Twitter analytics are finally coming! This week, Twitter announced that a small pilot group of Twitter partners, including TechCrunch, are currently testing a new Twitter analytics tool that will be released in the very near future. Once released, the Twitter analytics tool will be free to use, and it will track a variety of data such as:

• Number of tweets of any kind across the network
• Number of links to your publisher website
• Number of clicks on those links to your publisher website
• Number of tweets that were sent from Twitter’s Tweet button to your publisher website as well as the actual tweets
• Number of tweets from the Tweet button that were sent with an inbound link to your publisher website as well as the actual tweets
• Top links by day, week, and month by tweets
• Top links by day, week, and month by clicks
• Average number of clicks tweets received during specific time periods.
• The percent of tweets that were published using the Tweet button.

You’ll be able to retweet content and reply to tweets without leaving your Twitter analytics dashboard, and you can even track multiple website domains and sub-domains. Twitter also plans to launch an API of Twitter analytics, so users can integrate it with their other web and social media analytics tools like Google Analytics.

While the Twitter analytics platform is expected to be fairly basic at launch, there is hope that it will grow significantly in the future. In it’s initial form, Twitter analytics will help users understand how much of their content is being shared via Twitter, the amount of traffic Twitter sends to a publisher’s website, and the effectiveness of the Tweet button on the publisher’s site.

You can watch the video of the launch announcement by Twitter Director of Web Business Development April Underwood below.

What do you think? Do you plan on giving Twitter analytics a try?

This month, Twitter is celebrating reaching a significant milestone by thanking its users through a blog post saying, “Five years ago, Twitter came to life when @jack sent the first tweet to his seven followers. Now, 100 million active users around the globe turn to Twitter to share their thoughts and find out what’s happening in the world right now.”

That’s an impressive period of growth for Twitter, which will soon be available in 17 languages. However, the numbers get more interesting when you look at them on a more personal level. Twitter provides the following tidbits about its user base:

• 35 global heads of state user Twitter as a primary way to communicate with their people.
• 84% of U.S. state governors use Twitter.
• Every major U.S. Presidential candidate has used Twitter.
• More than 40% of the top global religious leaders use Twitter.
• Over 99% of the United States’ top 200 non-profit organizations are on Twitter.
• 66% of NBA players use Twitter.
• Every team in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS uses Twitter.
• 87% of the Billboard’s Top 100 musicians of 2010 use Twitter.
• Each of the top 50 Nielsen-rated TV shows are on Twitter.
• 40% of Twitter’s active users sign in to listen but don’t actively publish tweets.

Who would have thought five years ago when that first tweet was published to just seven followers that Twitter would grow to 100 million active users around the world? And who would have thought that the simple site would eventually play such a significant role in world events, enabling people to spread news faster and wider than ever before? It really is amazing to think about.

In the spirit of recognizing Twitter users, Newstex would like to recognize the many Authoritative Content publishers who syndicate their Twitter content through Newstex. As the statistics above prove, Twitter is a valuable source of information and conversations from a wide variety of people, businesses, brands, and organizations. I’m sure the next five years in the Twitter timeline will bring more authoritative voices and more content that matters to people around the world!

A recent study by GlobalWebIndex sheds light on how people are using sites like Twitter and Facebook and what they want from online publishers. Turns out, authoritative content from online publishers is in “high demand” among microbloggers (e.g., Twitter users) and social networking users (e.g., Facebook and LinkedIn).

The study reveals that the online audience is interested in getting new knowledge and being entertained by online publishers, particularly from brands. That means a huge opportunity exists for authoritative content publishers to create and share content that educates, interests, engages, helps, and entertains the online audience.

In other words, many microbloggers and social networking users are aware that there is a difference between authoritative content and “all the rest,” and they want more of that authoritative content.

When it comes to how Internet users actually use social sites, activities vary by site. For example, Facebook users are uploading more and more videos and pictures to their profiles and groups.

On the other hand, Twitter users are far more likely to share content created by other people by tweeting links, linking to videos, linking to news stories, linking to blogs, and so on. Other common daily activities include publishing personal photos and other images, offering opinions on products or brands, and commenting on events they plan to attend. You can see the specifics in the table below.

As the data from this study demonstrates, Twitter, Facebook and other social sites aren’t just for teenagers and people who want to waste time online. These sites are now important sources of authoritative content and have become some of the first sites that people go to in order to get information, ask questions, and share useful content — particularly professional content.

