Twitter recently added a new addition to the goodies section of their website, featuring official twitter buttons. Twitter buttons are a welcome addition to the goodies section, which has for some time included only some of the more popular twitter applications, and customizable status and list widgets. An example of a custom list widget can be seen in the sidebar to the right.

A preview of the official Twitter buttons page:

TwitStamp Widgets

Twitstamp offers a wide variety of Twitter “stamp” widgets that include embedded status updates. Some of my favorites are embedded below.

Twittercounter Buttons

Another popular button you might have noticed from around the Web is the Twittercounter follow count widget.

More Twitter Buttons and Logos

TwitterLogos.com claims to have the largest collection of Twitter buttons and logos on the web. Graphic designers can also submit their work if they want to share their designs.

The following 10 free resources are the best ways to shorten and customize links on the web. With the link shortening services below you will be able to make links really short, customize them, track their analytics, and share them easily. Not all link shortening services offer all of these features. Read the list below and let us know in the comments what your favorite link shortening service is!

1. bit.ly

bit.ly is the default url shortening service offered by Twitter. It is my favorite url shortening service since it offers built-in link tracking and analytics, a cool sidebar bookmarklet, a firefox extension, native Twitter posting support, and more!

Example: http://bit.ly/gar1n

2. j.mp

j.mp is owned by the same company, and by the same technology as bit.ly. The difference is the name. j.mp is 2 characters shorter than bit.ly for the Tweets that are cutting it close to the 140 limit.

Example: http://j.mp/vanhalen

3. 3.ly

3.ly offers the “worlds shortest” URLs. Since they are less well known than j.mp they offer more availability for custom domains. To view the hit count of a 3.ly link simply add a minus sign – to the end of your URL.

Example: http://3.ly/googleapps

4. Tinyurl.com

Tinyurl.com was the standard url shortening service before bit.ly was developed. They have already shortened over 400 million links. The downside to this is that many custom urls are already taken. TinyURL offers a browser bookmark button that will provide a TinyURL of the page you are on. TinyURL also offers a preview feature for your browser that will allow you to preview where a TinyURL will go, before you click on the link.

5. Su.pr

Su.pr is the only URL shortening service that also helps your content get more traffic! Every Su.pr URL you create exposes your content to StumbleUpon’s nearly 8 million users. You will need a StumbleUpon account to access the Twitter integration, traffic analytics, and custom URLs.

6. TinyURL.com

TinyURL is a URL Shortening Service that offers a browser bookmark button that will provide a TinyURL of the page you are on. TinyURL also offers a preview feature for your browser that will allow you to preview where a TinyURL will go, before you click on the link.

7. Is.gd

Is.gd is a good URL shortening service.

8. URLcut.com

A simple service that you can use to shorten long URLs and password-protect them.

Example: http://urlcut.com/1tvaf

9. Goo.gl

goo.gl is a URL shortening service offered by Google. To use the service you must download the Google Toolbar.

Example: http://goo.gl/l6MS

10. Youtu.be

YouTube links can be shortened by editing the URL. For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEDOXHEfxrw can be shortened to http://youtu.be/PEDOXHEfxrw. Both links direct to the same video.

Feedback

What is your favorite URL shortening service?

For this Post I have researched the Authors of all the books listed and I talk a little bit for each book about the Blogs these Authors might have, and why each book is worthwhile.  These books are the 9 best that I have hand picked from a list of over 100. Whenever I buy a book I like to know as much about the Author as possible so that I can decide if they are interesting enough for me to read an entire book they write.  Even if you are not going to buy a book you might still want to connect with these authors on Twitter via the links provided.  The last book on this list is Free and features a free audio book as well, so hopefully there is something for everyone.  Enjoy!

1. Trust Agents

By: Chris Brogan (@ChrisBrogan) and Julien (@Julien)
Published: August 24th, 2009
Website: TrustAgents.com
Thoughts: People seem quite positive about this book and today I saw seesmic founder @Loic holding up a copy on Facebook. This is the newest book on the list. Chris Brogan is a friendly guy and really seems to live up to his status as a trustworthy guy. I have not investigated the co-author much because he honestly did not seem very interesting. Hopefully he did not write the lions share of this book.

From the Inside Flap:

There’s no question that the Internet has changed the way we do business—especially when it comes to marketing.

Consumer environments are short on trust and populated by consumers who are cynical, savvy, and informed. Though it’s easier than ever to reach your customers, it’s less likely that they’ll listen. Today, the most valuable

online currency isn’t the dollar, but trust itself.

At the same time, social networks and personal connections have far more influence on consumers than your

marketing messages ever will—unless your business knows how to harness them. In Trust Agents, two social media veterans show you how to tap into the power of these networks to build your brand’s influence, reputation, and profits.

2. Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies

By: Charlene Li (@charleneli), Josh Bernoff (@jbernoff)

Published: 21-4-2008

Website: Groundswell Blog

Recommended by: @ActiveIngreds

Thoughts: I read the Groundswell Blog and found it had some good information and stats.  The Blog was of the typical quality I have come to expect from forrester so I am going to assume that the book is of the same standards.

3. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

By: Seth Godin (Not on Twitter)

Published: 16-10-2008

Thoughts: Seth posts provocative thoughts daily on his personal Blog. I can attest that some of them are very worthwhile.  Seth is usually spot on with his ideas and he considers himself a Marketer’s Marketer.  Just keep in mind he wrote another book called All Marketers are Liars.  If you are not a fan of Marketers and Marketing this book is probably not for you.

4. Twitter Power: How to Dominate your Market one Tweet at a Time

By: Joel Comm (@JoelComm)

Publisher: Wiley (February 17, 2009)

Twitter Power by Joel Comm was the #1 recommendation I received when I asked my Twitter friends “What is your favorite Social Media Book?” You may know Joel Comm as the founder of the iPhone app iFart. Joel Comm is a pretty big hit these days and was even on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

5. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything

By: Don Tapscott (@dtapscott), Anthony D. Williams (@adw_tweets)

Published: 12-12-2008

Thoughts: Anthony has only tweeted 67 times.  Not something I would expect of someone who is the author of a book on mass collaboration.  Twitter is not a wiki, but I do consider it one of the finest forms of mass communicative collaboration. Don gives me more hope for the duo.  He has almost 1,000 tweets and makes the claim in his bio that he is: striving to live a principled life of consequence.  Admirable.

6. The Twitter Book

By: Tim O’Reilly (@timoreilly), Sarah Milstein (@SarahM)

Published: 11-5-2009

Thoughts: I would recommend any book that has Tim Oreilly as an author. Tim is a brilliant man with great tweets and a very successful publishing company Oreilly Media. According to Tim the Twitter Book is not a traditional book but more like a Powerpoint Presentation and features graphics and screenshots from twitter, examples of tweets, and how-to guides for twitter applications.

7. ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

By: Darren Rowse (@ProBlogger)

Published: 5-5-2008

Blog: Problogger.net

Thoughts: Darren Rowse has certainly asserted himself as the ProBlogger and he knows his game well.  I have read several posts from Darren and two things I like about him are:

1. He is realistic.  Darren is down to earth, and does not promise millions, but does make a comfortable living from his Blogs.  I do believe that by following in his footsteps and working as hard as Darren will bring six figure success.  Several of Darren’s secrets are in the book, and others can be found on his blog, Problogger.

2. He is determined.  Through hard work and determination Darren has been able to build a strong twitter presence and one of the strongest blogs going, despite being from Australia.

8. The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

By: Chris Anderson – @Chr1sa

Published: 1-1-2006

Chris Anderson is the Editor in Chief at Wired Magazine. His Blog is named The Long Tail and his book of the same name has been quite successful. The Long Tail talks about the niche markets that emerge out of a large and connected society.

Ten Points About The Long Tail are:

1. Make as much as possible available to as many people as possible.
2. Help them to locate what they need, quickly and easily.
3. Offer maximum inventory only online.
4. Customize supply chain in terms of niche markets
5. Maximize its efficiencies and economies (especially inventory control, order processing, and distribution,)
5. Be customer-driven in terms of “crowdsourcing”
6. Have strategy that separates content into its component parts (i.e. “microchunking”)
7. Have a pricing strategy that is “elastic” (i.e. based on the ROI of fulfillment per product per niche).
8. Have an open source business model for information sharing.
9. In markets where scarcity exists, “guesstimate” costs, margins, sales, profits, etc.
10.Where there is abundant competition, let those markets “sort it all out.”

Chris knows what he is talking about. That is why book #9 on this list is by him too.

9. Free: The Future of a Radical Price

By: Chris Anderson – @Chr1sa

Published: 2-7-2009

From Publishers Weekly:In the digital marketplace, the most effective price is no price at all, argues Anderson (The Long Tail). He illustrates how savvy businesses are raking it in with indirect routes from product to revenue with initiatives like freemiums, an example of which is offering Flickr for free while selling the superior FlickrPro to the more serious users.

Note: If you click on the book “Free” it will take you to a free podcast of Chris Anderson talking about the book and the freemium model. I really enjoyed the podcast and I listened to the entire thing. I want to buy the book now but I have a hard time finding a way to justify paying for a book called Free. Chris says in the interview that he is intentionally distributing these ideas for free and here is an Audio Book for free from Audible.com.