TwitNine

When someone new starts following you, Twitter sends you an e-mail that contains a link so that you can check out that user’s profile right away to see whether you want to follow him back. These e-mails save quite a bit of time and hassle  you don’t have to try to remember who followed you and when. If you don’t have the time or the need to follow back your new followers right away, use whatever options your e-mail client (or Web service) provides to search, file, or tag certain messages received. Setting up a mail filter to segment those notifications outside of your normal e-mail inbox can be really useful. Those e-mails then wait for you to process more efficiently in batches, many at a time, when it’s convenient for you.
You can also set up your Twitter account so that direct messages are sent to
your e-mail inbox:
1. On your Home page, click Settings at the top of the screen. The Settings screen appears.
2. Select the Notices tab.
3. Next to Direct Text Emails, check the Email When I Receive a New Direct Message check box.
Even if you’re receiving direct notifications through Twitter and your mobile phone, you may also want to get them by e-mail. Most modern e-mail applications, including Webmail software, allow you to search through your mail. By always having a copy in your e-mail inbox, you can much more easily retrieve and find a direct message that you receive. Otherwise there is no way to search your direct messages, which can be a problem.

Although Twitter can send you e-mails, it has no mechanism that allows you to send updates, replies, or direct messages directly via e-mail. (But they do provide a link in the e-mail that you can click to open pages at Twitter.com [or mobile Twitter] where you can send Twitter info.)
To work around this limitation, some developers have used the API to come up with e-mail clients for Twitter. Two of our favorites include Topify (www.topify.com), shown in Figure 8-1, and Twittermail (www.twittermail. com) . Both of these Web applications enable you to interact
with users and update Twitter directly from your e-mail address.
As with many third-party Web applications, Topify and Twittermail ask for your Twitter username and password. If you don’t think you can trust a site with your credentials, just don’t use it! Luckily, OAuth holds the promise of letting you give third-party applications limited permission to function with your account without giving away your password and the ability to access everything about your account.