Top 100 Tools for the Twittering Teacher Updated for 2012

In 2009, we shared our favorite tools for teachers on Twitter, with 100 resources for managing feeds, finding followers, and tackling classroom groups on the social media site. Since then, many tools have been revamped, replaced, or simply aren’t available anymore. Clearly, an update is in order, so we’re proud to present a new list for 2012, featuring the very best tools available to Twittering teachers today.

Managing Twitter

Take control of your feed, schedule posts, and manage followers with these all-around great tools for Twittering teachers.

1. TweetDeck:

   Easily one of the most popular tools for Twitter, period, TweetDeck will help you organize feeds, find focus, even schedule tweets and manage multiple accounts.

2. TweetBackup:

   Why let your tweets disappear into Internet history? Save them with this free backup tool for Twitter. It’s great for teachers who want to archive classroom conversations for later years.

3. Splitweet:

   For teachers with multiple accounts, Splitweet is a great tool. You can keep all of your accounts in one place and easily follow contacts’ tweets.

4. Followize:

   Avoid becoming overwhelmed by loads of classroom tweets. Using Followize, you can read organized tweets, load timelines, and send out your own tweets lightning fast.

5. Qwitter:

   With Qwitter, you can find out as soon as students and other followers unfollow you.

6. SocialOomph:

   Boost your social media productivity with this tool that allows you to schedule tweets, track keywords, even save and reuse drafted tweets.

7. HootSuite:

   Not just for Twitter, HootSuite is a powerful tool that allows you to manage all of your social networks, including Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and LinkedIn. It offers tracking analysis, and other great features for Twittering teachers.

8. TwitBlock:

   Keep things streamlined with TwitBlock, a great tool for weeding out spammy Twitter followers.

9. Gremln:

   Created for small businesses, but great for teachers, Gremln makes social media management super easy. You can stay organized, measure success with statistics and analysis, and save time.

10. ManageFlitter:

    Work faster and smarter on Twitter with this tool that allows you to unfollow inactive users, find relevant people, track with analytics, and even schedule your tweets for optimal times.

11. Echofon:

    A simple way to manage your Twitter tasks, Echofon will automatically sync unread tweets, make it easy to share, and updates with smart notifications.

12. Seesmic:

    Set up multiple accounts, scheduling, account groups, apps, and more with this full-featured Twitter management tool.

13. Twhirl:

    Using this desktop client, you can get notifications, cross-post your updates, search tweets, and automatically find mentions.

14. Twepe:

    With Twepe, you can Twitter without actually using Twitter. This tool sends reports, summaries, and tweets to email, and you can even email your updates to Twitter.

Finding Friends

Get connected with parents, other teachers, and educational experts with these tools for finding Twitter friends.

15. Nearby Tweets:

    Go local using this tool that helps you find Twitter posts and users near you.

16. WeFollow:

    Using this Twitter directory, you can search and find Twitter followers.

17. Twellow:

    Another great Twitter directory, Twellow is a useful tool for finding Twitter users anywhere.

18. Twitter Packs:

    Find new followers and friends based on shared interests through Twitter Packs.

19. Follow Cost:

    Teachers haven’t got a lot of time to mess around on Twitter. Find out how intense it is to follow any user on Twitter with Follow Cost.

20. TwitterLocal:

    Twitter Local is a great place to find tweets by location, whether you want to find nearby tweets or ones from around the world.

21. PeopleBrowsr:

    Using PeopleBrowsr, you can find and manage your followers on Twitter.

22. Refollow:

    This Twitter relationship manager makes it easy to create new relationships, manage your friends and followers, and even sort users by importance.

23. Tweepi:

    Tweepi is a great tool for cleaning up your Twitter account, offering resources for flushing out unfollowers, reciprocating follows, cleaning up inactive users, finding new friends, and even forcing users to unfollow you.

24. Followerwonk:

    Get amazing control of your Twitter followers with this tool that allows you to search bios, compare users, analyze followers, and even track and sort your followers.

25. Contaxio:

    Contaxio offers relationship management for Twitter, allowing you to track followers and friends on Twitter and even beyond.

26. DoesFollow:

    Are your students following you back? Find out with this tool.

27. Friend or Follow:

    Another great tool for analyzing your Twitter followers, Friend or Follow will allow you to see who isn’t following you back, and who you need to follow as well.

