surveyed plan to increase email marketing budgets in 2010.

That’s not to say email marketing efforts shouldn’t evolve with the times. Integrating email with social media is on par to be a popular resolution for 2010: A recent eMarketer report found 40% of executives surveyed will make integrating the two tactics their top marketing initiative this year. Another 25% of respondents have already implemented an integrated strategy.

Pledge to take email marketing to the next level by encouraging email subscribers to not only forward content via email, but also to get social with email and share it via Facebook, Twitter, Digg and other sites. Conversely, conduct a poll on Twitter or your blog, and encourage followers and readers to subscribe to your e-newsletter for the results.

4. PPC:

I resolve to maximize conversion rates by testing different versions of my ads and landing pages.
Most companies using self-serve pay per click programs fall victim to ‘set it and forget it’ habits. They’re busy with numerous other marketing activities or don’t have the time to really get to know the native bid management platforms and test/refine campaigns. Even if PPC efforts are reaching set goals in terms of conversion rates, there’s always room for improvement. You’ll never know until you try.

Consider these three ideas for testing different elements of your PPC campaigns:

• Test multiple ad versions that highlight different benefits of your product, service or company. For example, one could tout cost-savings benefits, while another emphasizes a convenience aspect.
• Use A/B testing to try out two different headlines on your landing page. Again, each could speak to a different benefit (i.e., cost savings vs. convenience). Google Optimizer is a great tool for this.
• If you’re targeting a competitive search term with many competing ads, consider launching two different campaigns simultaneously. Each could offer a distinct piece of fulfillment – a free case study and a product coupon, for example.

A few tools for testing include:

• A/B Testing resources: (Google Website Optimizer, 7 Free Resources)
• Multivariate Testing service: (Omniture)
• Heatmap & User Testing tools: (CrazyEgg, Clickdensity, Clicktale, userfly andEyetools)

5. Mobile:

I resolve to rethink my website design for mobile users.
If your site isn’t already optimized for handheld devices such as cell phones, now is the perfect time to re-assess your site design and how users find your site through mobile search – particularly for B2C companies.

In October, ABI Research forecast that mobile sales of physical goods in North America would reach $750 million by the end of 2009, a 117% annual growth rate. Consumers are doing a lot more than purchasing downloadable cell phone ringtones and games from their mobile devices. These days, clothing, electronics, books and a host of other items are being purchased through mobile commerce. Additionally, social network participation through services like foursquare, Facebook and Twitter are growing dramatically, creating additional opportunities for promotion and traffic to the mobile version of your company web site.

When optimizing web pages for the mobile web, consider a few tips:

• Keep fonts in their most basic format
• Eliminate advertising to conserve screen space
• Take out images unless they are absolutely necessary
• Remove Flash, Java or any plug-in content unless absolutely necessary

Online Marketing Efforts in 2010
As you make your own personal New Year’s resolutions to drop a few pounds, start a savings account or join a gym, don’t forget your online marketing efforts. Each year provides a fresh start and endless possibilities, so take advantage.

What resolutions do you plan to make in 2010 to improve your online marketing efforts?

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2010. |
5 Online Marketing Resolutions for 2010 |
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(Via Online Marketing Blog.)

Source: “Report: Facebook’s Twitterfication May Have Stunted Twitter Growth”

While Twitter is still adding new users at a brisk pace of 6.2 million new accounts per month, only 17% of Twitter’s users (approximately 15 million users) are actually using the social networking site, according to a recent research study by RJ Metrics on Twitter’s users and engagement. The research indicates that although twitter now has 75 million user accounts, a large percent of these accounts are inactive, with about 25% accounts having no followers and 40% of the accounts having never sent a single tweet. If that’s not enough, around 80% of all Twitter users have tweeted fewer than ten times.

Research Methods

RJ Metrics used Twitter’s user activity API to download around 2 million tweets from about 50,000 users to conduct this study. Since Twitter uses auto-incrementing ID numbers (1,2,3,4…) for both users and tweets, RJ Metrics was able to find the percentage of users whose user-ids were not associated with any tweets to find out the inactive users. They than went on to use statistical techniques to extrapolate the results to overall Twitter users.

