The official tweetymail blog

The best email notifications for Twitter

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 07:33:26 -0700

Have you noticed that Twitter recently unveiled new email notifications for mentions, retweets, and favorites? We think this is really exciting and just launched our own super-charged versions of these notifications! Check out these examples and, if you haven't already, read below to learn how you can start receiving our enhanced notifications.

The new Mentions Notification

Our Mentions Alert has always been a popular feature. Now that Twitter has its own Mentions Notification, we decided to take the feature to the next level. Our version of the Mentions Notification will display the extended conversation history (in other words, the full chain of replies) and allows you to reply and retweet directly from your inbox!

Remember, you can still create a standard Mentions Alert if you don't want to receive an email for every single mention. That's right - tweetymail's Mentions Alert will allow you to collect multiple mentions into a single email.

Retweet and Favorite Notification

We've also enhanced the new Retweet and Favorite Notifications with features you won't find anywhere else. Here is an example of the new Retweet Notification:

How to Receive tweetymail Notifications

It is really easy to set up our notifications. You can try them for free with a new tweetymail account, and continue receiving them by subscribing to FULL or MAX access:

Sign up or sign in to your tweetymail account

Click on the Notifications tab

Copy the notification email address displayed on that tab

Go to your Twitter account settings

Change the email address in your Twitter settings to the one provided by tweetymail

tweetymail will intercept the email that Twitter normally sends to you and will immediately send you a an enhanced notification instead. tweetymail will also make sure to send you any other email it receives at that address.

Give it a try and see how it works! It's really easy to set up, works really fast, and is incredibly convenient.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

New schedule options for email alerts

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:08:00 -0800

We're excited to announce that we just added some new options that allow you to receive your Twitter timeline and other tweets whenever you want them. You can now choose to receive your email alerts according to the following schedules:

After a minimum number of new tweets

Hourly

Daily

At specific times during the day

These new schedule options are available for Timeline Alerts (formerly known as 'Tweets Alerts') and List Alerts. To configure one of the new schedule options, simply sign in to your tweetymail account and either create a new alert or modify an existing alert.

Enjoy!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Sender verification issues with Yahoo Mail resolved

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 07:45:50 -0800

If you're a Yahoo Mail user and have experienced the dreaded "sender verification" error when sending emails to tweetymail, we have good news for you: the problem is fixed!
Some time ago, something changed in the configuration of the Yahoo Mail servers that started causing sender verification to fail for certain users. Unfortunately, we were unaware

of the problem for a long time (quick note: feel free to nag us if you see issues like this!). We recently took some time to investigate the problem and came up with a solution.
If you previously disabled sender verification due to this issue with your Yahoo email address, we strongly encourage you to re-enable the setting in your tweetymail account. Let us know if you experience any other issues.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Shorten links with goo.gl

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:29:38 -0800

Many of you have requested the option to shorten links using the Google URL Shortener (goo.gl). Good news - Google finally released an API for goo.gl and we've added at it to tweetymail!
To shorten your links using goo.gl:
Sign in to your tweetymail account
On the Email Addresses tab, click on General Settings

Under the URL Shortener section, select one of the two goo.gl options (depending on whether or not you have your own API key)

Enjoy!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Automation of follow requests and new limits

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 05:26:14 -0800

We've recently noticed increased abuse of the "follow" feature to automatically follow large numbers of users. We want to remind you that Twitter has the following rule regarding auto-following:
The only auto-following behavior Twitter allows is auto-follow-back (following a user after they have followed you). Automated un-following is also not permitted.

Please be sure to read Twitter's automation rules and Twitter's following rules to learn more.

On a related note, we've decided to instate new usage limits for follow / unfollow / blocks requests to help prevent abuse. The limits are as follows:
FREE access - 20 requests per month
FULL access - 200 requests per month

MAX access - unlimited requests
Please note that, regardless of usage limits, abuse is not tolerated and will lead to account suspension. You can view your monthly usage at any time by signing in to your tweetymail account and viewing the Account Details tab.
Please feel free to comment below if you have any questions.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

A more informative email subject line

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 05:38:28 -0800

Based on feedback from our fantastic users, we just added two new settings that control how information is displayed in the subject line of our emails. We've been experimenting with these settings over the past day (as you might have noticed!) and now want to tell you more about them.

