Buffer is a handy little web application that allows you to schedule your tweets over the course of a day. When you find interesting content on the Internet that you want to share, simply add the links to Buffer and they’ll get sent out at predetermined intervals throughout the day.
The main difference between Buffer and HootSuite or TweetDeck is that you don’t have to schedule individual tweets. Instead, you set your times in advance and simply add tweets to your buffer and they get sent out in as per the schedule. What’s great about this is that your Twitter feed will be updated consistently.
Bit.ly also integrates nicely into Buffer, allowing you to measure the reach and impact of your tweets. However, the analytics don’t end there. Buffer also tracks the amount of views and retweets your tweets have received. This is great for tweaking your Buffer schedule in order for you to maximise your reach.
Not sure when to schedule your Buffer tweets? I did some digging on the web and found whentotweet.com, a web application that analyses your first 500 followers and the latest 200 tweets of each follower. The results are presented in a graph, and use the suggested optimal time, and the following three or four highest spikes as a guideline.
You can tweet from the web application, with an option to tweet right away or to add it to your buffer. Buffer works on a freemium business model, which allows you to buffer 10 tweets a day for free, with anything more than that being paid. I think 10 buffered tweets a day is plenty, creating a nice pattern for your stream, and also allowing you to add your own ‘live’ tweets in between.
Buffer can be conveniently accessed from your browser or while you’re on the move. There are extensions for Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari, along with a bookmarklet that can be used from any browser.
If you’re using the Chrome extension, you’re able to use Buffer right from Twitter’s web interface. If you click the added link in your timeline, you will be allowed to do the classic retweet, letting others see that they’ve been retweeted, and you can choose whether you’d like to tweet it now or add it to your buffer. You can also right-click on a page you’re browsing and add it to your buffer. You can also use Buffer right from Google Reader, using any of the above browser extensions.
You can also add to Buffer from your smartphone by using its built-in functions to mail the link of the page to add@to.bufferapp.com with your smartphone automatically adding the title of the article as the subject and the link as the body of the email. Send it off, and it gets added to your buffer.
I think that buffer really is quite useful, as it prevents you from flooding your Twitter stream with batches of tweets at a time. While you might not want to use it daily, it’s always nice knowing that you have the option.
