Twitter is a Powerful Platform for communication.  Part of the reason that Twitter has been so successful is because there is a developer friendly API that helps developers build powerful Twitter apps, fast.  Below I list the most powerful ways to engage with Twitter that I am aware of.  If you find these tips helpful your comments are appreciated below!

1. Befriend the Giants

Unless you are @aplusk, someone else has a bigger network than you. The great thing about Twitter is the ability to talk to people who have bigger networks than you do.  I am friends with Jason Pollock who has brought a significant amount of traffic my way when he Retweeted me several times.  Although Jason Pollock does not have a network of 3 million+ people, when Ashton Kutcher Retweets Jason (and he has several times) then Jason potentially has the attention of millions.  Befriending Jason, Scobleizer, Rob McNealy, Tom Maduri, and others on Facebook and Twitter has helped me net some serious big name retweets.  One night when I went to Robert Scoble’s house and drank wine with Scoble and my cousin Luke. Scoble made a friendfeed post with my name in it that received over 800 comments.   Spark the right kind of interest and you could get the attention of someone like Ashton, or Ellen.

2. TweetDeck is Powerful

The latest version of TweetDeck is the most powerful yet and offers auto link shortening and bit.ly account integration. I just produced a Tutorial covering the new features. Here it is:

With TweetDeck you can manage multiple accounts, and it now also features Facebook & Myspace posting capabilities. TweetDeck works on a PC or a MAC and you can download TweetDeck for free.

3. Shorten & Track your Links

The link shortening service bit.ly is the default link shortening service for Twitter.  Shorten your links with an alternative system and it has been proven that you will lose out on clicks. Bit.ly is the best link shortening system to use since it has a robust link tracking system built right in.  One reason bit.ly was brought in to replace tinyurl.com was because the short url makes shorter links.  With a limit of 140 characters space is at a premium.  If you need to go another 2 characters shorter than bit.ly then look no farther than the worlds smallest link shortening service 3.ly.

4. Integrate Twitter into your Blog

One cool way to integrate Twitter conversation and flickr photos into your Blog is by using TwitterFountain. Twitter Fountain is a visually cool way to watch a stream of tweets about a specific topic.

5. Add a bit.ly ReTweet Button to your Blog Posts!

eJohn, the inventor of jquery, created a wicked Twitter Retweet Button based on bit.ly link clicks, instead of just ReTweets. This gives a better indicator of how much of an impact any post has had by tracking the total number of times the link to the post has been used. This is the style of Twitter ReTweet button I use on Interawesome.com.

6. Give Twitter some Oomph!

A free account with Social Oomph will give you get everything you will need to automatically schedule messages, stop following people who unfollow you, auto-follow people who do follow you, and more! Social Oomph offers automatic Direct Messaging services also, but I do not recommend you use them.  Most people I have met hate DMs because too many are Spam.  Another valuable service SocialOomph provides is a DM Inbox purging feature that will help you unload all messages from a flooded direct message inbox.

7. Join the Wefollow Twitter Directory

Wefollow was developed by a team that was led by Kevin Rose, founder of Digg. The site now automates the process of adding yourself to the directory, but it used to be facilitated entirely via Twitter tweets.  Follow the process on wefollow.com with the form shown below to add yourself to the directory: To add yourself to different topic categories in the directory simply mark your category choices as I did above.  This takes only a minute and allows you to list yourself under relevant categories with likeminded people.

8. Check out Twitter Widgets & Goodies

There is a Widgets Section of Twitter.com that makes it easy to customize and grab the embed code for different types of Widgets. The first style they offer is a traditional Flash based Status Widget:

9. Use #Hashtags

#Hashtags are a great way to organize tweets into common trending threads.  They are powerful because they linkify the text string they are attached to and connect conversations based on a keyword. If #Hashtags are used excessively they become a Trending Topic and all of Twitter can jump in on the conversation.  If a #Hashtag sparks a readers interest the person reading it can click the #Hashtag and view all recent tweets by other people who have used the same #Hashtag.

10. Make your followers Mutual

Mutualityis a free service that works by automatically un-following anyone you follow that does not follow you back. Mutuality also gives you the option to unfollow everyone if you so choose, a service that other sites charge upwards of $20 for. Personally, I do not recommend unfollowing everyone.  By unfollowing everyone you will miss out on valuable connections you have made since you joined Twitter, and you may never get them back.  At the same time I understand why people might want to use this service, because there are way too many spammers on Twitter.  My Direct Message Inbox is constantly flooded, which is why I recommend against using Auto-DMs!

11. Tweet Everywhere

Many people openly admit that their favorite place to Tweet is from the toilet. iJustine and Shaq are two self-admitted toilet twitterers, and they are not alone.  Toilet tweeting would be more difficult without mobile phones, and there are many different Twitter apps for many different types of phones. For a Blackberry I recommend Twitterberry.  On my iPhone I continue my TweetDeck fixation and use the free TweetDeck for iPhone App. By using one of these Apps, or simply by updating to Twitter via SMS, you have the power to get your message out to the world whenever and wherever the inspiration to tweet strikes you!

Feedback

Where is your favorite place to Tweet from?  What is your favorite Twitter App?  Heck, say anything you want about Twitter or your take on the Tips above!