By now everyone in the twitter ecosystem has heard about @Chirp , the first developer conference of it’s kind in Twitter’s history.  If you’re looking to catch up with what’s going on  you can watch the conference on Justin Tv here.

Here’s a screen of the backchannel; is that the first reference to promoted tweets anyone has seen?

We’ve all heard of the speakers in some form or the other, but let’s quickly focus on @JohnBattelle and @RSarver ; only because the information and how they related to the ecosystem interested me the most.

Battelle says the first tweet ever was by @Jack - “I’m setting up Twitter”, and has been consulting twitter on an ongoing basis; he keeps asking the company a very important question: “What’s your business model?” With and ad platform coming we see glimmers of hope for the young company, but only if they get it right this time.   Facebook has.

Of course the skeptics have their own voice, and others like @Loic have already taken measures to ensure their growth and survival.  @scobleizer talks about this directly over on his blog.

If you talk with Loic Le Meur, CEO of Seesmic, he tells a story of feeling squeezed, just like a batch of carbon. Squeezed by the press, like Techcrunch, who said that Le Meur is in denial of the storm brewing over the Twitter ecosystem after Twitter announced it will compete with the client partners it so famously enabled..

Update:  Interestingly in a newer post  “Developers: how will we all get along with Twitter’s annotation feature?” he goes on to tell us what he’s learned.

The most important speaker to listen to for developers was Ryan Sarver, he certainly gave us alot to think about as he confidently spoke on the future of the Twitter API.

Watch live video from Twitter Chirp Conference on Justin.tv

Key Notes on Ryan Sarver’s presentation:

• 100,000 applications now registered with Twitter.
• Meta Data and Annotations:  Which by far is the most interesting aspect of Ryan’s presentation.  What’s exciting is you can annotate and add any arbitrary meta-data to every tweet that comes into the system; this new feature has it’s downside, read what the fuss is all about.
• The success of Co-Tweet and how the saw a need, focused on the audience and fundamentally changed the way businesses interect with their customers.
• Enabling innovation to developers, reducing friction and increasing certainly and reliability for developers on the API level.   Developer Happiness.
• Deriving more context and relevancy in tweets.
• User Streams:   Power of real-time streams relevant to users.  No more rate limits, polling, managing data.  Includes social graph, direct messages and ReTweets and favorites.  Adding linkage and threads between one tweet to the other.  Like Twit Toaster did when visualizing threaded discussions & of course location.
• Firehose:  Letting everyone from small to large sized funded companies benefit from the stream.
• Developer Happiness.
• Managing larger work-flows in bigger teams of individual companies.

The birth of dev.twitter.com and Anywhere

It’s Alive!

Live code and examples are already running from the API within the well constructed documents.  If you’re running the Thesis Theme you can already find a way of integrating anywhere.

What else is happening surrounding the ecosystem?

Loads of bloggers and companies are talking about the developer conference and making their contributions.   Let’s take a quick look to see what’s going on.

1. Twitter’s Entire Archive Headed to the Library of Congress
2. Twitter Adds New Terms of Service to Its Developer Platform

   Twitter Adds New Terms of Service to Its Developer Platform

3. Replay it: Google search across the Twitter archive
4. The Seesmic Squeeze: how a company responds to market changes in Twitter’s ecosystem
5. Sorry Bit.ly, Twitter Confirms It Will Launch Its Own Link Shortener

The question(s) still looms resounding in like minds across the world wide web.  Will Twitter be able to lock their developers and business model down, or will this sudden change in the ecosystem affect this innovative company?

Personally I think by remaining agile and trying to understanding the road map (which is still unclear) will enable companies steer themselves in the right direction.

What’s more important is for entrepreneurs to define their leadership and start thinking of sustainable business models for the future.  Aaron Gotwalt admits that he’s not a business analysts, and so he pulled together a team of advisors and investors to get positive feedback and funding.

