PopSugar

Get Alerted When Anyone Tweets About Twilight, Vamps, Tech

GeekSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:06:42 -0700

The day is drawing nearer my friends: Halloween is tomorrow and New Moon hits theaters in just three weeks! It's almost too much vampire goodness to bear, but if you just can't get enough, then check out TweetAlarm.

It alerts you anytime anyone tweets about Twilight, vampires, or whatever it is you really care about, since you can customize the alert keywords. Wanting to stay on top of the up-to-the-minute Robert Pattinson news? Or maybe you're more into finding out every detail about the still unconfirmed Apple Tablet? Set an alert for "Apple Tablet," and you'll get an email alert at the end of the day, twice a day, or anytime there's a tweet about it.

Have an interesting website you want to share? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click "New Post" under the website of the day tab at the top of the page.
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Type "Technology and Gadgets" in the Categories box
Add keyword(s) in the tag field with relevant tags (for example mine for this story was "Website of the Day").
Choose whether you want the post to be private or public.
Click "Create Post" to submit content.

Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment

There Shall Be Twitter Search For Everyone

GeekSugar — Sun, 03 May 2009 10:11:21 -0700

I was kinda bummed when I realized that practically everyone got the neat Twitter search bar on their Twitter pages but me. Just when I was about to lose all hope, Twitter announces that they've transitioned out of their "testing phase" and have rolled out search for everyone. Now when I'm in Twitter, I can search the site for real time results for tweets containing that word. Top trendy search results showing up right now? You guessed it, swine flu, H1N1 and Wolverine.

Use Twitt(url)y to Find Popular URLs Within Tweets

GeekSugar — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:01:44 -0700

I know, I've already dished out seven of my favorite Twitter tips, but I've got a new one that is sure to come in handy if you want to know what's hot on Twitter.

What Twitt(url)y does is track the most talked about URLs on Twitter and displays the 100 most popular URLs from the past 24 hours. Similar to Digg, users can vote for a URL by sending a link to their followers on Twitter.

Considering the fact that we're all realizing the power of using Twitter as a search engine, I'm sure a ton more sites like this will be popping up in the near future. Oh, and if you are searching for something specific on Twitter, there's always Twitter Search too.

Bing and Google to Include Twitter Updates in Search Results

GeekSugar — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:33:02 -0700

Another day, another huge Twitter announcement. And this time, it involves two of the biggest Internet companies around. Both Microsoft and Google announced today that both companies would start including Twitter posts in search results.

The feature is already live on Microsoft's Bing; Twitter posts appear based on key terms and tweets about hot topics. Click the "see more" link and you're redirected to a page containing recent tweets (that refresh automatically!) and a list of top links about the topic currently being shared on Twitter.

I think this news is exciting. While your reactions are split over getting news via Twitter, it's become a prime destination for finding up-to-the-minute content. We'll have to wait and see how Bing and Google plan to fully integrate Twitter feeds into search results pages, but if the past is any indicator, the incorporation of Twitter will be a huge win.

Two Savvy Ways to Use Twitter

SavvySugar — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:30:04 -0700

Twitter (as with any social networking site) can get you into trouble with a prospective employer if you play your cards poorly, but it can also be a great tool for making headway on your job search or finding online deals for brands you like.

Twitter as a Job Resource: Mashable recommends three main points for making your presence appealing to employers: "Put your job pitch in your Twitter bio (which is 160 characters); use a professional looking avatar; Tweet about your job search." You can even sign up to receive mobile alerts for jobs in your fields of interest.
Twitter as a Deal Finder: Various brands have started to offer deals via their Twitter presence, so if you're keen on particular brands or stores, search for them on the microblogging site to start receiving alerts. If you're more interested in deals in general, sites like Coupon Tweet round up the most popular coupons posted on Twitter for your perusing.

I've been tweeting away on Twitter; what about you?

Do Celebs Get Preferential Twitter Treatment?

GeekSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:50:30 -0700

A much publicized post on Slate asserts that Twitter is intentionally removing unflattering tweets to celebrities from search results. The author claims that he posted a tweet "teasing" the president of CNN (which he also describes as "as nasty an item as I thought I could write" without sounding like a complete jerk). Later, he tried to search for this "hostile" tweet, but it was nowhere to be found within Twitter search results. A few unofficial experiments later, he deduced that only positive comments directed at celebs were showing in search results.

