10 Bots to Help You Get the Most From Twitter

Aug. 8th, 2008 By Kyle Judkins

twitter logo Twitter is a great tool that helps you keep in touch and meet a wide variety of new people. Since its release there have been people who think Twitter is worth your time and some who think it’s a waste of time.

I’m one of the ones that have found Twitter to be extremely useful but if you haven’t found that, here are ten Twitter bots guaranteed to help you change your mind :

MSNBC Breaking

msnbc logo This bot will provide you with the most current news and happenings around the world. There are a few other news bots out there like CNN Breaking News and BreakingNewsOn, but those bots just provide you with the headline and no link. I don’t find a lot of value out of them if I can’t go directly to the story. That is why I think the MSNBC news bot is the best.

ESPN Headlines

espn logo The ESPN Headlines bot is much like the breaking news bot above, but it is completely sports driven. As a sports fan, I like to be updated throughout the day. This bot also gives you the courtesy of providing a link to the story. Before this bot was added to my Twitter, I would check ESPN.com repeatedly throughout the day in order to stay current with any sports updates.

Woot

woot logo If you are unfamiliar with Woot!, it is time that you discovered this great site. Woot! is an online shopping website that sells mostly electronics, but what makes it different is that they have the Woot of the Day every day. There is always a great deal on something different everyday. If you keep up with it, you can really find some nice things on the cheap.

Weather Forecast

weather logo This bot does exactly what you think it does.

Just direct message it with your location, and it will return you the weather forecast you were looking for.

Sandy

sandy logo Have you ever wanted a personal assistant that would keep you updated with all of your important events? Well, you can have that now with Sandy. But if you wanted a real assistant, you are going to have to wait or shell out the cash. All you have to do is direct message Sandy the reminders you want later, and she will make sure you hear about it at the right time.

Stock Quotes

stock logo If you compulsively check your stock quotes like I check my Google Analytics, you are going to need this easy to use stock bot.

Just direct message this bot with the stock symbol to get the latest quote for that company.

Timer

timer logo I lose track of time frequently when I’m online or blogging away.

This timer bot lets you set an alarm clock in Twitter to make sure you stay on top your regular and get those other things like paying bills, laundry or cleaning done as well. Pretty cool.

Twitter GCal

gcal logo Plans can change quickly or come up quickly. Twitter GCal allows you to add events to your Google Calendar by just direct messaging this bot.

Some instructions are needed to fully explain how to use this bot, but they can be found at TwitterCal.

Tipr

tipr logo Tipr will help out all of the math challenged folks out there (myself included).

It calculates the tip amount for your bill, so you can make sure that you leave the right amount.

Remember The Milk

rtm logo Remember the Milk is a great online to do list and task manager.

You can update your tasks or to do lists or even get reminders sent straight from this Twitter bot.

MakeUseOf

Finally, make sure to subscribe and follow MakeUseOf updates on Twitter.

This is a great list, but in no way is it a complete list of all the bots on Twitter. Let me know all of the bots everyone else uses in the comments!

(By) Kyle Judkins is a 24 year old marketer and part-time tech blogger. He is the author of LostInTechnology where he talks about some basic technology tips and tricks that everyone can use.

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10 Comments Add Comment
2008-08-09 11:21:50

There’s also #politicians, a tool that lets you view all the latest tweets from all the politicians using Twitter.

2008-08-11 19:49:59
Alex

Tipping is pretty easy - either multiply the tax by 2 to get 15%, or multiply the amount by two and drop a zero to get 20 percent (eg. for a $50 meal, $50 * 2 = 100, drop the zero to get $10).

I’d add Xpenser to the list as well, easiest way to keep track of expenses.

2009-02-05 10:51:54

Two useful bots: one to create tasks directly from twitter “@twtask” and a music bot “@getsong”.

2009-03-04 07:01:05

If you want to check a bot which provides the results of the main football (Soccer) competitions just check http://www.twitter.com/twitscores

2009-04-03 02:30:58

There’s also a bot to check prices over twitter — @howmuchis .

2009-04-14 08:18:48
gofaz

A bot that works like a magic 8ball
@askthemagicball

2009-04-16 09:49:17
Subscribed to comments via email

Here’s another one

@recipebot send you recipes when you send it ingredients via an @reply.

2009-05-08 01:40:34

For freelance job seakers the best bot - http://twitter.com/hotfreelance

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