And if people are looking for authoritative Twitter and blog content online, you can bet they’re looking for it through their corporate, legal, government, and university libraries and systems. That’s just one more reason why syndicating your Authoritative Content through a licensed-syndication provider like Newstex is so important to help you broaden your audience and exposure.

Image: eMarketer.com

One year ago, there were 150,000 third-party Twitter apps. This week, Twitter announced that there are one million Twitter apps and a a new app is registered as frequently as 1.5 apps per minute.

That’s a lot of Twitter apps!

There are currently 750,000 registered Twitter app developers, and as the New York Times reports, “since December 2010, more than $500 million has been invested in its third-party developers and more than $1 billion has been paid out in companies buying other companies.”

What’s a company to do with all of these third-party apps and developers getting rich around them? For Twitter, the answer is stopping many apps in their tracks, acquiring apps, and creating its own Twitter Developer site.

This initiative brings the 1.5 Twitter apps that are developed per minute more clearly on Twitter’s radar screen and allows Twitter to have more control over app development than they had previously. At the same time, the company looks like it’s offering a welcoming community to access documentation, information, and conversation.

Very clever, Twitter.

One can hope that the Twitter Developer site will lead to the debut of even better apps that Twitter approves of and won’t take down in the future. On the flip side, one can assume that there will be some early-stage apps that get scooped up by Twitter or given the red light. Again, let’s hope that a better user experience is the ultimate result.

What do you think of the Twitter Developer site? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Twitter

“We know Twitter is a tool all journalists can use to find sources faster, tell stories better, and build a bigger audience for their work.” So says the home page of the new Twitter for Newsrooms (#TfN) website.

Of course, many people already know this having watched Twitter take a key communications role in ways traditional news media never could. Stories of catastrophes in Japan and Haiti, political uprisings in Egypt, news about celebrity deaths (e.g., Michael Jackson), and shocking jury verdicts in high-profile criminal cases (e.g., Casey Anthony) broke or spread at lightning speed via Twitter over the past few years. Journalists who aren’t already using Twitter are already way behind.

However, Twitter has its drawbacks, and they are not to be trivialized. It seems like there is new fake tweet drama weekly with one of the most recent claiming President Obama had been assassinated. In other words, there is a lot of clutter, a lot of opinion, and a lot of untruths that users have to weed through in order to find the best content.

Authority matters more than ever when you’re using a tool like Twitter for journalistic purposes. In an article on TechCrunch last week, Alexia Tsotsis quoted Bill Johnson, Village Voice Media’s Head of Digital, about this exact thing. Johnson said:

“Twitter is a newsroom of sorts, though there is no editor. So it all depends on the credibility of the person who tweets the news. If Jeff Jarvis tweets something, I tend to believe it, factually. If someone random tweets it, even 100 random people I do not know, I am going to have to look at other sources to check it out and see if it is real.”

Johnson’s point is exactly why Authoritative Content publishers, like the online publishers (including Twitter users) who syndicate their content through Newstex, are so important. This is the type of audience that journalists need to connect with, and Twitter for Newsrooms gives them one more way to do it.

What do you think of Twitter for Newsrooms? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Do you use Twitter and Facebook to publish original content or to promote your blog, video, or other online content? If you answered yes, then you should check out the infographic from KISSmetrics shown below which provides some insight into the best times to publish on Twitter and Facebook to get maximum exposure.

Here are some highlights of the data provided which should help you time your tweets and Facebook updates:

• 48% of the U.S. population is in the Eastern time zone and 33% is in the Central time zone.  That means 81% of the entire U.S. population is in the Eastern and Central time zones.
• Most retweets occur at approximately 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.
• Twitter click through rates peak at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time and again at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.
• Tweeting between 1-4 times per hour drives the highest click through rates.
• The highest Twitter click through rates are typically seen on Wednesdays, Sundays, and Saturdays.
• Most Facebook sharing occurs on Saturday.
• Facebook shares spike at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time and again at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
• 1 Facebook post every 2 days drives the most likes.

Click the image below to view the full size infographic at its source.

Will you change your Twitter and Facebook habits to leverage the findings presented in this infographic? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on the best times to post to Twitter and Facebook.

The effects of New York Representative Anthony Weiner’s admission to tweeting inappropriate pictures through his Twitter account are spreading across Congress with tweets from United States Congressional Representative down 30% since the “Weinergate” story hit headlines.

