About Linux

Okay what is Tweetmeme? For novice Twitter users, this term is a mystery. It, like Twitter, has not been around that long really, when you think about. Essentially, it is an application within an application. Keep reading to get the gist of this oddly named technology.

Tweetmeme is a ranking system within Twitter that is used to keep track of the most popular links on Twitter. It is updated every five minutes. The most popular ones are aggregated to find out just how popular the links are by analyzing how many people have tweeted, and then it is categorizes them. Put another way, it ranks the link based on the number of times it has been tweeted (which is shown by a large number located just beside the headline), recent activity, and speed of tweet updates. Additionally, Tweetmeme categorizes new items based on the title of the post or article, the underlying domain, and the hash tags within the tweets.

In this way, it gives Twitter users a chance to see what topics people are discussing most frequently so you get a clearer view of the popular culture. It is also good because you will be able to add your own content to these threads. You can sort topics based on Lifestyle, Technology, Entertainment, Sports, World & Business, among others. It also allows you to sort by video, image, or news.

Tweetmeme is accessed using buttons that may be positioned on websites. If you have a Twitter account, you can click on this button and get some descriptive text as well as a link back to the page. This information is displayed in your Twitter update box. The buttons can be added freely to website content as well. This helps you share your content more easily. This is a great advantage if you want to use Tweetmeme as a marketing tool or get more people visiting your website.

You can follow what is makes it on Tweetmeme’s homepage via Twitter itself by following the @Tweetmeme account or sub-accounts for each channel such as @tm-entertainment or @tm_lifestyle.

Other recent add-ons for Tweetmeme include OAuth, a function that allows you to sign in with your Twitter account and retweet headlines without leaving the page. A less well-received feature is a toolbar. In this way, it is similar to the program Diggbar. Rather than noting how many times the story has been “Dugg,” the frame shows tallies up how much it has been Tweeted. You can also use a “shuffle” feature to go on to the next hot story.

Tweetmeme is constantly evolving. It adds features all the time. There is a “live” tab that lists the most tweeted links stream. It is customizable so you can limit stream to those stories that have been tweeted a certain number of times. This can be 5, 10, or even 20 times. Bottom line: You get a real time update of the most popular links on Twitter.

With anything this new, there will be many changes ahead. The question of this applications’ long term success is still very much in the air.

Sean Kilgore writes about how to apply for and take online college classes.