7 Most Valuable Twitter Resources / Tools

There is no denying that Twitter mania has taken over the world. Currently the fastest social network in existence, Twitter serves a valuable communication tool for a lot of its users. Some use it to keep up to date with news stories, see the latest celebrity gossip, market a product / service, or just write down (or "tweet") random thoughts. Given the rise in its popularity, there have been THOUSANDS of different tools and resources that serve to enhance users' overall Twitter experience. We went through the clutter and found seven of the most valuable twitter resources / tools that are out there.

1. The Ultimate Guide to Twitter: Dominating Twitter: There are many guides, tips, blogs, etc. that provide users with ways to make money off of Twitter. Most of them are EXTREMELY entry level and are more of a "how to set up Twitter" guide than anything else. This is not the case with the Ultimate Guide to Twitter. As far as I've seen, there has never been a better guide for how to use Twitter to make money. Some of the guide branches into new territory on how to use Twitter to make money (some of the ideas are just plain genius). For those selling a product / service on Twitter, this guide is a MUST.
Website: http://www.thetraffickey.com/twitter

2. TweetLater: The biggest Twitter timesaver that is currently out there. With TweetLater you can set up tweets to be posted on any particular day or time. If, for example, you want to tweet something on Saturday, but will not have access to an Internet source then, you can simply schedule a tweet for that day and TweetLater will automatically tweet for you. Not only that, you can make these tweets recurring. You can schedule these tweets so that they are posted onto your account on a continual basis. Additionally, TweetLater will automatically follow new followers for you, unfollow people who unfollow you, and automatically send a direct message to all of your new followers.
Website: http://www.tweetlater.com

3. Bit.Ly: Bit.ly can be viewed as a more comprehensive TinyURL. For those of you not familiar with either, Bit.ly is a website that shorterns URLs for you. Instead of having http://www.mywebsite.com/subpage/blog/post you can shortern the URL to http://bit.ly/17MgN8 and have it redirect to the same website. This is great tool to ensure that you remain within the 140 character limit. Bit.ly also will keep track of click stats for each generated link, allowing you to assess the effectiveness of each Bit.ly URL.
Website: http://bit.ly

4. Twitter Account: Might sound pretty obvious, but one of the best ways to see what is going on with Twitter is by following Twitter's Twitter account (mouthful huh?). The account will keep you up to date with any website problems, new features, and any essential company information.
Website: http://www.twitter.com/twitter

5. TweetDeck: TweetDeck is an easy to use, organized desktop platform for Twitter. This tool will allow you to tweet directly from your desktop, manage coversations with direct messages and @ replies, create groups to follow friends easily (one of the huge selling points of downloading this tool), preview shortened URLs, and more.
Website: http://www.tweetdeck.com

6. TweetBeep: TweetBeep is exactly like Google Alerts, but for Twitter. Using data from http://search.twitter.com, you can set up Twitter alerts based on keyword phrases, account, attitude, location, and whether or not they contain links. A great tool to for online reputation management as well as getting Twitter Buzz surrounding a topic of interest.
Website: http://www.tweetbeep.com

7. New Media Types: New Media Types produced a very useful guide that has a comprehensive list of various Twitter tools. This is a little dated (January 2008), but there are literally hundreds of great Twitter tools that you can find through this website.
Website: http://www.newmediabytes.com/2008/01/18/best-twitter-tools-resources-and-clients-guide/