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Making sense of the sheer volume of activity on Twitter has been the focus of many new Twitter applications.  Whilst setting up basic list functionality has been on offer for some time, new twists to these information funnels are always popping up.

One that I have found to be particularly helpful of late is HiveMind.  This networking tool helps you seek out new Twitter users who potentially share similar interests to you, or those who you may be interested in even if what they cover/offer isn’t necessarily related to your use of Twitter.  After selecting a few people you’re interested in, HiveMind analyses their followers to see, for example, if they are all following someone who you currently are not – therefore highlighting areas you may be missing out on or users you really should be following.  Importantly, this enables you to efficiently reach out and network with other Twitter users by highlighting connections and users who may have otherwise have passed you by.

If you’re more interested in Twitter trends – perhaps a particular trend important to you or your brand – then Squawq will be very useful.  After entering a few keywords which you want to track, Squawq will analyse Twitter activity and is able to feed back a lot of relevant information.  This ‘making sense of the noise’ tool helps users see how many people are tweeting about a certain topic, in what context they are discussing a brand and even where they are linking to!  There are a limited number of long-term tracking codes available at the moment – although immediate real-time search can be done without a code – so get in quick.

There will no doubt be a dose of new applications come this time next month, but the above cope well in fulfilling two strong themes which underlie a great deal of users’ motivations.  Firstly, the desire to use Twitter to push beyond certain networking barriers (such as on Facebook) and actively seek out new contacts.  And secondly, to track real time data.