With all the hype about Facebook’s Open Graph announcement and all the bad press about their privacy issue, talk about the Twitter @anywhere platform.
So, when I came across this simple how-to from TwiTip, I went right at it. And, in just a matter of moments, references to my Twitter accounts @webnelly and @MauiByPhoto had neat interactive hovercards. All I needed to do was follow the instructions in that post to setup my a new @anywhere application for my website and install the Twitter Anywhere Plus plugin for WordPress. And that was it.
In Action
As you can tell, I have things setup on this blog, but I don’t have too many Twitter references here (yet). So, I also installed this over at my Ka’anapali Dreamin’ blog where many of my Maui Tweeps were featured regularly. I even had a few Follow Friday posts over there last year which should made for a good demo if you’re interested in seeing more.
One note if you’re interested in adding this to your own websites, the particular plugin I’m using won’t work if you have already added a link to the Twitter name you’re referencing. So, I’m going back – as time allows – to remove those static links so the plugin can work its magic. You’ve been warned, plan the time accordingly.
Much More
If this is all that the Twitter @Anywhere platform could do, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. For now, I haven’t played around with anything else in the platform. As that changes, and I get more time to experiment, I’ll post more details and examples.
If you’d like to learn more in the meantime, check out the official Twitter @Anywhere site for all the goodies.
Happy hacking, and if you do integrate this into your site (or already have), please leave a note with your thoughts and experiences.
– Kris