He says:

With this collective brainpower and to be able to pilot a company to make money is a really tricky thing.

UPDATE: Dharmesh updates Grader every month and things are pretty much back to normal now. Before i wrote this post I was under the impression that the whole algorithm changed.

Sometime over the weekend Twitter Grader changed up their algorithm for ranking their top Twitter Users.   Most of the top users out there that we all know and are fond of (ChrisBrogan, Zaibatsu, BuzzEdition, Scobleizer, GuyKawasaki, etc etc) cannot be found on the Top 100 users list and their grades have bumped down drastically.

A tweet from Grader and Dharmesh himself addresses the change in algorithm:

Just released a *massive* update to the Twitter Grader algorithm.http://twitter.grader.com – Ranks will be erratic for a bit.

My personal grade has suffered drastically and keeps on decreasing! LOL (speaking of erratic!).   I am an advocate of change but can’t help thinking to myself how this will affect so many power users out there who regularly check their grades and compare with others?

Twitter sure seems to be changing, first with lists (and that war is just beginning) and now with this new algorithm that no one really knows much about.  It’ll be interesting to see whats next in their bag of tricks!!

One of the coolest, kindest talkative and responsive people i have come to know on Twitter are those of a beautiful Region called Scandinavia. Not only are they genetically superior, tall handsome and lovely these people are probably one of the most intelligent and hard working humans in the world.

Innovators, designers, programmers, sportsmen you name it Scandinavia has got it. This is a nation which should not be overlooked, on Twitter or anywhere else. The love and support I have received from them outweighs all of the others, and i appreciate that!

Ok so before i get into the post let me just give you a brief intro on the region as written on the Wikipedia:

Scandinavia is a historical and geographical region in northern Europe that includes, and is named after, the Scandinavian Peninsula. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; some authorities argue for the inclusion of Finland and Iceland., In Scandinavia the term is, however, used unambiguously for Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which share a mutually intelligible language (a dialect continuum), ethnic composition and have close cultural and historic bonds, to a degree that Scandinavians may be considered one people.

[To follow them just click on the corresponding image to get to their twitter profile. TIP: Right Click and open in new tab or window. Don't have a Twitter account. Then GET ONE HERE!]

Norwegian Tweeters

I am not listing any and every Scandinavian, just the ones I feel add the most value! You can find some other Norwegians below:
http://twitter.com/tropicthink
http://twitter.com/astridmeland
http://twitter.com/yojibee

http://twitter.com/mrmadsen
http://twitter.com/ragnartornquist

Or see the whole list –> http://bit.ly/XCoJF

Swedish Tweeters

Other Tweeters from Sweden:
http://twitter.com/dabitch
http://twitter.com/sebastianj
http://twitter.com/adamalsing
http://twitter.com/eztv_it

http://twitter.com/LindaStanford
http://twitter.com/deeped

OR see the whole list —> http://bit.ly/8Ytcc

Danish Tweeters

Find more Danish Tweeters here:
http://twitter.com/Heilemann
http://twitter.com/wuestenigel
http://twitter.com/karinhoegh
http://twitter.com/markhallcc

http://twitter.com/kingoftraffic

Or see the whole list –> http://bit.ly/wVPuo

Comments are welcome, and if i missed anyone out that you think deserves it, prolly cuz its late and i’m tired. Enjoy connecting and tweeting with these very great and kind people!

I’ve been a reader of the Time for quite some time now and so happy that Twitter has made it to the front cover. Congratulations to Ev Williams and Biz Stone the brains behind the platform many of us have grown to love and use in our everyday lives.

If you don’t subscribe to Time you can read the Front Page story here online if you want –> “How Twitter will change the way we live.” Taking a look at the cover page you will see that the concept of Twitter (web 2.0 technology) is clearly digitalized, effectively portraying a fresh perspective of what Twitter and its 140 character updates can offer you.

Indeed not everyone comes to Twitter for the same reason, but the universal concept of “abundance” in every form is what brings us all together in this powerful web 2.0 social media micro-blogging application.