That’s according to statistics compiled by TweetCongress and turned into the handy infographic shown below, which also shows a timeline of events during Weinergate, including how the story spread and was proven by a blogger and Weiner’s own Twitter stream as captured by a screenshot from TweetCongress.  Click on the image below to enlarge it.

Of course, if you’re like me, you’re probably wondering how elected officials such as members of Congress have time to tweet lewd pictures of themselves, but that’s a different post entirely.

As I always say, nothing you do online is private and your words live online for a very, very long time (even if you delete them). You never know where your content will appear in the future (or how it might be manipulated in the future), so always think before you click the Publish button.

It seems like everyone has an opinion since TechCrunch uncovered a rumor on Monday that Twitter will buy TweetDeck for $40-$50 million in the very near future.

People on one side of the debate are optimistic and hope a TweetDeck owned by Twitter will benefit the existing Twitter interface with TweetDeck features being integrated directly into Twitter. People on the other side of the debate fear that a TweetDeck acquisition by Twitter is solely a defensive move that will mean the death of TweetDeck.

Which side of the debate are you on? It’s not a secret that many Twitter users are not satisfied with the Twitter interface and third-party applications like TweetDeck and HootSuite make it easier to manage busy Twitter accounts, conversations, and relationships. However, Twitter has been very open about its desire to put the brakes on the proliferation of third party apps. Purchasing one of the most popular apps, which has been courted by UberMedia in recent months (an offer was even on the table but expired before Twitter sweeped in with its higher bid), makes sense defensively, but does Twitter really want the app, the developers, both, or neither?

Either way you look at the news, the team at TweetDeck should be proud of their accomplishments. If the Twitter deal closes, it’s up to the team at Twitter to decide the fate of TweetDeck. Let’s hope they listen to users who are quite vocal on the topic. The TechCrunch post was directly retweeted nearly 12,000 times and directly shared on Facebook over 2,000 times within two days of being published, and the social web is buzzing with content and conversations related to the potential sale. There are a lot of people with strong opinions about a Twitter-owned TweetDeck.

Do you use TweetDeck? What do you think of a Twitter acquisition of TweetDeck? Leave a comment and share your thoughts about the future of TweetDeck and Twitter.

TIME has published a list of the 140 best Twitter feeds and asked readers to vote for the Twitter users on the list that they think deserve to be included in the top Twitter feeds list. You can see the top 140 Twitter feeds ranked by votes on Time.com.

TIME’s list of the top 140 Twitter feeds includes authors, celebrities, politicians, business people, companies, brands, commentators, and more. Newstex wants to extend a special congratulations to a number of bloggers and Twitter users who syndicate their Authoritative Content through Newstex, including:

• Breaking News – @breakingnews
• Felix Salmon – @felixsalmon
• Pete Cashmore – @mashable
• Nieman Lab – @niemanlab
• Paul Kedrosky – @pkedrosky

Votes are still being cast and positions in the top 140 Twitter feeds list on Time.com continue to change, but regardless of the voter ranking, there are some very interesting Twitter users included on this list. Do you follow any of the top 140 Twitter feeds that TIME gathered in its list? Leave a comment and share your favorite Twitter feeds and tell us why they’re your favorites.

Follow the link to learn more about syndicating your Twitter content through Newstex.

Earlier this month, Twitter announced changes to its API along with some data to support the change. However, a study by Sysomos puts that data into clearer perspective.

Twitter reported that 90% of Twitter users do not use non-official Twitter apps (apps that Twitter doesn’t own or control). Statistics from Sysomos provide a very different story. As you can see in the pie chart below, Sysomos analyzed 25 million tweets that were published on March 11, 2011 and learned that only 58% of those tweets were published using an official Twitter app.

Sysomos broke down the 48% of tweets published using a non-official Twitter app and found that UberSocial and TweetDeck were the most popular as shown in the pie chart below.

Sysomos explains why there is such a discrepancy in the data reported by Twitter related to the use of non-official apps and the data collected by Sysomos. In simplest terms, more power Twitter users are using non-official Twitter apps and more people who have Twitter accounts and don’t tweet at all (or tweet very little) are using official Twitter apps. Since Twitter’s data relied on the number of Twitter users and the data collected by Sysomos relied on the number of actual tweets, the results look and sound very different.

Do you use a non-official Twitter app to publish tweets and manage your Twitter account? Leave a comment and tell us which app you prefer and why.

Images: Sysomos