Get The Most Out Of: Twitter

Today in “Get The Most Out Of…” we’re going to cover the Twitter blogging platform. Of course, you can follow us on that platform here (our podcast, Let Us Present, has their own Twitter account here, too!). Read on to learn how to best use our browser extension and mobile app to post to Twitter!*

Read about Twitter in the browser extension!
Read about Twitter in the mobile iOS app!

Twitter & the Streamified Browser Extension
Have you already added a Twitter account? Even if you have, let’s quickly recap how to do it.

As with any stream service, you can add multiple accounts to Streamified. Pay attention to Step #1 below.

Here’s the steps for adding your account to the browser extension, modified from our extension walkthrough:

  1. Click on “Add New Stream” to reveal the list of streams you can add. Click on Twitter to add an account. If you’re already logged into the account you want, just follow the instructions in the pop-up window to log in, and wait for the window to close itself. If you want to add a different account, either log out of the other account first and then log in with your new credentials, or just log in immediately if Twitter isn’t recognizing you as currently being logged in to account. Either way, follow the instructions. The window should close by itself.
  2. You should see a black notification appear in the upper right corner of your browser to confirm that the stream was added successfully, as well as the stream’s icon and account name under “Streamified Settings” on the left.
  3. To customize your Twitter stream, click on it and select what you would like to view in your stream. By default, your Timeline (all the posts from people you’re following on Twitter) is selected (look for the green check in the lower right corner of the icon).
  4. If you would like to see your @mentions, select this here.
  5. You can alternatively choose to only view posts from certain lists, and can combine them.

For example: If you want to see posts from Twitter Lists A, B, and D, and your @mentions, deselect your Timeline and select Lists A, B, D, and your @mentions.

For example: If you want to see your Timeline and posts from Twitter List C (perhaps it’s full of Twitter accounts you don’t follow, so their posts wouldn’t ordinarily show up in your Tineline), keep your Timeline selected and select List C.

Before we even get into how to post to Twitter, though, let’s talk about how Streamified handles Twitter’s 140 character limit. Of course, one of the great things about Google+ and other networks we support, like Facebook and Tumblr, is that these social networks don’t have posting limits. Feel free to get a little longwinded when you’re writing in the Google+ compose boxes. If you want to crosspost to Twitter, by default Streamified will post as much of the content as it can and then include a link-back to the associated Google+ post. If you don’t want to see this link-back behavior, you can disable them in the account-specific settings in Streamified settings. Please note that you will have to disable link-backs for each Twitter account you’ve added if you don’t want this feature.

Please note: If you disable link-back and you write a post that’s over 140 characters, your crossposted tweet will be truncated at 140 characters. Posts sent only to Twitter and/or other social networks and not Google+ will be truncated on Twitter, too.

Please note: If you have link-back enabled and you write a post that is over 140 characters, but not sent to Google+, a link will be included to your Google+ profile.

Now onwards! There are 3 different types of ways to post to Twitter from the browser extension, so let’s walk you through it.

  1. Create a brand-new Google+ post that you want to post to Google+ and Twitter. Again, noted in our walkthrough, you can either click in the compose box at the top of your screen (it says “Share what’s new…” inside it) or click the “Share” button in the upper right corner to create a new post. You should see little icons for all the Twitter account you’ve added (as well as other streams you’ve added, too) below the composing box; just click and unclick to enable each one as a recipient for your crossposted message. Fill in your content, then hit share.
  2. Reshare a Google+ post, sending your reshare to Twitter, too. Click the reshare button on any Google+ post, and you should, again, see the crossposting icons below the compose window. The reshare-crosspost works best when you input text in the “Add a comment…” field that pops up whenever you click to reshare. Remember that these crossposting features also work when you’re managing a Google+ brand page, too.
  3. Post to Twitter, not Google+. Follow the steps in either #1 or #2 above to create your post or reshare, then click the “x” on the circles or people Google+ is prompting you to share to to remove them. This makes Google+ think you aren’t sharing to anyone, which will result in no posts going to Google+. Then you can select the other recipients, create your post, and hit share. Watch the notifications to ensure the posts are completed. The Google+ compose window will stay open, since technically you didn’t post to Google+.

Remember that you can attach photos and URLs to your Twitter posts when posting from Streamified! Click on the appropriate icon and attach your media, then go ahead.

Now that you know how to post to Twitter from the browser extension, let’s talk about viewing your Twitter streams. The following will apply to you no matter what you have selected to display for your Twitter accounts.

