So, you all remember a few days back when i said i have a big project going on? Well, this is it! Tweetscribe.me is a new service i created around twitter. In a nutshell think FeedBurner meets twitter and some more. Here is the idea. You subscribe to your favorite blogs and each time a post is made you are DM’ed. Moreover, through the blogging list that is created, with blogs that have enlisted their selfs, you can find out about more blogs that might interest you and “follow” them. It’s a new way of following… Blogs instead of users.
Moreover, no need for a subscription! As long as you have a twitter account and follow the user @twscribe you can log in! I require that you follow this user because this is the only way that the service can DM you. I feel this is a revolutionary idea on how you can follow blogs around. For webmasters and blog owners this can be a perfect opportunity to give their readers a nice way to follow them around plus promote their blog / site.
The integration with WordPress is as easy as one-two-three. I have created a small plugin that will take care of the whole process. You just download and install. Then visit the Settings->TweetScribe panel and fill in your twitter username and password. Uppon saving, the plugin will contact TweetScribe, enlist your blog and get the API key needed. As simple as that. Then just make a post 😉 For the future, i am also planning of adding the feature of following post comments also. Something like “subscribe to posts” but with TweetScribe. Cool huh?
It also has a nice and simple API. For now, the only available plugin is for WordPress. I intend on creating some more though, to support even more platforms like Joomla, PHPBB and a few other. If you feel like contributing i’ll be more than happy to hear from you!
If you want to learn more about TweetScribe, why not check out the video tour i made for the service. It’s the first time you will get to hear my voice anyways.
So, what do you think? Are you going to use TweetScribe on your blog? How about writing a nice review about it 😉 I am counting on all my readers to promote this, provided they feel the same way i feel about it too.
Hey! I’m going to give this a whirl right after I install the latest WP update!
What I’m most excited about is using it to keep up with other folk’s blogs!
Very cool! And I’m one of twscribe’s first followers 😉 I’m going to finish setting this up tomorrow. I can definitely use it – I follow too many people and sometimes miss the cool things that my friends post.
@Tracy: Well, that’s the general idea. Keeping up for people who don’t like feeds or want something on top of that. Please let me know of you experiences and any suggestions / bugs you might find!
@Kim: Yah! You are actually the first real follower (other than me and the test account)! As for the usage i hope more people will find it useful and also enlist their blogs. The idea is a list with bloggers so you can easily follow and find out about more that might interest you.
Thanks for supporting this!
Finally!! Absolutely great service buddy 🙂 I am dying to try it out right now, but since twitter is blocked in office I would have to wait till evening to get back home! I will surely use it on my blog and I promise a review+promotion as well!
But hey… why plugin 😉 Can’t we have a simple do-it-yourself code tutorial? 😉 Just kidding 😀
and please do consider changing the background of Tweetscribe.me. The text is hardly visible against the blue background.
I bumped across this article – http://www.techcrunchit.com/2009/05/05/rest-in-peace-rss/
Have a look!
@Raju – Last night I had to tease Stratos about the same thing 😉
@Raju: Thanks for dropping by buddy and for any support! As for the background i darkened the color of the letters.
And i guess i deserve the plugin teasing from all my readers since i’ve been nagging about it for quite some time… Go on 😛
That is pretty good stratos. Can you pick and choose which of the followers you want to keep track of as far as posts go?
@Sire: Well it’s on a pretty basic stage right now. There are plans of expanding the features and something like this is on the list. For now, you can subscribe to TweetScribe enabled blogs. Thanks for dropping by!
No worries stratos. I’ve just watched your video and it explained it all very well. I expected you to have more of an accent too. 😉
@Sire: What kind of accent where you expecting?
A Greek one.
@Sire: Oh ok. So i guess this is nice 😉
Awesome work Strato. Will try it tomorrow and will give you me feedback. The concept is great.
@Madhur: I am eagerly waiting on it, and everyone’s to be honest 😉
I just signed up from Sire’s post. This is the Twitter tool I’ve been searching for…thanx!
