From Source: Mashable

“140-character status updates to a network of followers.” That makes Twitter sound simple. But in fact, the social information platform has grown to be much more complex than its 140 character-limit suggests. The site not only connects people, but has also become an intricate information resource for everything from news to shopping deals.

Yet in many ways, the site’s actual functionality hasn’t exactly kept up with user interactions. Twitter’s interface has remained simple, which is why a lot of tweets take place through third-party sites and applications that make the experience more useful.

We’ve compiled a list of the top 20 third-party websites for making your Twitter experience more useful and easier to manage. Although this does not include the many desktop or mobile applications that are available for Twitter, we hope that it will make your browsing experience more enjoyable as you dive into the Twittersphere. Also, as a one-stop shop for Twitter apps, check out OneForty. We’d love to hear what’s missing from this list, including sites that you find useful in the comments.

Listropolis' Take:

It's another Mashable list, so of course it's great. If you're not already using web apps for Twitter, there's a good chance this post will change your mind.

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From Source: Mashable

Chances are you’ve been waiting in line all week for the iPhone 4, which means you haven’t been keeping up on your social media resources. Tsk-tsk.

Put said device to good use, and scroll on down for your weekly cavalcade of hints, tips, insights and analysis.

This week’s list includes some great Google facts, web design inspiration, and a few ways to improve your social business model.

Go on, gorge yourself.

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From Source: Mashable

Today is Twitter’s fourth birthday, and to celebrate the occasion we asked our Twitter followers: “Let us know how Twitter changed your life – add hashtag #thankstwitter4 so we can find your tweet.”

We got thousands of responses — in fact, #thankstwitter4 has become a trending topic. As promised, we did our best to sift through the tweets and find 140 that represent the Twitterzeitgeist as we enter the social network’s fourth year. Below are our selections, split up into categories or sentiments that we noticed were particularly common.

Listropolis' Take:

Meh. While not Mashable's strongest list, it is a good look at why people love the little blue bird that could.

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From Source: Mashable

Whether or not Twitter has hit a traffic growth ceiling, the 140 character status update platform has already proved it can permeate past its early adopter audience and attract a more mainstream user-base complete with Twittering athletes, celebrities, and government officials.

Along the way, Twitter (Twitter) has also managed to grab a lot of attention as the easy scapegoat in parody videos. We’ve seen comedic geniuses, late-night talk show hosts, and many video production companies all try to best each other in a battle for the funniest Twitter spoof or satire. Not all are created equal, but the 10 we’ve included here are some of the sure-fire standouts.

Twitter may be the butt of everyone’s joke, but after the news of a $1 billion valuation, we have a sneaking suspicion that Twitter will eventually have the last laugh.

Listropolis' Take:

Any list with Twouble With Twitters in it is a great list. If you're a Twitter fan, you'll really appreciate the humor in these vids.

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Let's face it - Twitter is amazing. But with all its greatness, it's never been an easy task to find others on the service. Below are the 6 coolest, best places to find new tweeters.

Expand your Twitter bubble—it searches your friend graph and picks out people who you may like to follow

TwittieMe is a place to advertise your Twitter page for free and get more followers. Click on "Submit your Twitter page" and once approved, your ad will appear to the right. The most recent ad is at the top and only one submission is allowed in a 24 hour time period.

Directory of tweeters by interests

Enter your Twitter screenname to find other twitterers who probably share your interests.

Twitter directory sorted by interest/occupations

Twitter Yellow Pages - directory sorted by interests/occupation

Know of any other great sites for finding Tweeters? Tell us about it in the comments.

These Twitter mashups probably won't help you with a single thing in your life, but damn they're fun! All of the sites exist for a very specific reason, and do NOT require your Twitter login credentials - you just click the link, sit back, and enjoy. If you like this list sites, tell your friends by RTing this post. If that doesn't make sense to you, you've probably already bailed.

This site is the inspiration for this post. It's AMAZING! Twitmatic finds video links shared on twiteer, and adds them in a video player. I wasted an hour on this site on my first visit. You've been warned!

My second favorite Twitter mashup. This site finds streaming audio feeds and lists them as a playlist. You visit the site, and click play next to a song you want to hear. Perfection!

We've covered video and audio, and this site has you covered with photos. You enter your username, and it will bring you to a page with photos that match your updates. Each photo tells you why it was selected, and it's an interesting way to visualize your tweets.

Twistori has words in the left sidebar, that when clicked, show tweets that have those words in them. I love, hate, think, believe, feel, wish - the choice is yours.

Back to the audio. Wiiizzz is a mashup of twitter and the Hype Machine mp3 blog. The artists you see on wiiizzz are the most popular artists on thehypemachine, and if you click a name, it will bring you to a twitter search with links to streams from that artist. I've noticed, it's usually the same song, but it's still a cool way to find music.

The granddaddy of all twitter mashups. This was the first mashup that came across my radar, and I still visit it from time to time. It takes tweets from the public feed, and shows them on a world map. Pointless? Yes, but a ton of fun if you're bored.

