Twitter is a great tool, but the fact is, it could be a much better one. Leaving aside the server issues that continue to plague it, there are many features that could benefit from redesign or the introduction of additional functionality. Now there’s a third-party app called Topify that aims to improve one crucial aspect of Twitter: email notifications.
Right now, Twitter notifications are simple and direct. They tell you what’s happened, and they give a link to Twitter’s web-based pages so that you can follow up and act on whatever’s taken place. It’s a decent setup, but it’s time-consuming because if you want to find out more about a new follower or if you want to reply to a direct message, you have to leave your email app and open up your web browser to do so.
With Topify, all unnecessary steps are removed, and you can do most things right in your email client. Whenever you receive a new follower, for instance, you get an extended profile summary instead of just a Twitter account name, full name and profile link. The profile summary includes the person’s avatar, their follower/following count, including a ratio, and their number of updates. It also provides you with a link to your new follower’s MrTweet profile, if you want to find out even more about them, and a list of their latest updates.
That’s not where it ends, either. You can also follow back just by replying to the same notification email. Or, if you’re following someone already, replying to a notification email will send a direct message (DM) instead. The same is true for replying to a notification email of a DM sent via Topify.
WWD readers may notice the resemblance between Topify and an app called Twimailer that Eric reviewed last month. Both offer virtually the same features, with the exception that Topify allows you to reply to DMs via email, a feature I think adds a lot of value to this type of service. Also, as of this writing, Twimailer is no longer accepting registrations due to server strain, so if you’re not already signed up, it could be a while before you can.
Topify is currently in closed beta, but they’ve provided us with a link that’s good for 100 invitations, which we’re offering to WWD readers. Once you sign up, all you have to do is use a custom-generated Topify email address in your Twitter account settings, and they’ll take it from there.
Have you used Topify? Does it improve your Twitter experience?
Ahhh, that last sentence is the kicker, tho. If I change my email address, people that have my actual email address who are looking for me via the “Find on other networks” tool won’t be able to find me.
Shame, I was really looking forward to using it…
Thanks Darrell for the great review. We actually have an update on Twimailer that asked us to acquire them and which we turned down (http://blog.topify.com/post/93778646/acquiringcompetition ). We also believe it may harm their users.
Deanna we have thousands of users and none have complained about not being found or receiving less friends. the opposite because topify helps you make better connection
I’m the owner of http://Twimailer.com
First of all I want to point this: my conversation with Arik was a private one so he shouldn’t have made it public. He’s been playing dirty from the beginning.
Also, saying bad things about your competition isn’t good business practice. In fact, our sign-ups grew with 10% since Arik started talking bad about us.
As you can see on http://mvdmedia.ro I have more than 20 projects and I’m working on 3 new ones so this was the real reason to sell.
Since I’ve been thinking of our users I’ve tried to let them on the good hands of Topify. But I think they’re afraid of growth :)
UPDATE: speaking of bad business practice :) I just posted a comment on the Topify blog and they’ve deleted it. Funny :)
With this Topify service – how does it play with TweetDeck?
One frustration I have had is that I Follow someone new after they follow-me… (do this by going to Twitter on the web)
Then I have to manually go into TweetDeck, find them and then GROUP them the way I want…
That last part is the key – I like to Group my followers and this process is a bit clunky.
Any thoughts or workarounds?
[...] To get more information about the people following you and to streamline this process, you can use Topify or Twimailer, the alternative email notification services we covered [...]
[...] To get more information about the people following you and to streamline this process, you can use Topify or Twimailer, the alternative email notification services we covered [...]
Also you can use ( TweetToEmail) to send your selective from Twitter to Email just by adding Hashtag to your tweet
http://www.tweettoemail.com
its easy to use just create a emails group and give it Hash tag ., ad or import your friends email to that group .
then you can tweet normally from twitter or by using any another Twitter client or even from ur mobile and Whenever you want to send your tweet to your friends email add your friends group’s hash tag to the tweet to be sent automatically from twitter to their email