Number of Twitter Users

RJ Metrics used the auto-incrementing feature employed by Twitter, to assign ids to users and tweets, to predict the ratio of used vs unused IDs. The analysis revealed that Twitter is gaining 6.2 million users per month. However, new user registration actually peaked in July 2009, when it hit 7.8 million users – and is on a downward trajectory ever since.

The new user registration chart also indicates that Twitter’s hockey stick moment was reached sometimes at the end of Dec 2008 and beginning of Jan 2009. Twitter continued to grow like a rocket ship till March, 2009 and ever since that time the growth has come to an abrupt halt – as if the space ship has finished all its fuel.

Average Number of Followers

According to the latest study, the average Twitter user has around 27 followers, down from 42 followers in August 2009. In August around 20% of the users had zero followers, which has now increased to roughly 25% users. One possible reason for this increase in users having zero followers could be the large number of users joining twitter, but then going into slumber.

The fact that a large number of users are not using the site after sign up indicates that Twitter lacks the addictiveness that is needed to pull users into using the service on a daily basis.

Number of Tweets

In the analysis of number of tweets, RJ Metrics found out that around 80% of all Twitter users have tweeted fewer than ten times – not ten times in a month, ten times in all. The tally was at 75% mark when RJ Metrics conducted their study in August, 2009.

In other words, this tells us that only 17% of twitter accounts are actually active. This has declined significantly from Twitter’s early days when around 50% of the accounts were active. The chart for active users reveals another fact, which is persistent with the Number of Twitter Users data, that the number of active users are steadily declining ever since March-April 2009.

Facebook: Reason for Twitters Gradual Death

RJ Metrics research analysis has stopped short of pinpointing the reasons behind the gradual decline in activity over at Twitter. However, we believe that one of the major reasons for this decline is Facebook’s gradual Twitterfication. After Facebook’s failed attempt to buy Twitter, Facebook has embarked on a policy of ‘If you cant buy them, destroy them’ and has slowly but surely copied the features offered by Twitter.

In Jan, 2009 we predicted that if Facebook could provide a status API, it could mean a death blow to Twitter. Facebook opened up the Status API in Feb 2009, and from March, 2009 onwards Twitter’s gradual decline began – see the charts above for empirical proof.

However, Facebook didn’t stopped at the Status API alone, it went on to launch the status updates, @replies, and has now replicated the retweet functionality from Twitter as well.

While Facebook hasn’t been able to completely eliminate Twitter, we now have statistical results showing that Facebook’s Twitterfication strategy is actually working. Its high time for them to consider an exit strategy, as the door is rapidly closing on them.

“

(Via The Social Times.)

Source: “Tweet The Super Bowl: NFL Launches a Super Bowl Hashtag”

The Super Bowl represents America’s pastime in its historic sport but also in the entrenchment of business surrounding the game.  Viewed by 98,000,000 viewers in 2009, and with an average 30 second advertising spot costing $3,000,000, the Super Bowl is typically the biggest opportunity for brands to make sweeping statements, and with social media on the rise, we’re seeing more and more brands dive into areas like Facebook and Twitter.  This week, NFL.com organized a social media campaign that utilized Twitter and Flickr to centralize social media chatter about the upcoming Super Bowl 44.

By heading over to the ‘Tag the Super Bowl’ site, we can see that the NFL has done a great job of attempting to bring together disparate types of media, specifically tweets and Flickr photos, into one collection of SB44 related media.  The patchwork of photos and tweets is very slick, and easy to navigate using the mouse.  A small ‘tweet me’ box animates in when clicked, and allows you to post a tweet about the page itself.

One of the interesting ideas here is the official ‘#SB44″ hashtag, which NFL.com is asking users to use to post their Super Bowl news.  Those posts with that hashtag will get posted to this page, and it’s a very effective way for centralizing the discussion.

Interesting to note that while twitter.com/superbowl was in use last year for the Superbowl, used for commentary about the action surrounding the game, the page now asks players to view twitter.com/nfl , where all official tweets are tweeted.  There’s no doubt that the NFL is attempting to centralize their social media campaign, and in my opinion it is quite effective.  The NFL twitter page highlights #SB44 and has 1.5 million followers.

“

(Via The Social Times.)

Source: “Why Apple Could Have Etched “iPad” Into Some Rocks and Sold Millions”

The Social Analyst is a weekly column by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space.

