Learn How to Tweet Responsibly

You can install extentions and add ons for most of the popular browsers on the market, with the exception of Internet Explorer. If you are still using Internet Explorer as your web browser, please re-consider. I currently use the Chrome extension as well as the Android mobile app. I find both of these give me the flexibility to “Buffer” a good peice of content from pretty much anywhere.

When you find an article that you would like to add to Buffer, simply click on the browser extention and the Buffer App will load as you can see above. If you look, you will notice that I have two Twitter accounts and a Facebook Fan Page available for posting. Yes, Buffer is adding Facebook to it’s Buffer Queue!

Once you select which accounts you want to post to, you can post it immediently or add it to your Buffer queue and have it posted at a later date.

You can use Bit.ly or J.mp to shorten your tweets, or if you use Bit.ly Pro, you can use you own custom shortener via the Bit.ly API. As you can see from the url above, I have my own custom url shortener courtesy of Bitly.

A buffer tip that I learned from my good friend Evan Carmichael is if you highlight text in an article and then hit the Buffer button, it will replace the default Buffer text, which is the headline. Sweet!

Once you login to Buffer, you can view your recent posts as well as pending posts. You can edit, re-schedule and delete tweets in queue from this page. You can also post directly from inside Buffer. A neat feature of Buffer is that if you are short on things to tweet about, you can hit the “Inspire Me” button, which will load a recommended post for you to tweet. Most of them are just quotes, and an oocassional plug for Buffer, but it’s still cool.

From the settings page you can choose which days and times you would like Buffer to post your tweets. The more days and times you choose, the more you will post. Keep in mind you will have to continually add tweets into your Buffer queue as it gets depeleted very quickly if you schedule frequent posts. If you are using the free account where you can have 10 tweets in queue, you will find you are constantly adding content to keep your Buffer Queue full.

If you look on the left side of the image above, you will see the area where you can choose which url shortener you would like to use. If you are using a custom url shortener via Bitly, you can enter your Bitly user name and API key here to activate it.

Buffer also has Pro and Premium plans priced at $10 and $99 a month. If you are a power poster or manage several Twitter and Facebook accounts these may be options to consider. The premium plan allows for unlimited accounts, making it a great option of you are managing accounts for clients. I currently use the free plan but will most likely be jumping to the paid plan soon as I use it so frequently and am getting tired of constantly having to add conetent to my Buffer Queue.

Buffer is a great tool for Tweeting Responsibly

While I use tools such as Hootsuite and Tweetadder, I find myself using Buffer more and more. I think it’s because the Buffer button is avalable to me anytime I want to add content…..I don’t really have to think about it or do any work, which is great. Also, for someone like me who is obsessed with Google Reader, Buffer makes it easy to add lots of great content in a single sitting, without the fear of annoying my Fans and Followers.

Give Buffer a try, you may find it’s a nice compliment to the tools you are currently using. I know there are tons of great Twtter and Facebook tools out there, feel free to leave them in the comments below!