28. Twollow:

    Find followers based on keywords, monitor mentions, and even find advanced keyword monitoring from Twollow.

29. Twtrfrnd:

    Check out new followers with Twtrfrnd, a tool that allows you to find out if you have any common friends.

30. Twibes:

    Find other teachers, educators, and insightful people to follow on this site for Twitter groups.

31. Tweepz:

    Find people to follow on Twitter using this app that allows you to search based on names, locations, and keywords.

32. Twitaholic:

    Want to find the most popular users in education? Check out Twitaholic to find rankings and stats for Twitter users.

33. Twitter Grader:

    Find the Twitter Elite in your location by checking out Tweet Grader.

Sharing

Twitter is a great resource for spreading interesting images, links, and learning resources, and these tools make it easy to do just that.

34. TweetCube:

    Send files with Twitter using this super-simple sharing tool.

35. Twitpic:

    A popular tool for sharing photos on Twitter, you can’t go wrong with Twitpic.

36. Bit.ly:

    So much more than just a URL shortener, bit.ly is a great tool for tracking and analyzing your links.

37. Buffer:

    Be careful about flooding your students with lots of content at once. Using Buffer, you can spread your tweets out throughout the day.

38. TwitIQ:

    With this Twitter client, it’s easy to track and share what’s happening on Twitter, with real-time customized tweet streams that can be syndicated and distributed.

39. Twitcam:

    Live-stream video on Twitter with the Twitcam app.

40. TwileShare:

    Upload and share files on Twitter using TwileShare, a social sharing app.

41. Instagram:

    One of the most famous apps in the world, Instagram offers Twitter users a great way to share photos with Twitter.

Games

Get students engaged on Twitter with these quick and fun games.

42. Plinky:

    Share inspiration with your students using this fun Twitter game, offering a new prompt to respond to each day.

43. Twrivia:

    Challenge your students to answer this daily trivia quiz on Twitter.

44. Draw Something:

    This incredibly popular drawing game is fun for kids and adults alike, and users can share their creations on Twitter.

45. Artwiculate:

    This Twitter-based word of the day game is great for building vocabulary skills.

46. ChessTweets:

    Using Twitter, opponents can remotely play chess, a really fun way to build strategic thinking skills.

47. At Libs:

    Fill in the blanks of At Libs as a class to create fun language lessons.

News & Research

Follow topics in your classroom and stay on top of the news with these Twitter tools.

48. Twitscoop:

    Track trends, events, and more using Twitscoop.

49. QuoteURL:

    You can organize interesting tweets to share with your students in one single page with a permanent URL, thanks to QuoteURL.

50. Twups:

    What’s going on in the world? Check out this Twitter aggregator to check out the most popular Twitter topics, and follow topics by category.

51. TweetGrid:

    Use TweetGrid to create a search dashboard for up to nine different topics, and get updates in real time.

52. Twilert:

    Using this web app, you’ll be able to get daily updates of tweets containing any keyword you specify. It’s a great way to follow any classroom topic you’d like.

53. Twitority:

    Keep the riffraff out of your Twitter searches by using Twitority, an authority-based Twitter search.

54. Twitter Search:

    Twitter itself has a very powerful search tool, allowing for advanced searches, hashtags, trends, and more.

55. TweetMeme:

    TweetMeme offers the hottest links on Twitter, making it easy for you to search, find, and share the latest news.

56. Twazzup:

    Find real-time news for your keywords with this Twitter search tool.

57. Monitter:

    Using Monitter, you can monitor a set of keywords in real time, and even narrow your search to a particular geographic location.

58. Topsy:

    This Twitter search engine allows you to search not just tweets, but photos, videos, links, and even expert users.

Twitterers

Check out these awesome Twitter feeds to find educational resources and insight for teachers.

59. @weather:

    Follow @weather to get weather news and updates from ScienceNewsBlog that you can share with your students.

60. @donorschoose:

    Learn about funding for public schools and what’s needed in classrooms from @donorschoose.

61. @eduGuru:

    Through the @eduGuru, you’ll be able to get connected with Internet marketing and web development for higher education.

62. @pbsteachers:

    PBS Teachers is a great place to find multimedia resources and professional development.

63. @BBCeducation:

    Follow @BBCeducation for educational developments from the U.K.

64. @upromise:

    Learn about savings, college, and more from @upromise.

65. @educationweek:

    Follow @educationweek to get the best updates from the education world.

