Although there are all kinds of different types of resources for Twitter (see 101 Twitter Resources), in this post I’d like to focus on Firefox add-ons. (You can follow Traffikd on Twitter.)

1. TwitterBar

Twitterbar is a popular and simple add-on that lets you tweet from your address bar.

TwitterBar allows you to post to Twitter from Firefox’s address bar. A small Twitter icon sits to the right of your address bar; clicking on it will post your tweet, and you can hover your mouse over it to see how many characters you have left.

2. Twitbin

Twitbin uses the sidebar of your browser to follow conversations.

Twitbin is a firefox extension that allows you to keep up with all of your Twitter conversations right from your browser sidebar. Send messages, receive messages, share links, and more from Twitbin, the best twitter addon for firefox out there.

3. TwitterFox

TwitterFox helps you to stay up-to-date with conversations of those who you are following, and to update your own status.

TwitterFox is a Firefox extension that notifies you of your friends’ tweets on Twitter. This extension adds a tiny icon on the status bar which notifies you when your friends update their tweets. Also it has a small text input field to update your tweets.

4. TwitKit

TwitKit is another add-on that makes use of the browser sidebar.

TwitKit is a Twitter sidebar for Firefox. TwitKit has a 6-section interface, using tabs to separate content. You can view the Twitter public timeline, your user timeline, a list of your friends and their latest tweets, a list of your followers and their latest tweets, @replies made to you, and stats about your account.

5.  Power Twitter

Power Twitter adds some additional features that may make Twitter more effective or fun.

Power Twitter adds features to the Twitter Web interface including:

-search and recent searches
-search scoped to a specific user
-status history peeking on mouseover
-Facebook status updates
-inline YouTube, Flickr, TwitPic, Google Maps, song.ly, and more
-url expansion
-url translation to page titles
-open web update (news feed) mapping
-custom settings
-@mentions
-photo uploading
-link shrinking
-#hashtags

There are a number of reasons for this change of opinion, but I’d like to point out a few.

1. I’ve made it a part of my everyday routine.

For many Twitter users, it is constantly a part of their life. That’s not the case for me, and I doubt it ever will be, but when I started making an effort to get involved on a regular, consistent basis, I started to appreciate Twitter more. If you’re struggling to see the value in Twitter, I encourage you to make it a priority to be more active and I think you’ll have a similar experience.

2. I follow only those that I know or that I truly want to follow.

I know many Twitter users feel you should follow everyone that follows you, but that just makes it too chaotic for me. At first I followed a lot of people, but eventually I cut back and that’s when I really started to feel like Twitter had a significant purpose for me. If other users don’t follow me because I don’t follow them, that’s fine and I understand that, but in order to actually get something out of Twitter, I feel like I need to limit how many people I’m following.

3. It’s embraced by others in my industry.

As a web designer and a blogger it’s easy for me to connect with colleagues through Twitter, because almost everyone is there. In other industries that are less tech-savvy, it’s likely that a lower percentage of people are using Twitter. But I like the fact that most people who I have a need to contact for professional reasons can be found on Twitter.

4. Integration with blogs.

Last month I started the Traffikd Twitter account, something that many other blogs (and companies for that matter) are doing. There are a tons of WordPress plugins and all kinds of opportunities to integrate Twitter with blogs. I like seeing blogs that have some sort of integration, and it has made it easier for me to be active with Twitter since I’m on a lot of blogs everyday.

5. It’s great for quickly sharing resources.

Most of the things I post to Twitter are either interesting links that I’ve come across or re-tweeting links from other users. I really like being able to quickly share links without the need to write a blog post or send emails to friends. And I love finding new things through the tweets of other users.

What’s Your Opinion of Twitter?

Personally, I plan to continue to increase my activity on Twitter since it has definitely proven to be a valuable resource. What about you? Are you on Twitter? How active are you? Feel free to leave a link to your Twitter account in the comments.

Last night I created a Twitter account especially for Traffikd. With this account I’ll share links to various posts that I come across on subjects related to social media, blogging and internet marketing, as well as interacting with all of you Twitter users. If you’d like to follow me, the account URL is http://twitter.com/traffikd.

What is Your Twitter Profile?

I’d like to follow readers of this blog, so please feel free to leave a link to your own Twitter profile in the comments. I’m sure there are also other readers that will be interested in following you as well.