If you have “Inject Posts into G+” checked in Streamified settings, you’ll see posts from your Twitter streams side by side with your Google+ posts. Otherwise, to view your Twitter stream, mouseover the Streamified icon in the left-side navigation bar and select the Twitter stream you’d like to view. There are three things you can do with a Twitter post, no matter whether the post is injected into your Google+ stream or in a Twitter account-specific stream:

  • Favorite a post by clicking the “Twitter” link. Note that if you have multiple Twitter accounts added, you’ll have separate streams for each account. Thus, the Favorite will attach to the account whose stream you’re currently viewing.
  • Retweet (the official Twitter kind) any post to your own Twitter account by clicking the “Retweet” link. Again, the Retweet will be associated with the account whose stream you’re currently viewing.
  • Reply to any post by typing your message into the box below the Twitter post.

Some current, known limitations:

  • Right now, you can’t quote a tweet (e.g., “RT @username: tweet content”) in Streamified.
  • You cannot delete a post you made to Twitter from the browser extension directly within the browser extension. You will need to go to the Twitter website to do so.

Twitter & the Mobile iOS App

To get started, here’s how to add your Twitter account to Streamified.

  1. Open up the app and tap on the settings button in the upper left corner to go to the My Streams view. Tap on the “+” button and select Twitter, then log in with your credentials to authorize the access. Again, if you want to add a different account, either log out of the other account first and then log in with your new credentials, or just log in immediately if Twitter isn’t recognizing you as currently being logged in to account.
  2. You will be prompted about whether you want to receive notifications about this Twitter stream. You can select how many new posts should be logged by the server before you receive a notification about them. Please note that if you have any Twitter notification set up, no matter the number indicator, you will receive push notifications whenever you receive @mentions.
  3. To customize your Twitter stream, tap on the twitter icon to expand the view under “My Streams” so it shows your Timeline, @mentions, and any Lists you may have, in case the view is not already expanded. Select what you would like to view in your stream. Again, your Timeline is enabled by default (look for the on/off switch).

Now that your Twitter stream is set up, let’s talk about posting to Twitter. Again, there are a few ways to go about it.

  1. Compose a new post and send it to Twitter. Tap on the pencil icon in the upper right corner to open the compose view. You can attach a link or a picture here, if so desired. Tap to enable the specific account you want to post to and wait for the icon to change to color, with an arrow. Remember that you can post to more than one place at once, but watch the character limit.
  2. Share a link from a blog subscription or Google Reader while scrolling through your streams or reading one of these posts in full-screen mode. Posts from these streams have a special arrow button in the lower right corner. Tap this button to bring up the options, then hit “Share.” The compose view will appear, with the page’s URL already attached. Add optional explanation text, select the account you want to post to, and tap “Post.”
  3. Share a page you’re viewing with Streamified’s in-app browser to Twitter. Did you click on a link to read it in-depth, then decide to share it? Tap on the arrow icon in the upper right corner to pull up some options, then hit “Share.” The compose view will appear, with the page’s URL already attached. Add optional explanation text, select the account you want to post to, and tap “Post.”

The last thing to cover is reading your Twitter stream.

You can either choose to view your Twitter posts chronologically with posts from your other streams in the “All Streams” view or by itself by navigating to the Twitter stream. Here’s some Twitter-specific actions you can do:

  • Reply to any Twitter post. Tap on the reply button in the lower right corner of any Twitter post. This will take you to full-screen view, which will have a box where you can type in your reply. The reply will come from the Twitter account associated with the post you’re replying to.
  • Retweet officially, Twitter style, a post to your Twitter. Tap on the retweet button in the lower right corner of any Twitter post, then select “reblog.” You’ll then be prompted to choose the Twitter account (if applicable) you want to retweet to. Currently, you cannot retweet a post to multiple Twitter accounts at once, though you can continue to mouseover “Reblog” and do it manually.
  • Quote any post to your Twitter. Tap on the reblog button in the lower right corner of any Tumblr post, then select “quote.” You’ll then be prompted to choose the Twitter account you want to quote to. Edit your post if you’d like, then post Again, you currently cannot quote to multiple Tumblr blogs at once, though you can continue to tap on the reblog button to do it manually.
  • Favorite a post in your Twitter stream by bookmarking it. Tap the bookmark icon in the upper right corner of every post (not the window) and you’ll see it turn red to indicate the post was bookmarked. Unlike Retweeting and Quoting, mentioned above, here the Favorited post is associated with the Twitter stream the post belongs to, though.

You can change Streamified’s behavior, making Streamified think that bookmarking a Twitter post will not Favorite it in the Twitter social network. Navigate to the “My Streams” view, then tap-hold on the Twitter icon. Scroll down to “Save Bookmarks to Favs” and switch the on/off switch for the behavior you prefer.

One last thing: you can delete Twitter posts you’ve made in the mobile app. Tap-hold on any post you wrote and select “Delete.”

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How do you use Streamified? Let us know in a comment or hit us up at our Twitter, Facebook, or Google ! Stay tuned for next week’s installment of “Streamified & You,” featuring the Facebook platform!

Justine Dolorfino is Streamified’s marketing coordinator. She can be reached at Justine@Streamified.com.

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