We apologize for taking so long to put it up, but automatic password recover is now available at Twext.me. We think the link is pretty clear, but just in case, here’s some help.
Posts Tagged ‘mentions’
Twext.me Now Uses OAUTH To Access Twitter Accounts
December 2nd, 2009 - Jeff Turner
When we first launched Twext.me, Twitter was in the early stages of their OAUTH launch. There were a few hitches when we made our first attempts to initiate, so we decided to simply require users to input their Twitter username and password.
The recent surge in Twitter spam has people feeling sketchy about giving anyone their password, so we decided to go ahead and implement this more secure way of accessing your Twitter account. We will never see your password. This is a good thing.
Convert your existing Twitter accounts inside Twext.me
You may convert your existing Twitter accounts by logging into Twext.me and clicking on the “Manage Twitter Accounts” tab. This will take you to a page that will look like this:
Click on Re-Authorize with Twitter. You will then be taken to twitter to give Twext.me authorization to access your data. We use this access to get a better look at the data inside your account. We will never send any messages out via your account. Ever. The authorization on the Twitter side will look like this:
When you set up a new account, the process is similar, but the page will look slightly different. The username field is required so we can help you easily keep track of multiple Twitter accounts, should you choose to do so.
Many have requested this in the past, so we’re happy it’s now live. Hopefully this will encourage more to use this free service. And remember, if you want your text messages to come via standard SMS, once you’ve set up your accounts, just text TWEXTME to 41411.
Twext.me Has A New “True” SMS Option
June 11th, 2009 - Jeff Turner
If you’ve been with Twext.me from the beginning, you know that we’ve been using the various mobile carrier email-to-text options to deliver your Twitter mentions vis SMS. This worked fine, but most of the carriers generated a unique short code for each notification we sent. This resulted in each message looking as if it were coming from a unique sorce, like this:
If you recieved a lot of mentions, the Twext.me updates would dominate your text message screen and require you to delete each one individually. This was annoying at best.
Many of the newest smart phones “thread” SMS messages that come in under one SMS short code. But getting a short code for Twext.me would have been cost prohibitive. And since this is a free service… that wasn’t an option.
Enter TextMarks.com.
Yesterday we used the TextMarks.com api and can now offer a standard SMS option without going through email. This will allow smart phones to thread the Twext.me updates, like this:
All of the individual Twext.me updates will be shown under the single 41411 short code and can be easily cleared if needed. This method requires one additional step in the sign up process.
To take advantage of this option, you must send TWEXTME to 41411 to initiate your subscription. This gives us permission to send SMS to your phone. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to go.
Personally, I had switched from individual messages sent via SMS to a summary message being sent to me on Twitter via DM. With this new option, I have switched back to the individual SMS messages and it works like a charm. Of course, for this to remain free, we all have to put up with the advertising messages, but we think the threading ability is worth it.
Let us know your thoughts.
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@bkmcae Explains Twext.me
May 1st, 2009 - Jeff Turner
Ben was the reason we created Twext.me, so it was great to see him take the reins and create this quick video to explain why we did.
Twext.me demo from Ben Martin on Vimeo.
Twext.me – Twitter Mentions To SMS Text
April 17th, 2009 - Jeff Turner
Today we launched Twext.me to an extremely limited group of testers.
Ben Martin, the Zen Master of Association Social Networking, approached me a few weeks ago about a need he was filling with a mashup of several different online services. The need was simple. Ben wanted to be notified via SMS Text message anytime there was a mention of @bkmcae on Twitter. Since this is a seemingly logical function not supported on Twitter, I was surprised something like this didn’t exist in the wild. After some research, we determined there was really only one service similar, Tweettrak. The difference, Tweettrack sends your notice via direct message to your twitter account.
As a heavy user of Twitter, I know having mentions sent to me via direct message is not an optimal solution. I want my private direct messages to be distinct from my mentions. So, on Wednesday, April 15 we began to build Twext.me and two days later we have it up for testing.
I’ve had it running since this afternoon and I can already tell some major changes are going to be required to make this a service that heaver twitter users might find valueable. My phone was bombarded by text messages today. I did a quick look and in the last 24 hours, Ben has had 42 mentions on Twitter. In that same time period, I ( @respres ) have 90 mentions. I haven’t talked to Ben yet, but each mention coming in as an individual SMS Text was a bit overwhelming for me. So, right off the bat, we have a few changes to make.
Here are two things we’ll need to do pretty quick:
- A pause button. Twext.me needs a pause button or a way to schedule when you want the updates to occur. For example, I don’t want to get updates while I’m at my computer and able to engage directly with Twitter.
- A digest option. If 6 people retweet the same information, I don’t need six differnt text messages. Even if the information is different, I’m really only looking for an alert that indicates that I should go take a look.
I know the service will be a lot more valuable to me when those two items are incorporated into the site. Stay tuned. More to come.