It’s been five days since Apple introduced the iPad to the world, and everybody is still reacting to the announcement. Adobe is calling Apple out on the issue of no Flash on the iPad. The iPad has already sparked the Amazon vs. Apple ebook war. Countless people are writing reactionary pieces (including me). The iPad still hasn’t left Twitter’s trending topics.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen an unreleased device draw such ire and approval. The reaction to the Nexus One, the iPhone 3GS and Google Wave don’t even compare. Some people just hate the thing, while others (like Jim Cramer) believe it’ll be the biggest selling device in history.

My intent in this column is to cut through the crap and to answer two key questions:

1. Will the iPad be a commercial success?

2. Is the iPad good for computing and the web?

Will the iPad be a Commercial Success?

Let me answer the first question clearly, right now: Yes, it will be a commercial hit.

The iPad combines a lot of things people want in their computers: simplicity, speed, sexiness, portability, and a price that trumps many computers and almost all laptops. No, it doesn’t come with a camera, multitasking, Flash, or a USB port, but the vast majority of people don’t care about that. So long as they can play games, surf the web, play music, read books, and stick the iPad into a keyboard peripheral, they will get exactly what they need from the iPad.

That isn’t to say that techies won’t get utility out of the iPad, either: apps, speedy browsing, portability, iBooks, 3G access, and the Apple brand are more than enough to get gadget geeks to line up at 6 AM in front of an Apple store.

People Are Forgetting That This Is the First Version

The simple truth is that Apple’s tablet didn’t need a lot of features to sell millions. It really just needed the Apple brand and the beginnings of a great product to make it a hit.

Remember, this is the first edition of the iPad. A year may seem like a long time, but it really isn’t in the larger scheme of things. Releasing the iPad without more expensive parts like the camera gives Apple the chances to get market penetration via price while it tracks how people actually use their iPads.

You can bet that Apple will come out with a newer, sexier version of the iPad every year, just like it does for the iPhone. You can also bet that Apple will delight its previous doubters with features such as a front-facing camera and multitasking.

Year one is about product introduction, year two is about true market share infiltration. Missing features aren’t a problem: they’re a market strategy.

iPad: Is It Good for Computing and the Web?

One of the major complaints by technologists about the iPad has to be its ‘closed’ system. I think Twitter’s Alex Payne sums it up best:

‘That the iPad is a closed system is harder to forgive. One of the foremost complaints about the iPhone has been Apple’s iron fist when it comes to applications and the development direction of the platform. The iPad demonstrates that if Apple is listening to these complaints, they simply don’t care. This is why I say that the iPad is a cynical thing: Apple can’t – or won’t – conceive of a future for personal computing that is both elegant and open, usable and free.’

He goes on to explain that its closed system could signal the end of a ‘hacker era,’ where the curious could play around with hardware and code as they pleased, leading to the experimentation that has led to many of technology’s greatest innovations.

So let’s get down to the big question: Is the iPad a good thing or bad thing for the future of technology, computing, and the web?

My answer: it’s a good thing, but we have to be careful.

Simplicity Brings Computing to the Masses

While most of us active in the tech and social media industries are adept and proficient users of PCs and Macs, most people simply aren’t. Multitasking isn’t something they like or want to do. In all honesty, they just want to access their email and access Facebook.

The iPad will bring more of the web to many more people. It’s very easy to click on an app and get your Facebook or to open up the browser and go to your friend’s blog every day. Many senior citizens and younger children would benefit from an iPad as their full-time computer. No blue screens of death, no pain with cords, no hardware incompatibilities.

Oh, and this is key: they won’t have to purchase an Internet connection or have Wi-Fi if they have a 3G iPad. For many people, a 3G connection will be more than sufficient for their browsing needs. This makes it cheaper and easier to own and operate.

For more technologically-savvy users, the iPad acts as an alternative computing device, giving them access to the web in another room or while they’re on the road. No, you won’t be able to blog as fast on an iPad, but it’s really just meant as a robust, handheld window to the web.

Closed Environments Aren’t Good, But We Have Choices

Let’s be clear: I do not like closed platforms. I think Android’s open platform is the future, not Apple’s closed iPhone App Store. As seed investor and Y Combinator founder Paul Graham noted last week, the App Store’s policies have hurt Apple’s relationship with developers and continues to be a ‘karma leak’ for the company.

