Become A Twitter Ninja

Ninja Twitter BirdIt’s been quiet on our blog recently.

That’s because we’ve been really busy. But when times get hectic, as the old mantra goes, there’s no point working harder, you need to work smarter.

And that’s why I loved revisiting a post from the Buffer Blog from earlier this year in which Neil Patel shared a collection of Twitter hacks to speed up and enhance your tweeting time.

I am 99.9% sure that every Twitter user will learn something here. If you don’t, you’re either @Ev or some kind of Tweet Ninja, best avoided in dark alleyways at night.

So let’s dive into some of my and Neil’s favourite Twitter power tips, to sharpen that saw:

  1. Search Operators
    Get great at searching with the operators listed here. Or go crazy and search for something supercharged like:
    Chocolate lang:en min_replies:4 min_retweets:5 (filter:images OR filter:videos)
    …which will return all tweets in English that have at least 4 replies and 5 retweets and contain either a video or image, perfect for chocolate lovers everywhere!
  2. Advanced Search
    Check out the Advanced Search page which allow you to do penetrating searches like the example above but without having to write in code-speak.
  3. Cull some Apps
    Manage your App permission using MyPermissions or the Apps page on Twitter itself (from your profile settings, go to “Apps”). I prefer using MyPermissions because I can tidy up the digital trail left across almost all my social networks, not just Twitter.
  4. Tweet from SMS
    This only works with certain mobile phone operators (like O2 and 3 in the UK, check the list here), but you can tweet via SMS if that tickles your fancy. Go to your profile settings on twitter and make sure your mobile is set up correctly. Now find your outbound texting number in the list then try some of the following:
    @allisterf hey thanks for the SMS Twitter texting tip!
    set bio I’m a text Tweeter. Don’t judge me.
    whois allisterf
    wtf (suggests people you ‘would like to follow’)
  5. Get Forensic
    Use Socialbro to really get to know your followers and everything about them. It’s no use collecting followers, you’ll gain a lot more from knowing them better than they know you.
  6. Be a Keyboard Black Belt
    Just hit the ? key while using Twitter online and a magical, slightly mystical, list of keyboard shortcuts will appear. Before long you’ll be wowing co-workers with life-changing wizardry like:
    u – to mute a user
    gf – to jump to your favourite tweets
    . [that’s a dot] – to refresh the page with new tweets
    gd – to go to the excellent ‘discover’ section to find new users and content to follow

Well,… did you learn something new? Told you! Big thanks to Neil at Bufferapp.com for the inspiration.

Have fun out there in the Twitterverse, Young Ninja, and remember to tweet me your favourite tips 🙂