The author references another article, speculating on the connection between celebrity publicists and Twitter. That article describes detailed processes that publicists go through to create a good image of their famous clients on Twitter.

To see what I think about the whole ordeal, just read more.

If you ask me, Twitter is still a bit like the wild west. Some celebs, like Ashton Kutcher have happily adopted the 140-characters-only platform as a means to communicate with fans. Others, like Miley Cyrus, have made very public departures from Twitter, citing privacy reasons.

So, the initial question remains: does Twitter suspend negative comments about celebrities from search results? We'll probably never know for sure, given Twitter's tight-lipped nature when it comes to revealing insider details. My question: does the Internet really need another dose of negativity?

Search Twitter and the Web at the Same Time With Twoogle

GeekSugar — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Searching Twitter can be frustrating and send you off on unexpected Internet tangents, which is why I welcome the practicality of Twoogle, a mashup site that provides side-by-side search results for Twitter and Google.

Twoogle's goal is to "make it easier to benefit from the real-time results provided by Twitter and the relevant sites" with the help of Google. If you ask me, it trumps Twitter's internal search because the comparison offers more relevant results and insight into the very hot topics of the moment.

Addicted to Twitter? Check out my useful tips for getting your tweet on.

Website of the Day: TweeFind

GeekSugar — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:01:10 -0700

With Twitter hitting the ten million mark for total users, that's a lot of tweets hitting the world wide web. Often times, these tweets are filled with personal info and other random tidbits of info - there are even some avid celebrity Twitterers!

If you want to search through the millions of tweets on Twitter for something in particular, a new Twitter search engine called Tweefind is at your service. Mashable explains how this site ranks Tweets similar to how Google does with its PageRank system. Tweet search results are determined by things like number of followers, number of tweets, number of replies and the number of times distinct users retweet.

Found a cool website you want to share? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and "Regular Post."
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click "Next."
Choose the audience for your story to "Website of the Day" in the dropdown menu.
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to "Technology and Gadgets."
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click "I’m done" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

Website of the Day: Deal Waiter

GeekSugar — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:30:42 -0700

My Internet searching skills are pretty extraordinary, especially when it comes to finding the lowest price on something I want. But any avid technology consumer knows that some things like to stay at the same high price for a long time (I'm looking at you, TiVo HD), so you keep checking back. Maybe you put an alert on Amazon Price Drop.

I usually just keep checking to see if the price has dropped until it actually does, but that means having to remember to keep checking. What if you miss something?

Deal Waiter will make it so you never miss any deals, but will do all the work for you, continually searching the web. Type in the item you're looking for, and then type in your email address or Twitter name, specify how long you want them to look, and Deal Waiter will email or IM you when a deal comes up.

Want to just do a search? Just leave the field blank.

Found a cool website like this you want to share? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and "Regular Post."
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click "Next."
Choose the audience for your story to "Website of the Day" in the dropdown menu.
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to "Technology and Gadgets."
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click "I’m done" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

Stuff Your Friends Love - Now in Google Search Results

GeekSugar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:15:23 -0700

Twitter updates will soon appear within search results, Google Labs has launched Google Social Search - an application that displays public search results found via your friends' social media profiles - Flickr streams, Twitter feeds, FriendFeed updates, and more. Google defines your social circle as:

On the heels of the big announcements from both Bing and Google that

People you're connected to through social services that you've listed in your Google profile . . . such as Twitter and FriendFeed.
People in your Gmail (or Gchat) chat list.
People in your Friends, Family, and Co-workers contact groups for Google.

Social Search only works if you're signed into your Google account. To test this feature, visit google.com/experimental. If you opt in, access Social Search results by using the left-hand links on a search results page. It also shows which friends and acquaintances social content comes from. Check out the Google blog for a great, informative video explaining how Social Search works and how Google determines who's in your social network.

Do you think you'll use this feature? Or will this be yet another way to search in Google that you don't think you'll use?