This is a free market though, and that means companies have the right to choose to build their platform in any way they want. At the same time, we as customers have the right to choose which devices we buy and use.

Apple wants to control the user experience at every level, and we can’t blame them: the experience between PCs varies wildly and is prone to errors, shutdowns, and frustrating load times. The iPad is a strong answer to these issues.

The iPad isn’t, nor will it ever be, a replacement for the computer, however. You can always choose to buy a PC instead of an iPad or to put down your iPad in favor of your laptop when you need to access an open platform. You can choose to buy an Android-based tablet if you want open apps, or you can just stick with your Nexus One.

Apple cannot and will not single-handedly make computing a closed environment. As long as people are curious and have a choice, advanced computing devices will thrive. Even if Apple created a Macbook based off the iPhone OS, people would still buy PCs in droves.

Choice is good for the web. Innovation is good for computing. And in the end, Apple’s iPad will make the web far more accessible, despite our gripes and concerns.

Tags: apple, Apple iPad, Apple Tablet, ipad, The Social

“

(Via Mashable!.)

Source: “Social Networks Are Becoming a Security Risk [SURVEY]“

According to a report by Sophos, malware and spam are on the rise on social networks such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn.

In the last year, 57% of users report they have been spammed via social networking sites, an increase of 70.6% compared to last year. Furthermore, 36% of users claim they’ve been sent malware via social networking sites, which is a rise of 69.8% from last year.

On the other hand, CEOs of companies are concerned that their employees’ usage of social networks is posing a security risk for their company. Sophos has surveyed more than 500 organizations, discovering that 72% of them think social networks are a danger for their companys, with 60% of them tagging Facebook as the biggest security risk, followed by MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, says that Facebook is the biggest threat because it’s the biggest social network out there, but he also places some of the blame on Facebook’s own privacy rules. ‘When Facebook rolled-out its new recommended privacy settings late last year, it was a backwards step, encouraging many users to share their information with everybody on the internet,’ he says.

Interestingly enough (and contrasted to some of the reports we’ve seen lately), Cluley thinks that simply barring access to Facebook is not the solution. ‘Social networks can be an essential part of the business mix today,’ he says, ‘and the answer is not to bar staff from participating in them but to apply some ’social security’ instead.’

Tags: facebook, linkedin, malware, myspace, social networking, spam, trending, twitter

“

(Via Mashable!.)

Source: “Facebook Prepares To Open Source A New PHP”

For some time now, a single developer at Facebook has been rebuilding PHP from the ground-up. It illustrates the quality of engineers that work at Facebook and this specific project is something that many Facebook employees are extremely proud of. Over the weekend, the SDTimes suggested that Facebook will officially announce their latest open-source project: a new PHP compiler (referenced off the record as ‘Hyper PHP’ or ‘HPHP’).

While we don’t have confirmation that the announcement will come on Tuesday, we do know that the company has rebuilt PHP entirely, as told by some of the company’s employees. As soon as it’s launched, it will instantly change the entire PHP landscape. With greater efficiency, many developers will begin tinkering immediately and most likely make the entire shift over to this new version of PHP.

Yes, for the basic developer, PHP as it exists today is relatively sufficient. What I’m personally interested in learning about is whether or not there is new functionality within the language (such as the ability to develop threaded applications) or if it will simply be a compiled language that makes code writing more efficient and run-time even more efficient.

Whatever the announcement is and whenever it will be, Facebook has most definitely made some huge strides when it comes to supporting the development community. With multiple open-source projects, developers now have the ability to build real-time, highly scalable applications, learning from one of the largest sites in the world.

“

(Via All Facebook.)

Source: “Bravo! Foursquare Snags a TV Partnership”

Foursquare’s new frontier isn’t just newspapers, but media companies as a whole. Case in point: Bravo and Foursquare have entered into a must-see TV relationship integrating show personalities and their city tips, as well as a Bravo badges, into the game experience.

The New York Times Bits blog reports that the partnership officially premieres tomorrow, with Bravo offering badges and prizes to viewers that visit and check-in at upwards of 500 Bravo-tagged locations.

We confirmed the relationship with Foursquare Co-Founder Dennis Crowley who tells us that this partnership is actually just the first of many more media deals to come. In fact, Crowley hints that even more television networks will get in on the checkin gameplay in the near future.

