Twitoaster is not handling these simple mentions. The reason is it’s quite difficult to guess if a mention is just a spontaneous tweet someone wanted to highlight on your timeline; or if it’s actually a reply / retweet.

I already made a couple of tests using a time window algorithm (grouping mentions with the closest tweet you made) but it retrieved far too much “false positives”.

A good idea would probably be to mix this technique with semantic analysis, but it’s a heavy development for something that probably won’t worth it… Most of people who really want to reply (and not just drag your attention) are making a real reply.

So I’m opening the debate: Would you like to see these simple mentions handled on Twitoaster, or is it useless? If there are developers around, I’d be happy to hear their technical suggestions! Think also to share this post if you know some Twitter devs :)

Well… You obviously get an idea if you take a look on your number of followers. But when a tweet is retweeted by someone, this “someones’s followers” are also receiving – and probably reading – your tweet as well.

This is what I call 2^nd level Followers: the number of users who are receiving your tweets, but who are not following you directly. And there can be many!

Here is an example, with this @jbruin conversation read by 350,000+ users, where she has “only” 9,500 followers.

Because this number is different for every tweet you make, it is displayed on every Twitoaster conversations pages. A good metric for measuring how viral a tweet can be!

I also included an average count of these second-level followers on your profile pages, next to the regular followers number.

Let me know what you think about it!

Real time threading means no more “sync” delays. If you tweet, reply or retweet something from Twitter or any other Twitter application, you’ll see it a few seconds later, threaded on Twitoaster.

For Retweets, they are handled the same way replies are, which means you’ll find them in conversations, charts, rankings…

I hope you’ll enjoy these two brand new features!

• Servers changes: Twitoaster is about to move to new and more powerful machines. This new system will be “connected” to Twitter though their Streaming API (aka Firehose), bringing the features listed below.
• Real Time Threading: This means no more “sync delays” as all Twitoaster accounts will be synced in real time with Twitter. I know a lot of bloggers using the Twitoaster WP Plugin were waiting for it, and I hope they’ll like it.
• ReTweet support: Twitoaster is automatically retrieving your replies, threading your conversations. It will also retrieve your ReTweets and include them in the conversation. Charts and Rankings will also display ReTweets, bringing another level of analysis to optimize the way you communicate with your followers.

All of this is now ready and currently being tested (thanks to all beta testers).

The launch date is planned for Friday the 15th of January 2009. If you want to try it before time and join the beta testers team, feel free to contact me!

Last – but not least – I wish you a happy new year and I hope you’re all enjoying your holidays!