I’m looking forward to the’feature expansions’
Hey Caleb, I knew you would see what a great plugin this is. Now to make it better we need more people to use it’s services so everyone needs to get the news out as to what a great plugin this really is. Sounds like a great post to me.
Just gave it a try and enlisted my blog. Saw your tutorial, really well explained. Great work buddy. Hats Off to you ..
@Caleb and Sire: This is what it needs right now. More and more blogs enlisting to the service so users will have a great selection of blogs to select from.
@Madhur: Thanks for participating man. I hope this turns out well for everyone 😉
Stratos, so far the biggest issue I see is that people do not understand that they will only be DM’d by blogs they subscribe to. They think they will be DM’d by every blog post. I’m putting them right as this issue comes up.
I have a suggestion for you. At the moment I get DM’d every time someone joins. It would be great if their was an option in settings where you could turn this off, as it could get annoying when this takes off.
@Sire: To be honest i was surprised to find out that the concept wouldn’t be so clear to the visitors. I am a “victim” of my own idea. In my head everything seems so clear. I get what it is and how it works. I thought that the video tutorial would help clear things out. As it turns out it helps but the viewer does not get the concept 100% all of the times. I am a bit confused as to what should be the next step.
As for the feature you are talking, it’s already there. If you untick the “Send Direct Message” on the user subscribe and unsubscribe event, you won’t be notified. You can switch that to email or no notification at all…
I don’t mean when people subscribe to my blog Stratos, I mean when they join TweetScribe. Perhaps some can find this annoying and it would be beneficial to be able to turn this off.
People will get it in the long run. We may need to do an update post to clarify things.
Listen stratos, can you DM me you paypal details as I would like to make a small donation to this great plugin. I couldn’t find a link on the blog at all.
Having read Sire’s post on this, I grabbed the plugin and signed up. Pretty simple set up, which is always good for people like me 🙂 Nice idea, I’d like there to be a simple way to see who is following me on tweetscribe and break it down by blog name and by user name – though that may be overly complex. You can then see who you are reaching and, for people who make money, they can see what their audience is like and into.
Just a thought…
@Ray: On your user control panel, on the owned blogs there is an icon you can click and see who is following you. You think that should have more info about the user? And if so, what would you like to see there?
@stratosg – I hadn’t seen that. I usually click things to see what they do. Whoops. Thanks for pointing that out.
I would like to see if they have a blog or site of their own. It makes it easier for me to decide whether to subscribe/follow if I can see if their interests are similar to mine. Twitter isn’t very reliable for that sort of thing.
@ray: That was the idea when i thought about this feature. I want to see who is following and maybe follow back. That is also documented on my video tour http://tweetscribe.me/home/more If you haven’t seen it check it out. It will give you a good idea of most of the features…
@stratosg: I did think about viewing the video, and I still might do it. But I prefer bitching and moaning to investigating and doing, much like most internet users.
Right, I’ve watched it now and it all makes more sense. Thanks for that.
Ok, I have enlisted. I saw the review on WassupBlog, and definitely think this is a good idea, as DM’s are going to be seen more than regular Tweets, especially for those who follow thousands of people.
~ Kristi
@Ray: Well i guess you are not like most internet users 😛 People are hunting for video tutorials, that’s why i made it. I am also thinking to include it on the main page.
@Kikolani: This is the idea. Your updates reaching the readers in a better way, even maybe removing the need for RSS readers 😉 (although it’s too early to think like this)
Great idea.
Thats great.
I am now following.
Will install the plugin.
Great idea Stratos, although I don’t really use Twitter, I don’t have a personal account. I only use PART3’s account, which is my group.
I think that the TweetScribe site needs some face-lifting, in order to become more catchy-you need more eye-candy.
@Stathis: Yah i know what you mean. I have never been good with designing and never been good with colors. I know it looks kinda cruel and i do intend on applying some kind of free CSS template at some point. For now i guess it is what it is 😉 Thanks for dropping by btw and congrats about the new team!