Back in May, I wrote a post on “How to Pre-Populate Twitter Status Update the NEW Way via Links & Web Intents“. Essentially, Twitter updated the method for creating a link to “tweet” using their new Web Intents platform. Many developers (e.g., of WordPress plugins) and other designers are updating their code to support this new (and better) way of creating a link that tweets out some content.
In my post, I only provided a few ways on how to do this, but recently I got a question from someone who was using the new method but having issues using the ampersand (“&”) in their content. When they were putting it in (even using the HTML code of “&” or just alone as an &), the tweet was cutting off right at the “&”.
I found the solution and in the process, discovered a really cool way to test it all out using Google Chrome.
So, first how to craft a properly formed Web Intents tweet, then the Chrome trick used to test it out.
Using Reserved Characters in your Tweets
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About a year and a half ago, I posted a “How To” article to teach people on how to tweet out messages from your website via a URL or web link. Unfortunately, that method no longer works as of a few days ago. Twitter has updated the process for doing this. However, I now have the NEW way to do this which seems to be working just fine.
Twitter recently moved over to its Web Intents platform and what that means is that buttons (yes all of those older “Tweet” buttons are broken) and link that use the old query string that I outlined in my previous how-to article are broken and will not let you tweet out your messages. GASP!
The new Web Intents method is actually an improvement, in my opinion, and allows for more interactivity. If you aren’t logged in, for example, you will be asked to log in.
How To Pre-Populate Twitter Statuses the NEW Way
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We all know about social check-in services like Gowalla, FourSquare and even FaceBook Places. These services allow you to announce that you are at a particular venue, event, company or location, quickly and easily all via your mobile device. With some, the more places you go, the more credibility and achievements you get (e.g., badges). Some people might question why anyone might want to do this. Well, now with LocalMind, a new service that was recently announced, you can actually get some value from these check-ins.
Personally, I don’t use check-in services very frequently but I know many other people who do, all of the time. Those concerned with privacy probably won’t be as active as those who travel, visit many locations or just want to share what they are doing. When I go to certain events, I check-in to just announce that I’m there and see who else that I know might be there as well. But that is pretty much it. There are obvious privacy and security concerns that you should think about when using these social check-in services (see this article on TechCrunch about PleaseRobMe.com). And this is one of the reasons why I stopped doing these check-ins.
That is, until I learned about LocalMind. What LocalMind does is actually add value to your check-ins, as well as provide value to others who might need information about the place where you are. Here’s how it works in a nutshell, but I will go into it in more detail later. You first need to download and sign up for the LocalMind service. There is an iPhone app and an Android beta app currently. Then, you connect your social check-in services like FourSquare, Gowalla, Twitter or Facebook Places. The rest is pretty simple. You are ready to ask or answer questions about places that you are at or might be headed towards.
So, why would you want to do this type of thing? Sure, the social check-in services are fun…for a while, but if you are like me, they don’t add too much value to your life. What if you wanted to know more about the place that you were going…like how long of a wait it is at a particular restaurant or if there are iPad 2′s in stock at your local Apple store. It’s easy enough to just take a chance and go to the place and hope and pray that things will go your way. But with LocalMind, you can do some “research” ahead of time.
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