I’m really happy to see this project has been useful for a few extra months, but the time has come for Twitoaster to sunset. From product goals to technical stuff, there are many areas where Twitoaster needs to evolve and to be improved. And I unfortunately don’t have the time anymore to work on all of this.

So this Sunday (March 20th):

• The Twitoaster API will be totally shut down (read & write). Any external service relying on it will obviously cease to function (i.e. Twitoaster WordPress plugin). Please note this also includes the feeds!
• The website will remain accessible in a “read-only status” for some time. That means you’ll still be able to access your threaded timelines, conversations, rankings… but nothing will be updated anymore and you won’t be able to login with your #twitter account.

I really wanted to thank you guys again for using Twitoaster. Take a last bite in the toasts while they’re still hot. I’ll update this post when I’ll actually unplug the toaster.

Update (March 20th):

• 1:40 PM (PST) - Twitoaster API + Feeds have been turned off.
• 2:15 PM (PST) – Connection to the Twitter Streaming API closed + Login disabled. No more content update starting from now!

So, I just released a new little feature showcasing the 100 most replied (and/or retweeted) tweets of the week. Take a look: Most popular tweets of the Week.

Note that every tweet that makes this Top 100 gets “starred”, so you can’t miss it if one of yours is selected. And to discourage “cheating”, the list is ordered by distinct users (i.e. 10 replies from the same user will count for 1, not for 10).

Congratulations if one of your tweets gets listed there, and happy tweeting :)

Update: I also added the most popular tweets of the Day.

Analytics charts, statistics and rankings, Embeddable Widgets, a Conversational search engine… But also an Open API, which gave birth to a couple of nice plugins (WordPress, Blogger / iGoogle…)

I really had fun developing all of this and talking with you guys to improve Twitoaster in new and innovative ways. You’ve been more and more to use the service, it has received a very nice Press coverage, and it gave me the chance to meet and talk with so many interesting people!

The thing is I’ve also been talking (a lot) with Twitter since mid-April (just after the Chirp conference, actually). Great discussions, Awesome team, and… So exciting projects! I can’t tell you more about that, but I guess you get the point: I’m now going to work at Twitter!

So what does that mean for Twitoaster? The service will keep running: the website, the API, the widgets, the plugins… Everything! But it shouldn’t evolve that much starting from now. I’m really sorry for those of you waiting for features we had planned to add, but I hope you’ll understand I’ll have to focus 100% on my new job!

I hope you enjoyed – and you’ll continue to enjoy – Twitoaster as much as I did. Thanks again to all of you! That was really fun, and it’s going to be awesome at Twitter! :)

If it’s a great way to visualize which tweets are attracting attention, some users have recently expressed interest in having their whole timeline displayed on Twitoaster (including “orphan” tweets that didn’t receive replies or retweets).

Because such a change represents quite a big move for Twitoaster, I’m introducing it through a private beta test.

The feature will be activated on demand, and only for a couple of users. If you join the beta test, all your Tweets will be displayed on your Twitoaster profile page, and you’ll have a new Display Filter option, giving you the choice between :

• All Tweets (default): Whole timeline.
• With Replies: Only Tweets that received at least 1 reply.
• With Retweets: Only Tweets that received at least 1 retweet.

If you want to see an example, take a look on Pmablog Twitoaster page. In the same way, you’ll see the Twitoaster widget he’s using on his Blog (in the right sidebar) is also displaying all tweets, and not only conversations.

Want to join the Beta Test? I’m looking for active Twitter users who would ideally have a blog to test both the Widget and their Twitoaster profile page. If you’re interested, please contact me on Twitter, my username is @rno. Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions :)

This Twitter Widget brings most of Twitoaster features to your website: conversations threading, statistics… And it allows your visitors to reply/tweet directly from it, without leaving your website (clicking on the little arrows in black).

Take a look on this screenshot (example for the NYT profile page). See the “Widget” yellow box on top-left?

Set the width and height you want for your Twitter Widget, and it will show you a preview.

Then, you simply have to copy/paste the embed code provided, and you’re all set! Here is a “live” example, embeding the NYT Twitter Widget on this post (300px by 450px):

Note a Google Gadget has also been released, so you can use this Twitter widget on your iGoogle, or on your Blogger hosted blog:

On all conversations – tracked in real time on Twitoaster – you’ll find a new purple button called “Embed Conversation”. Simply define the size of the widget and copy/paste the code in a blog post, a forum, a website, etc. That’s it! Your readers can now react and follow the Twitter conversation.

This embed feature can be very useful if you want to highlight your followers’ reactions to a question, show a Twitter survey results… Your readers will have the opportunity to react in real time via Twitter, directly from the widget, without leaving your website/blog.

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!

• How does it work? – Twitoaster converts your Twitter “location” field into geographic coordinates (latitude / longitude). Then, it uses these coordinates to get your country.
• What does it bring? – For the time being, two things: a map on your profile + conversations (click on the link in your sidebar) and countries ranking.
• What’s next? – These two implementations (map + countries ranking) are only a beginning. Geolocation opens the door to a lot of exciting features, like geographic search or location statistics: where are my replies coming from? which country is the most attentive to my tweets? … Other ideas or suggestions? I’d be happy to hear about them!

Please note the upgrade is still spreading (caches being updated) at time of writing. If you see any bug, please report it here.