This twitter mashup is fantastic. If you've ever checked out Google Trends, you've probably noticed how difficult it is to find out why a word is trending. Most sites don't index fast enough for google to post accurate stories, but twitter is on top of it. This site shows the google trends words, and has related tweets listed below them.

Like stalking celebrities? This site is for you. It is a collection of celebrities using twitter, and it shows their tweets. You can see the "most talkative," celebrity of the day, and there's a list of celebrities the site is watching in the right sidebar.

Got something to get off your chest, but can't tell anyone? Tell SecretTweet. All posts are anonymous, and most are funny as hell. Apparently someone has a small penis, someone told his girlfriend her ass looked big just so she'd break up with him, and a whole lot more. I'm not sure why more people aren't following @secrettweet because I crack up at almost everyone of the tweets.

A mashup of twitter and delicious. I'm a huge fan of delicious, so this is a natural fit for me. The site shows the most popular links that have been saved to delicious - and they're all fed fram twitter..natch.

Think of tweetmeme as the top everything on twitter. Shows the top blogs, audio, video, and photos. It also lists top users. It's like a 1-stop shop for the best of twitter.

HAHAHA! I love this. It's dumb, and you can't get back the time you waste here, but the concept is simple...they pull tweets with the word "God," or "Jesus" in them, and replace those words with "Science." Hit the link and you'll understand.

If you live by the saying, Misery loves company, this site is just for you. The site pulls tweets of people bitching. That's it. You can rate them tweet, but it seems pointless. Not really sure what the rating does.

Retweets are all the twitter rage these days. This site pulls the most retweeted tweets from set time periods, and displays them. It's a nice way to see what's trending in the RT world.

This should round out the "Pointless" list quite nicely. There's something about the brashness of our favorite 4-letter words showing up in tweets, and cursebird gets that. It streams only tweets with offensive language. Check it out - it's fucking hysterical (see what I did there?).

Know any other great but pointless twitter mashups? We'd love to hear about them in the comments.

In a following mood? Follow @listropolis for all of the site's lists, plus TONS more, or follow @ekday if you want to see what I'm up to.

From Mashable:

Woody Lewis is a Social Media Strategist and Web Architect. He authors a blog at woodylewis.com about social media strategy for newspapers.

These days, everyone knows that one of the hottest stories any newspaper can cover is that of its own demise. The collapse of print advertising and the downturn in sales, at the news stand and through subscriptions, has led to a frantic search for new ways to monetize content that’s often available online for free.

Social media gives any business an interactive channel to communicate with its current and future customers. For newspapers, that channel can increase the chances of survival in a market where commoditized information has diminished the value of individual brands. Here are ten ways newspapers are using social media to save the industry.

Listropolis' Take:

I haven't picked up a black & white (& red) newspaper in years. It wasn't always easy getting the news I was looking for online, but recently, the big players have stepped things up in Social Media, and now I can get all the headlines pushed to me in Friendfeed or Twitter. I much prefer this method to sitting around searching for news, and am glad to see this social media embrace. Mashable did a great job analyzing the industry's use in this new medium.

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You don't know @nik_nik? What the Hell is wrong with you? Here's the deal with Nicole Nicolay (@nik_nik). She's the tech goddess at MyTechOpinion, the co-bitch goddess at Sacrilicious Marketing, and an all-around cool chick. Don't believe me? Check out her videos below, and you'll be racing to follow her on Twitter. See, here's something I forgot to mention. NikNik also LOVES being in front of her webcam. Is it your birthday? You might find a birthday video just for you (I'm still waiting on mine!). Follow her on Twitter? Get a kick-ass video telling who she is. Just watch the videos, and you'll understand.

Seriously! Does it get any cooler than this? Follow @Nik_Nik on twitter, and chances are, you'll get a nice reply with a link to this video. Actually, this video is the inspiration behind this post. I have two twitter accounts: one for myself, and one for Listropolis. The listropolis account is new, so I just got around to following her tonight, and within seconds, I had a personal reply with a link to this video. Love it!

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From SpeckyBoy:

This article is a list of the best and most creative Social Bookmark Icon Sets for your web sites or blogs. If I have missed any, leave send me the link via the comments.

Listropolis' Take:

Not much to say. It's a great list of beautiful social icons from some of the best designers.

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I've made the decision to start featuring interesting people I meet online, and I guess there's no better day than today. Robert Scoble is a self-proclaimed Tech geek blogger, and he's probably the biggest celebrity blogger around. I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about him when you could just read about him elsewhere, read his blog, or follow him on Twitter.

The reason I feel the need to bring Scoble up today is an interesting list he started on Friendfeed. I "borrowed" the title of his list for the title of this post - hope you don't mind Robert.

Here's what's going on. Robert is building a list in the comments section, and other readers are adding their own tips. It's a great idea, fantastic topic, and the list has become a nice resource.....so I've added it to Listropolis (where ALL great lists belong), all nice and tidy.