Buffer is a smarter way to Twitter, without over whelming your followers

BufferApp.com
July 25, 2011

This is one of those ideas that is so simple and so elegant, you slap yourself on the forehead and say, “Of course!” You add tweets to your Buffer whenever you want. It then spreads them out during the day, so it doesn’t overwhelm your followers. (I’ve been guilty of this!) You set the times you want to tweet.

The Chrome extension makes it drop-dead easy. The interface is simple and beautiful. You can even use your bit.ly account with a custom URL shortener (like I do with mhyatt.us). I upgraded to the Pro version, which allows 50 tweets in the buffer at one time.

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  • http://peterpollock.com Peter P

    I either use tweetdeck or hootsuite, depending on which way the wind is blowing and I just use the scheduling feature in them

    • http://michaelhyatt.com Michael Hyatt

      Buffer is way easier than scheduling via HootSuite. For one, you don’t have to remember when you scheduled what. You just push the tweet to Buffer and let it handle the scheduling. Love it!

      • http://peterpollock.com Peter P

        It sounds like a good system. Thanks for letting us know about it.

        I don’t think it would work for me right now though because I time my tweets based on when I know I’ll get the best traffic and I like to interact with the replies etc so I like to know when they’re going out so I can be available at the time.

        Of course, when I have 10 million followers, like you, that won’t be such a concern ;-)

        • http://twitter.com/jwongjk Jan Wong

          I must say that Buffer allows you to do just that! You get to set the exact time(s) for the week once and all you need to do is add tweets to the queue without needing to set the timing ever again :) No, I don’t work for Buffer, just a very very satisfied and happy user of Buffer :)

          • http://peterpollock.com Peter P

            Awesome! 

            Thanks for letting me know. I’ll check it out!

  • PamelaVMason

    Michael, I love this! Thanks!
    (I too have been guilty of overloading my followers’ twitter streams.)

  • http://DaddyLife.net Hank Osborne

    Yes Michael, I agree.  I actually upgraded to the pro version as well. Since I manage multiple accounts on Twitter for other people/companies I sometimes forget to do care and feeding with my own relationships and BufferApp helps me with this task. 

  • http://daddybydefault.com Craig Grella

    Have you tried Crowdbooster yet? It’s analyzes the viewing patterns of your followers and suggests prime times for you to tweet. It also allows you to schedule tweets, shows you influential followers, and even your own follower growth over time. It’s like google analytics for Twitter. I love it. It’s in beta now, but I have a few invites left if you want to try it out.

    • http://michaelhyatt.com Michael Hyatt

      I would love to try this. Can you send the email invite to michael dot hyatt at gmail dot com? Thanks.

      • http://daddybydefault.com Craig Grella

        On the way now.

        • http://michaelhyatt.com Michael Hyatt

          Got it. Thanks!

          • http://daddybydefault.com Craig Grella

            You’re welcome. Hope it works for you.

    • Joe Lalonde

      Craig, that looks like a great tool for Twitter.

    • http://DaddyLife.net Hank Osborne

      Craig, Are you willing to share one more invite to Crowdbooster?

      • http://daddybydefault.com Craig

        For another Dad blogger, sure thing. I need your email address though. Maybe you can send it to me via my site contact page.

  • http://twitter.com/LeoWid Leo Widrich

    Michael,

    Thanks so much for the fantastic post here. Reading how much you like Buffer is just the biggest encouragement we could have wished for. 

    Especially that you like the Chrome extension, as I think it makes for the easiest Buffer experience is fantastic.

    If ever anything comes up, please hit me up leo@bufferapp.com.
    Leo, Co-Founder of Buffer.

    • http://michaelhyatt.com Michael Hyatt

      Thanks, Leo. I am super-impressed with the user-interface. It is really awesome. You have done an outstanding job!

  • Joe Lalonde

    Thanks for sharing this tool Michael. I’ll check it out.

  • http://www.deniseoberry.com deniseoberry

    So glad you have found @bufferapp:disqus I’ve been using the Pro version for a couple of weeks now — and it makes life so much easier, especially with the Chrome extension. Now I just surf, add to bufferapp and the tweet is shared just when it should be. It’s a small business owners dream come true for managing a twitter stream and staying in touch.

  • http://uma-maheswaran.blogspot.com/ Uma Maheswaran S

    Would be highly beneficial to all active tweeters.

  • Anonymous

    I love this idea.  I don’t send enough tweets to use it, but I definitely want to recommend this to  some that I follow!

  • http://toppup.com Russ Pond

    Thanks for the suggestion, Michael. I’ve enjoyed learning about Buffer app. Great resource!

    Quick question: does Buffer work with your custom bit.ly domain shortener, mhyatt.us?

    • http://toppup.com Russ Pond

      Never mind! It looks like Buffer works with your default bit.ly setting, which is now my new shortener. Awesome! Thanks again for pointing us to this app!

    • http://daddybydefault.com Craig Grella

      The thing I like about the app is the chrome plugin that makes tweeting (or scheduling tweets) super easy when browsing the web.  The suggest a tweet thing just seems like filler though.

      • http://michaelhyatt.com Michael Hyatt

        I agree. I never use the suggest-a-tweet-option.

    • http://michaelhyatt.com Michael Hyatt

      Yes, it does!

  • http://www.jeffrandleman.com Jeff Randleman

    Not sure how I missed this one! Checking out BufferApp now!