The genius behind the Bravo deal is that, on top of introducing a plethora of new Bravo-themed badges, the cable TV network — much like Metro News — is turning the personalities behind their hit reality TV shows — think The Millionaire Matchmaker, Top Chef, The Real Housewives, Top Chef Masters, and Shear Genius — into content creators. The reality show celebrities will share their tips and to-dos, essentially serving as curators of city-specific information that fans can follow and practice in real life.

Of course Bravo is going to put the full power of their network behind the partnership, promoting Bravo’s Foursquare hooks in TV spots. The NBC-owned cable network also plans to use Foursquare for sweepstakes, awards, and other viewer incentives. They’ll even offer Foursquare tie-ins to Bravo advertisers, which will likely come in the form of coupons for viewers to cash in at the advertisers’ venues.

Ellen Stone, Bravo’s senior vice president of marketing, told the New York Times that:

‘We really want to tap into the power of Foursquare by engaging their audiences and bringing our Bravo viewers these unique experiences on a national level … We saw the Foursquare phenomenon taking off and we wanted to go along with them as they shoot into the mainstream … Our audiences is always looking for new and unique engagements and this is perfect for them.’

In the grander scheme of things, Crowley sees Bravo as an important partner that will help them reach a more mainstream audience. He says the company’s ultimate goal is ‘to make checkins synonymous with Foursquare. Everyone is doing check-ins and we’re not going to win that word. What we think we can offer is the best reason to check-in.’

As everyone from Google to Yelp attempts to emulate Foursquare’s winning location formula, the recent deals with Harvard, BART, Metro News, and now Bravo are essentially wisely arranged barters for your checkins. Nicely done Foursquare.

Tags: bravo, foursquare, media, Mobile 2.0, tv

“

(Via Mashable!.)

Source: “Your Friend’s Ex-Girlfriend is Spreading a Virus on Facebook [WARNING]“

Despite what you may be reading on Facebook today, your friend isn’t trying to exact revenge on his super hot cheating ex-girlfriend. It’s a worm. So DO NOT click that suspicious — albeit very tempting — Facebook status update.

The new Facebook worm is spreading virally — you can do a Facebook search for ‘ex-girlfriend cheated’ to see all the public posts roll in — among users who are falling for the ex-girlfriend revenge bait. The malicious status update to avoid reads:

‘My Ex-Girlfriend Cheated on me… Here is my revenge!’

If you were to click on the link, the very same status update will get posted to your account and perpetuate the problem. Hence the viral spread of this Facebook worm.

Unfortunately, Nick O’Neill at AllFacebook counts himself among those victimized. Here’s what he wrote about the experience:

‘In the past hour I’ve noticed multiple users who have posted a message stating ‘My Ex-Girlfriend Cheated on me… Here is my revenge!’ The image was not of their ex though. As a curious individual, I decided to click on the link to see if it was a virus or something else. The result was that I ended up posting the article to my profile and now it’s spreading around Facebook.

The key here is to not click the link if you see it on your friends’ profiles or on your homepage. By using some creative CSS and an iFrame, this developer has triggered the ’share’ event every time a person clicks on the image displayed on the page. It’s a really creative trick, and one that I’m sure Facebook will block in a short amount of time but you should definitely be aware of the issue.’

If you’ve fallen victim to this ploy, you’re not alone, but we advise you to delete the update and change your password immediately. We’ve also reached out to Facebook for comment and will update this post when we know more.

Update: Facebook is addressing the issue and working to remove the posts. Simon Axten from Facebook responded to our inquiry saying, ‘We’ve blocked the URL associated with this site, and we’re cleaning up the relatively few cases where it was posted (something email providers, for example, can’t do). Overall, an extremely small percentage of users were affected. As always, we’re asking people not to click on suspicious links, even if they’ve been sent or posted by friends. You’ll find this tip and others on the Facebook Security Page: http://www.facebook.com/security.’

Tags: facebook, Facebook Worm

“

(Via Mashable!.)

Source: “4 New Mac Twitter Apps You May Have Missed”

Just when you think you’ve tried every Twitter app out there, a few more appear on the scene. For Mac users that might have either grown tired of, or are looking for alternatives to, Tweetie, Twitterrific, Kiwi or Socialite, never fear, there are indeed other native Mac OS X options out there!

