Using Twitter as a Google calendar tool - It can improve productivity

New Twitter applications and tools seem to be launching daily. Twitter can be used for more than simply tracking friends' status updates though. The beauty of Twitter is that it’s quick, and used by a wide variety of types of people and because of the 140 character limit to messages it keeps interactions concise, manageable and productive. For small business both large and small, Twitter is another channel which can be used to connect current and potential customers with your product or brand. It allows deep infiltration into the lifestyles of interested participants, which helps to build brand persistence/loyalty.

A mini

primer on social networks is a good read by Brett Callow. For more information, refer to the article entitled "Online social networking sites: balancing benefits against risks".

Twittercal is an social media online application service (compatible with Google Calendar) that can save you time when you’re not around the computer to “record” or “accept” appointments as they come in through email. With Twittercal, if you’re away from your computer and someone wants to set up an appointment, conference call, or meeting, all you have to do is have your cell phone handy.

Setup is relatively easy on Twitter too. Just follow twitter.com/gcal THEN go to Twittercal and jenter your twitter name and Google email address. To add events to the calendar send a message to GCal, example " d gcal Thursday 3:00pm meeting with Fred". Using the shortcut “d gcal” is only required when sending a direct message from an external client or from your own Twitter page. If you go to twitter.com/gcal and send a message from there, you don't have to use the shortcut. That’s pretty much it.

The Twittercal website platform is run on Ruby on Rails (a popular social media programming language). The bot itself is powered by Java. The tool will automatically pick up and add events from your Twitter client, whether its web or desktop based and drop them onto your Google calendar. If your work or business uses Google Calendar Enterprise, this tool is a more "standard" way of keeping track of meetings and other scheduled appointments across the company.