So you’re on Twitter, sharing posts and chatting with your colleagues. You’re also looking out for your clients by monitoring for conversations using Summize (now owned by Twitter). But how do you tap into the power of Twitter and learn more about your target reporters? Don’t fret social media heroes and heroines. The lovely folks at WebProNews have created Twellow, a great Twitter people search and directory to help you find reporters and bloggers galore!
Check it (click to enlarge):
Yeah, I know. It looks a little one dot oh, but trust me. Don’t let that keep you from giving it a go. All those categories can help you drill down into the industries or interests of the Twitter community.
Here’s what the News Category looks like (click to enlarge):
Note that the list is ranked by number of followers. Here is the list for Bloggers (click to enlarge):
Each list is composed of mini-profiles. Here’s mine:
It shows a recent Tweet, my actual Twitter profile and the categories my profile falls under. These are either computer-defined based on search terms in the profile or user-defined. Yup, anyone listed on Twellow can “claim” their profile by logging into Twellow with a Twitter password.
It’s in Alpha, which means they are still testing, developing and working out the bugs. We look forward to seeing it improve over the upcoming months.
Areas Needing Improvement:
- Name search engine is a little weak. Searching with “Christopher” doesn’t get picked up as being the formal name for “Chris”
- Why is PR in the advertising category? Marketing would be a better fit [UPDATE: Twellow moved Public Relations to the Marketing category! I'm impressed! See their Tweet here.]
- The friend count on some profiles doesn’t match the numbers listed on the Twitter profile
- Twellow hasn’t mapped everyone on Twitter just yet. We look forward to seeing it’s directory grow
Still a Great Resource:
- By clicking around the directories, we were able to find and add several top tier bloggers and reporters we didn’t know were on Twitter
- With the people search, we also found several other reporters and bloggers who had not been categorized
- Most fascinating was the number of local reporters from all across the country, including a large number from Ohio and Oklahoma!
- Since it’s organized by categories, you can also find key audiences or other peeps who share your interests
Test drive Twellow and tell us what you think. Did you find it useful? What are some other ways you find reporters on Twitter? Let us know in the comments! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter 
Don’t miss out: Grab our RSS feed! [what’s that?]. Or start your morning with socialTNT in your InBox!
Related posts:
- “Safety in Numbers: How to Fight Brand Hijacking on Twitter” Last week a reporter asked my opinion on the state...
- “You Are Doing Your Clients a Horrible Disservice” …if you don’t monitor for them on Twitter. How would...
- “Twitterpated: A Twitter How-To” I know a lot of you are looking at this...
- “LinkedIn’s Outlook Toolbar Grabs You By the vCard” Today’s post was written by contributing writer, Marie Williams. Whether...
- “How To: Create an Online Multimedia Clip Book with Agglom” You just had a rocking quarter, and now it’s time...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Great writeup, Chris. There are lots of cool Web 2.0 tools for PR folks and marketers out there, but they become all the more useful when thoughtful friends like you explain what’s up.
[...] identity–but you can still use the network to validate someone. Jeremiah could have easily searched on Twellow for other Exxon employees on Twitter. Had their been any Exxon employees (there aren’t), he [...]
Hello Chris
(and it has been made by a friend, so …)
I completely forgot to mention the fabulous TwitDir … of course, this solution is a pretty old one (launched almost 2 years ago). But as the first one, i absolutely had to mention it
[...] That can be a time intensive task. If you use social media sites, like Twitter, check out Twello to find [...]