New setting #1: Display the number of tweets in the subject line
This setting provides a simple but very useful way to know how much information is in an email without having to open it. This setting is now enabled by default.
New setting #2: Display the timestamp of the email in the subject line
Although most email clients already display the timestamp of the email, some users asked to see this information in the subject line. Perhaps more importantly, users have asked us if we can prevent email clients such as Gmail from grouping messages together. Enabling this setting is the way to do it! The setting is not enabled by default, and if you decide to use it, please be sure that you have configured your timezone correctly in your Twitter settings.
-----
So how do you turn these settings on or off?
Sign in to your tweetymail account
Click on General Settings on the Email Addresses tab
Check or uncheck the boxes and click Save Settings

Tell us what you think! Do you find these settings useful? Did we get the defaults right?

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Get multiple mentions in a single email

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 05:46:22 -0800

The tweetymail Mentions Alert is a great way to keep up with conversations on Twitter. Create this alert and tweetymail will automatically send you an email when a new tweet mentions your username. FULL/MAX access users can even reply to mentions directly from their inbox.
The Mentions Alert was originally designed to send you an email for every new mention so that you could receive the mention as soon as possible. However, we underestimated how popular some of you are! That's why we recently added a "Mentions Threshold" option to the alert. You can now a specify a threshold number and tweetymail will wait for that number of mentions to accumulate before sending you an email. All of your new mentions will be listed in that single email.
To increase your Mentions Threshold, simply sign in to your tweetymail account, navigate to the Alerts tab, and click on "settings" for your Mentions Alert. Enjoy!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

More retweet goodness in your email

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:50:59 -0700

As you hopefully know, we recently added the ability to generate "new style" retweets directly from your email. Today we are updating all of our emails to fully support "new style" retweets. Here is what that means:

We now display the original tweet along with the name of the person who retweeted it (see screenshot below)
Replying to a retweet will create a reply email to the author of the original tweet
Replying "all" to a retweet will create a reply email to the original author, the person who retweeted it, and anyone else mentioned in the tweet

Retweeting will retweet the original tweet as long as you do not add a comment or modify the tweet (see our smart retweets post)

Mentions alerts now include retweets

Here is an example "latest" email containing tweets from @Scobleizer:

Leave us a comment below if you have any questions!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Even better direct message emails

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:59:48 -0700

If you've set up your Twitter account to receive tweetymail's enhanced Twitter notifications, then you already know how easy it is to respond to direct messages directly from your email. Today we added a few tweaks to make those Direct Message Notifications even more useful:

Profile picture: You can now see the profile picture of the user who sent you the message
Message history: You can now see the previous direct message that you sent to that same user
Here's what it looks like:

Although Twitter does not technically keep track of "replies" when it comes to direct messages, we hope that the message history feature will make it easier to keep up with direct message conversations. Let us know what you think!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Tweet, reply, and retweet without worrying about 140

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:33:31 -0700

If you've ever sent a tweet, reply, or retweet over 140 characters (don't worry - it happens to the best of us), you know that tweetymail will respond back with an email letting you know. The easiest thing to do in that case is to click the "post the full text" link in the email and re-send to post@tweetymail.com. However, if you find yourself going over 140 characters often then you might feel like this is one step too many. That's why we've added a new option that allows you to tweet, reply, and retweet without ever having to worry about the 140 character limit. Simply enable this setting and tweetymail will automatically post the full text any time the text is too long. It works exactly like re-sending to post@tweetymail.com, but without the extra step.
To enable this new setting:
Sign in to your tweetymail account
Click on "General Settings" on the Email Addresses tab in your account
Scroll down to the "Tweeting over 140 Characters" section and check the box

Save the settings

Please note that this setting is only available to FULL/MAX users.
Special thanks to @brucewagner for suggesting this feature!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Smart retweets from your email

