SocialSev

The Concept

I recently had the opportunity to test drive another new app that gathers Twitter data. But this one is a little different. Foller.me, launched in beta on June 1st, is a service designed to provide detailed information about a specific Twitter user. According to the developer’s blog, Foller.me aims to take the guesswork out of deciding whether to follow back those who follow you. To do this, the IP simply asks you to enter any Twitter name into the text box. The service then utilizes data from that user’s last 200 tweets to generate a page displaying three tag clouds: Recent topics, #hashtags, and @mentions. The usual Twitter information is also displayed, including number of followers, number following, and total status updates. But in addition to the standard fare of bio and web address, Foller.me developer Konstantin Kovshenin also includes the user’s “tweeting since” date, a nice touch.

The Experience

The narcissist in me chose to use myself for the first test run. Although the service is intended to look up information on others, it also makes for a great tool to get some insight into your own tweeting habits. On my results page, it was no surprise that “toledo” was my biggest recent topic. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m passionate about my hometown. What did come as a surprise was how much conversations with @ozsultan and @8thLopez have dominated my recent tweeting, as displayed in the Recent @mentions section. Click on the screenshot below for a larger view.

It was also a little surprising to see that Kovshenin didn’t exclude #8217 from all users’ possible Recent #hashtags. The application is apparently seeing &#8217, the PHP character code for an apostrophe, and just omitting the “&” to create a bogus hashtag. But this is a beta and that one’s a pretty quick fix. However, the disparity between the #8217 cloud size and all of the rest of my Recent #hashtags brings another issue to light. With only five possible cloud sizes, it’s hard to get an accurate snapshot of an extremely active Twitter user. Consulting the Ideas section of  Foller.me’s blog, I was happy to see that this is an issue that they’re aware of and willing to address.

My Take

Overall, Foller.me sets the tone for what a beta should be: a time to put the finishing touches on an already finished product. Too often, what the “beta” title really means is ”50% of the way through the development cycle.” While some may view it as a novelty Twitter app, Foller.me has more uses than simply giving potential follows the thumbs up/down.

An available OpenSearch plugin streamlines the process of gathering information on a user without the need to browse to Foller.me. Alternately, a bookmarklet is also available to visit any Twitter user’s Foller.me profile directly from their Twitter profile. These tools just need to be publicized a little better as the information is currently buried in the IP’s blog.

This morning, Konstantin let me take a peek under the hood at the development version of Foller.me. There, I found the upcoming feature that he is most excited about: Followers Geography. The map, powered by Google, displays custom Twitter flags to mark the geographical locations of a Twitter user’s followers. Of course, the flags are clickable to reveal exact locations and names. According to Kovshenin, the map is based on no more than 500 followers because, “more would be time- and API calls-consuming and more than 500 points on a map may blow up your browser.”

Followers Geography

But what’s a Twitter app without some sort of trend tracking? Foller.me addresses the inner narcissist in all of us with their Foller.me Rundown. All queries are stored and once every twelve hours, @follerme tweets out the five most queried users. Additional future add-ons are said to include a WordPress widget to display the Recent topics cloud and a Greasemonkey script for Firefox. Kovshenin stated that the “beta” label won’t be lifted until these features have all been implemented. When they are, it will add even more functionality to an already solid, polished product.