We all love to engage each other in short conversations, share links and ideas, promote ourselves or brands but most of all we learn from each other. One universal fact remains and thats learning from each others sharing, learning from different people and what they have to say.

One of the founders of Twitter tweets about significant politicians using twitter to learn and spread their voice.

Or how about this woman who is clearly excited about how the platform can change her way of living through learning and sharing.

Point is that if you aren’t using Twitter then you should! It takes only 1 minute or so to Sign Up and add some followers. So start observing and learning how twitter can change your life today!!

Here are some quick links to get you familiar with Twitter. For the more curious individual please check out some of the statistical links also.
Twitter Bible: Everything you need to know about Twitter.
Top 250 People that are the Coolest, Most Influential or Neatest on Twitter.
Top 25 Social Networking Sites
Twitter Now Growing at a Staggering 1,382 Percent
Time Article: How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live by Steve B. Johnson

If you particularly enjoy Time as much as me and want to spend a Sunday enjoying a really cool *free AIR application (Celebrating Time 100) you can download it from here.

I love bombing links on twitter I think you all should be aware of where you can find links to awesome stuff across the web. Have a look at this list of some of my faves, I’m sure you will find something that you havent seen before.

What i try to do is not restrict myself to a particular topic (unless you are targeting users), and thats given me a fair deal of success. Rather I feel you should hit the masses out there with different stuff. The sites listed below should be more than enough to cater to everyone out there, and if you want to gain popularity, followers and get Re-tweeted I suggest giving them a try.

I’d like to credit @tobiasness with the term “Link Bombers” as he was the one who coined it! Thanks man –> you can check him out here http://www.twitter.com/tobiasness

[Feel free to add any cool sites that i might have missed. Thanks!]

Elle – Womens Beauty and Fashion

Pop Urls – Discover the latest Buzz

Boing Boing!!

Digg – A treasure chest of content!

Original Signal

All Top – Lots of great stuff + twitter material too.

Google Alerts – Get fresh content right to your email

Cracked – Funny Website (Real Funny!)

Google Reader – Join now!

Chris Brogan – All about Social Media

The master himself – Web Addicts Blog Open Press!

Tech Crunch Blog

Hacker News

Mashable – Social Media Blog

Dumb Little Man – Cool Tips

Time Magazine

PC World – All about Pc’s

the New York Times

TED – Ideas Worth Spreading

Coding Horror – Programming

Buzz Up – Great Content

Technorati – Mother of all blogs

Web Designer Depot

Twitter is becoming more and more popular by the day. Fact is that with so many Twitter clients and services out these days (and more coming out everyday) it can be confusing as to which ones right for what purpose.

Listed below are 10 + twitter tools that helped me sort, fliter, search and add new followers to my Twitter profile. Of course everyone has a personal preference, but i have listed the newer and most popular tools out there for you enjoyment and use.

Built by Germans so you know its gotta be awesome, as well as user friendly! Frankly i like the application for its simplicity – it also caters to a huge gap in the market, which is how young entrepreneurs become successful!

Your free address localization service. Turns every postal address or GPS coordinate into a short URL that can be used for links, emailing, Twitter or sms.

When you purchase impressions, your Twitter profile is displayed on the Twitter apps in the FeaturedUsers.com network. The more impressions you purchase, the more often your profile is displayed.
FeaturedUsers.com shares your sponsorship money with the Twitter app developers in our network.

So, you’re not only developing a larger follower base, you’re also supporting Twitter app developers who provide you with useful Twitter tools. Become a Feature User today!

Twitterless tells you who stops following you and graphs your follower history over time, making this info available in a variety of useful views.

See all of your followers or friends on one page. Filter them by keywords in their description, sort them by a variety of attributes, and search for terms in their tweet history.