While some of the best Twitter apps, in terms of power, are still the Adobe Air-based Seesmic Desktop and Tweetdeck, there are also some great, free native OS X clients (and one that runs on Mozilla’s XUL platform) worth checking out.

1. Itsy

Itsy is for the Twitter minimalist — someone who wants to have the ability to send a tweet, view @replies and maybe perform a search, but doesn’t want the app to take up tons of real-estate or attention. The app has a very small footprint, both in terms of memory and screen size, and offers up the basic Twitter features. Plus, it supports Growl notifications and keyboard shortcuts. If you want something simple and something that will stay out of your way, this just might be your app.

Itsy is free and requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher.

2. Twitt

Twitt is a Twitter app for the Mac user who appreciates a good user interface and likes the ability to customize or theme his apps. Like Kiwi, Twitt supports HTML+CSS themes that are easy to install and change around. The app has the basic Twitter features covered, but adds a few things that power users should like too.

For instance, if you like to share photos via Twitter, you can use the built-in image uploader to send stuff to TwitPic or yFrog. It also supports multiple accounts, Growl, offline reading, the official Retweet button, plus you can set up notifications for certain content and create filters to prevent certain stuff from showing up in your timeline.

The only real feature that Twit lacks is Lists support, but as it stands, most native Mac apps don’t do that yet anyway. Twitt is free.

3. Echofon for Mac

Echofon for Mac is a desktop version of the popular iPhone app. The two apps share a lot of similarities, lots of features, and a clean, if not mindblowingly-awesome user interface. Echofon has a really nice browser drawer that can slide out of the side of the client, showing off conversation history or user information or user timelines, without obstructing your other screen. This is a great compromise between either having something always open in a browser, or the menu and column madness that some of the more powerful Twitter apps use.

Like Twitt, you can easily drag and drop to upload photos, a feature that’s a nice touch and something that many desktop clients ignore. You can also easily look at Twitter trending topics or view your saved searches from within the app, a feature that’s really handy.

If you use Echofon Pro for the iPhone, you can sync your unread tweets. And if you send an @reply or direct message to someone using Echofon for the iPhone, they can receive a push notification of your tweet instantly. Again, the only real feature that Echofon lacks is Lists support, but if that gets added, this will be a real competitor to the power-user apps.

Echofon is still in beta and is free right now. Full pricing details will be announced in the future.

4. Yoono Desktop

Yoono Desktop is a desktop version of the popular Firefox add-on and it actually controls more than just Twitter. It also supports Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger and MySpace IM. The nice thing about Yoono is that you can update your status across networks and connect to all networks at once. It also supports real-time search across your different networks.

As a desktop app, Yoono includes most of the big features that came in the Firefox add-on. Unlike the other apps in this round-up, Yoono is not written using Cocoa — it’s based on Mozilla’s XUL-runner framework. That’s the same base that Firefox and Thunderbird use. I mention this because some of the interface features are going to differ — similar to what happens when you run Adobe Air apps. However, while XUL still tends to be poor with memory management in Mac OS X, it’s nowhere near as bad as Adobe Air. Users who want a powerful client that isn’t Air-based, this might be fore you.

Yoonoo can be run in a more compact space, but it really likes to take over as much of your screen real-estate as you can give it. Depending on what you like to monitor, that may or may not suit your needs. Still, for a power Twitter client that isn’t based on Adobe Air, Yoono is a great option. Mac users should also check out the Firefox add-on if you want a slightly more integrated approach.

Your Picks

Mac users, what is your favorite Twitter client? Let us know!

More Mac resources from Mashable:

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- 5 Mac Apps to Boost Your Productivity
- Mac Gift Guide: 10 Buying Ideas for Apple Fans
- HOW TO: Create a Mac Theme for Windows 7
- Top 10 iPhone Apps as Judged by Mashable Readers
- 10 iPhone Apps to Avoid Work Disasters
- 20 Creative Apps For Your iPhone

Tags: apple, apps, desktop, desktop apps, desktop apps list, echofon, itsy, List, Lists, mac, trending, twitt, twitter, web apps, yoono

“

(Via Mashable!.)

Source: “Beer Money - Don’t Sacrifice Digital Dollars for Tokens of Appreciation”