66. @LearnHub:

    Join @LearnHub to take advantage of this great social learning network.

67. @digidirections:

    Find advice, resources, and trends in educational technology from @digidirections.

68. @coolcatteacher:

    One of the coolest teachers on Twitter, Vicki Davis is a great person to follow for education news and edtech.

69. @Discovery:

    Bring curiosity into your classroom by following @DiscoveryEd.

70. @levarburton:

    Everyone’s favorite Reading Rainbow host is still very much involved in education. Follow LeVar to learn about educational resources and new developments.

71. @EdWeekTeacher:

    This resource from Education Week shares instruction, curriculum, school environment, and more, just for teachers.

72. @NEAToday:

    Find free resources, news, and more for education on @NEAToday.

73. @chronicle:

    The Chronicle of Higher Education shares insightful tweets and news for higher education on @chronicle.

74. @EdVoices:

    Find the best posts from education blogs on @EdVoices.

75. @timeshighered:

    TimesHigherEducation offers higher education news, views, and reviews on a global scale.

Groups

If your students are joining you on Twitter or if you’ve got an educators’ group, these tools are great for keeping things organized.

76. Tweetizen:

    Using Tweetizen, it’s easy to create your own Twitter groups or find groups to complement classroom learning.

77. Twtpoll:

    Using Twtpoll, you’ll be able to quickly create classroom polls and get feedback from your students.

78. GroupTweet:

    GroupTweet’s service allows you to share your Twitter account, even creating a classroom account that students can all contribute to.

79. ConnectTweet:

    Like GroupTweet, ConnectTweet makes it easy for multiple users to update a single Twitter account.

80. Twoolr:

    Get statistics about your Twitter account, like which posts are most popular and how much your account has grown, using Twoolr.

81. Paper.li:

    Create a classroom newspaper with minimal effort. Paper.li allows you to create a daily newspaper from your Twitter feeds.

82. Commun.it:

    Manage your classroom community on Twitter with this tool, offering engagement history, popular hashtags, and other great features for analyzing your group.

83. BirdHerd:

    BirdHerd makes Twitter easy for groups and teams, allowing multiple people to share a single account.

84. Nurph:

    Get a chatroom just for your classroom on Twitter by using the Nurph app.

85. Chitty Chat:

    Another great way to open up a private chat for your groups, Chitty Chat lets you chat privately with a group from Twitter.

86. TweetChat:

    Manage your group Twitter chat with a hashtag and TweetChat, and you’ll have lots of control over updates and even put on blinders to the rest of Twitter.

Organization & Productivity

Don’t let Twitter get overwhelming; just use these tools to keep everything simple and straight.

87. Tweetree:

    See classroom tweets in a conversational context using this Twitter organizer.

88. Twtvite:

    Keep students, parents, and more in the loop for events through Twtvite.

89. Postica:

    Twitter is great for sending quick notes, and Postica takes things a little further, allowing you to send sticky notes through Twitter.

90. TwitterMail:

    If you’ve got email, you’ve got Twitter. Use Twitter Mail to tweet by sending an email.

91. Twalala:

    Too much noise in your Twitter stream? Use Twalala to control what you see and don’t see.

92. TweetEffect:

    Losing followers? Find out what made them flee with TweetEffect, and consider adjusting your updates with this info in mind.

93. Slipstream:

    You’re missing out on lots of useful tweets each day. Help turn down the noise and get more tweets that matter by using Slipstream.

94. Shuush:

    Do you have a few very noisy Twitter friends? Turn down the frequent updates and allow those with fewer updates to shine through by using Shuush.

95. Mutely:

    This mute button for Twitter will allow you to silence annoying streams.

96. LoudTwitter:

    Not everyone is on Twitter. Keep parents and other important people in the know by sending tweets to your blog with LoudTwitter.

97. 30 Boxes:

    Remember classroom birthdays, stay organized, and be on top of important classroom events, all on Twitter by using 30 Boxes.

98. Twitterfeed:

    Use Twitterfeed to take your blog, Facebook, and more to Twitter, and you won’t have to worry about updating multiple sites.

99. Twitter Buttons:

    Turn your Twitter ID into a button that you can share on your blog, website, and more.

100. Xpenser:

     Need to track your classroom time and expenses? Xpenser has you covered, and is easy to update from Twitter.

Taken From Best Colleges Online