Scoopler – Real Time Search on Social Media

Scoopler is a real-time search engine, which aggregates and organize content being shared on the internet as it happens, like eye-witness reports of breaking news, photos and videos from big events, and links to the hottest memes of the day.

This is achieved by constantly indexing live updates from services including Twitter, Flickr, Digg, Delicious and more. When you search for a topic on Scoopler, we give you the most relevant results, updated in real-time.

Tweetizen – Discover Tweets that matter to you

Tweetizen is a simple web-based tool designed to help you filter the daily influx of tweets, and easily find the ones that are relevant to you.

Use Tweetizen to create twitter groups, and you’ll be able to stay on top of what’s happening in all your areas of interest. Imagine having instant access to breaking news and the latest tweets on news, politics, technology, gossip, fashion etc. all in one place, rather than having to create multiple twitter accounts just to be able to find what you want.

HootSuite is the ultimate Twitter toolbox. With HootSuite, you can manage multiple Twitter profiles, pre-schedule tweets, and measure your success.

DestroyTwitter is a compact though robust Twitter application built to run on Mac, Windows, and Linux using Adobe AIR. It consists of a series of canvases that constantly update to keep tweets up-to-date using notifications that appear when a new tweet arrives. DestroyTwitter uses a minimal amount of memory compared to its AIR-based alternatives without sacrificing functionality and performance. As a result, it can easily run in the background as an automated process.

Basically, it’s a Flash application that fetches your friends and followers from Twitter when you click the “Whack!” button, then displays them for you, letting you quickly paginate through them. By default, the list contains all your friends and followers and is sorted by last update, showing those who most recently updated first.

You can sort the list alphabetically either ascending or descending by Twitter ID. You can filter the list in several ways: only friends or only followers, all friends or all followers, and mutual friends.

Openzap is a space to discover new sites, blogs, videos and live events that are generously recommended by people on social networks.
The Openzap engine (cf. fig. 1) constantly listens to what people say online, picks the coolest recommendations and then lets everyone vote for the best.
There are dozens of new awesome links being recommended every second online, yet most of them remain unnoticed.
Openzap started from the idea that anyone should be able to get a red-hot list of recommended links and to openly take part in the selection process, without necessarily having to register to a service or build an online reputation to be heard.

A URL shortener service for end user, developers and publishers of content. Want your own url shortening service on your own domain, they got that covered!

bit.ly allows users to shorten, share, and track links (URLs). Reducing the URL length makes sharing easier. bit.ly can be accessed through our website, bookmarklets and a robust and open API.

bit.ly is also integrated into several popular third-party tools such as Tweetdeck. A more full list of third party tools can be found on the bit.ly blog. Unique user-level and aggregate links are created, allowing users to view complete, real-time traffic and referrer data, as well as location and metadata. Tracking stats are available after users shorten their long links with bit.ly by clicking on the “Info+” link on bit.ly, or just adding a “+” sign to the end of any bit.ly link (for example, http://bit.ly/n0og+).

Grade yourself for Twitter and Facebook and see how you fair with the rest of the world. Great site and you can also check out the highest graded people in different locations by doing custom searches.

The best and most used Twitter Client of all time. This is a must have for anyone on Twiter. Great features and very reliable!

MORE LINKS
50 + Twitter Services (Pretty Cool)
URL Shortener Toolbox: 90+ URL Shorteners
Top 10 Apps Using the Twitter API
Twitter Is Down: 15 Alternative Things To Do
Twitter Just Made Its Email Notifications Much More Useful
HOW TO: Use Twitter for Customer Service
Numbers in April: Twitter and Facebook Shine, MySpace Stagnates
True Beginner’s Guide to Twitter: Other Twitter Tools and Resources
URL Shortening Wars: Twitter Ditches TinyURL For bit.ly
Add Twitter Remote to your blog or website! (beta!)
Analyze your Tweets with Twitter Analyzer
5 Terrific Twitter Research Tools
TWITTER TOOLBOX: 60+ Twitter Tools