How to Become a Super Tweeter in Just 15 Minutes a Day with iGoogle

Do you want to become a Super Tweeter that everyone is dying to follow? Who doesn't? The good news is that it's really easy. Here's the formula: find stuff that people don't have time to on their own, link to it, talk about it and engage in interesting relevant conversations around it. That's all there is to it and this is a snap using iGoogle.

First, if you don't have an iGoogle page. Go sign up here. Then add a tab for Twitter and bolt on these four Google Gadgets to your page: Google Mini Search, Google News, Google Reader (assuming you're a Reader user) and TwitterGadget. If you click on the "edit this tab" link in the sidebar you can reformat the page so it's two columns. 

If you look at the above screenshot you will see what my page looks like. The left-hand side is where I graze for content. The right side is where I share. I have customized my gadgets so that they cover topics that both my followers and I are interested in.

Now here's where this gets fun. 

All you need to do is use the left to find stuff and the right to share and comment on it. The mini search widget lets you search the web for related links. The Google News and Google Reader let you track topics. And the a-mazin' TwitterGadget is for searching for Twitter topics (type a word and it ctrl-q to search for it on Twitter), tracking the people you follow and for re-tweeting. You can even drag links from the left into the right, as I did in the screenshot above.

That's all there is to it. Do this for 15 minutes a day around a topic that people are passionate about and you will be on your way.

Comments

[jeneanchapman@gmail.com]

Thanks for the tips! I just set up my igoogle page and I feel so much more organized and ready to tweet things that are relevant and now they are at my fingertips.I don't know if I'll ever be a "super tweeter" but I'm at least now on my way to being a better one.

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?]

I don't understand why you need the Google Mini search window in the tab since you are already on the iGoogle page that has the search box at the top of the page. Maybe I am just missing something.

[michael]

great advice, thanks so much!

[Steve Rubel]

What it does, actually, is pull in results without you having to leave thepage. Try it.

[Jerome R.]

It's a great way to add value to your followers, but it's important to stay on message. I would therefore add to your recommendation that, if you're taking this approach for marketing purposes, you get a separate account for your off-message Twittering.

What do I mean by off-message Twittering? Well, my "message", for example, is the space where usability, design, and ideation intersect; I've found I'm more likely to get dropped (unfollowed) when I Twitter or reply (RT) on topics that are outside that core message.

[Brandon J. Mendelson]

Who needs Google though when you have Friendfeed opened in a new tab;-)?

[Chris Cheatham]

Any way to get a shortened URL through the iGoogle page?

[Steve Rubel]

Chris, yes. Select the URL in Twittergadget and ctrl-Y it

[Tom McKay]

Steve, this is terrific. Thanks! As a recent Twitter convert, I've been test-driving TweekDeck, Hootsuite, iTweet2 and others. But your set-up is my favorite so far, because it helps you *gather* and *share* relevant info. And isn't that what it's all about?

Two quick questions:

Is there any way to rearrange the columns in the Google News node?

Is there a way to pipe my Google Alerts into this set-up?

Cheers!Tom@tom_mckay

[Torley]

I didn't know iGoogle had this, but I've been doing something similar on a competing page aggregator, NetVibes.

[Kristy DelMuto]

this is fantastic thanks! I am not a fan of jumping back and forth between my Firefox screen, Outlook, Twirl, etc. etc. but I like iGoogle. will give it a try.

[Steve Rubel]

Tom, for the Google News module you need to set them up in the order youwant. For Google Alerts, pipe the feeds into this widget -http://www.google.com/ig/adde?moduleurl=feeds_tabs.xml&source=imag

[Alpay]

I have a bad feeling about this. If you are already sharing your ideas and finds and people are interested in you, then that is OK. But to spend time to get people's attention on twitter, well it looks to me like a waste of time. Delivering something more permanent, like a blog post, seems much positive to me. Then of course, this is just me :)

[Mrs. Fussypants]

excellent ideas!

Thanks.

[Harold Cabezas]

Thank you for sharing your insight, Steve.

It is an interesting method you have.

iGoogle.com is just amazing.

Between iGoogle.com + GoogleReader, our personal publishing abilities are limitless.

And of course, if you use the GoogleReader gadget within iGoogle as you and I both do....it's like Godzilla in Tokyo!! :)

Best wishes for the holiday weekend.

- hc -http://twitter.com/Cabezas

[Hazel Nieves]

Steve thank you for this insightful advantage you have provided me to more effectively contribute to the cyber conversation!

One thing I was puzzled on tough is I see no feature to shorten URL's for links to resources I want to share. Do you have a solution for that with this setup as well?

Happy Easter to you!http://twitter.com/HazelNieves

[Steve Rubel]

Hazel, TwitterGadget has this built in. All you need to do is highlight theURL, hit ctrl-Y and it shortens.

[stickysteph]

It's official. I'm a Steve Rubel fan! Every one of your tweets/posts I've read have been right on target: relevant and useful!

My iG page had a twitter tab added before i even finished reading this post.

Thanks once again, Steve!

[Steve Gasser]

Wow, great post. Never thought of using Google for this. Thanks for the tips!

[Scott S.]

Great advice, Steve. Looking forward to testing this setup. Great work.

[Hazel Nieves]

Thanks again Steve!

[weightlosscoach]

How do you change the width of TwitterGadget?

[Steve Rubel]

In Gmail you can't. In Google it formats to the width of your column - butyou can maximize the gadget.

[Kent Newsome]

Great setup, Steve. The weak link is the Google Reader gadget. No sharing, and I don't like the bubbles or new/same page display options. But I discovered just now that you can drag items into the Twitter Gadget from another window.

So I keep Google Reader open on one monitor and your setup on another. Makes it easy to get the full features of Google Reader and your setup.

What would really be cool would be to have the Twitter gadget accessible from within Google Reader.

[Steve Rubel]

Kent, did you try maximizing the GReader gadget?