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 08:26:00 -0700

One of the best features in tweetymail is the ability to retweet directly from your email. Simply click the "retweet" link next to a tweet and tweetymail will auto-populate an email that you can immediately send (or edit first if you choose to):

This existing retweet feature is extremely fast and easy to use, but it also relies on "old style" retweeting in which you basically re-state the tweet with "RT @someuser:" in front of it. This format makes the most sense when you need to alter the text (e.g. to make it fit) or want to add your own comment. But what about those times when you simply want to retweet without adding a comment or worrying about going over 140 characters because of the extra text?
We're really excited to announce that tweetymail now supports "new style" Twitter retweets (learn about these here)! We still want to give you the flexibility to add your comments, though, so we came up with a neat way for tweetymail to automatically "do the right thing". Here's how it works:

When you click the "retweet" link next to a tweet, tweetymail will auto-populate a retweet email just like always

If you send the email without changing anything, tweetymail will generate a "new style" retweet

If you change *anything* in the retweet text, such as adding your own comment, tweetymail will post using the "old style" retweet format

*Note: Adding extra whitespace to the beginning or end of the retweet text does not constitute a change

*Update (10/31/10): Some mail clients automatically add line-breaks. Hence, we now ignore certain extra whitespace within the retweet text and do not treat it as a change.

It's super simple and works automatically. You get to take advantage of new style retweets when they make sense without losing the flexibility of the old style format.
We hope you love this new feature as much as we do! Feel free to leave your comments below. Oh... and please RT! ;-)

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Look at the beautiful tweeps in your inbox

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 12:14:24 -0700

Isn't it nice to put a face on a tweet? That's why we just updated our emails to include Twitter profile pictures!

Please do us a favor: Leave a comment below and let us know how the new emails look in your email client. We've tested the change in Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, Outlook, Lotus Notes, and iPhone. We would love to hear from BlackBerry and Android users, as well as anyone using tweetymail with another email client or mobile device. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
Finally - we want to give a special thanks to @alexs77 and @SR1NY for providing this suggestion.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Improved filtering options for Tweets Alerts

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:02:13 -0700

The "Tweets Alert" is a great way to automatically receive emails containing tweets from the people you follow. In some cases, though, you might only want to receive tweets from certain people or tweets containing specific keywords. The Tweets Alert makes this possible by allowing you to specify one or more filters that tweets must match in order to be included in the alert. Today, we made an enhancement to give you a little more flexibility with filters.
You can now choose whether tweets must match *all* of the filters or *at least one* of the filters:

To summarize, there are now three ways you can use the Tweets Alert:
Do not specify any filters and receive tweets from everyone you follow
Specify one or more filters and receive only tweets that match all of the filters

Specify one or more filters and receive only tweets that match at least one of the filters
Don't forget, tweetymail also provides a List Alert that you can use to automatically receive tweets from a Twitter List.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Request new tweets from a Twitter List

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:38:31 -0700

Yesterday, we announced a new List Alert feature that allows you to automatically receive tweets from a Twitter List. But what about requesting the tweets from a Twitter List only when you want them?
We are happy to announce that you can now ask latest@tweetymail.com for tweets from a Twitter List. Simply compose an email to latest@tweetymail.com with the name of the Twitter List (e.g. twitter/team) in the subject line and send! tweetymail will respond immediately with the newest tweets from the users in that Twitter List.
As a review, sending an email to latest@tweetymail.com is a super easy way to receive a timeline of tweets in your email. With this new feature, there are now three ways you can use latest@tweetymail.com:

Send an email with a blank subject line: tweetymail will respond with the latest tweets from all of the users you follow
Send an email with a Twitter username (e.g. tweetymailApp) in the subject line: tweetymail will respond with the latest tweets from the user

Send an email with the name of a Twitter list (e.g. twitter/team) in the subject line: tweetymail will respond with the latest twetes from users in that list
This feature is available to all users. FULL/MAX users have the added benefit that tweetymail will keep track of the tweets you've already received from previous requests.
Enjoy!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Email alerts for Twitter Lists

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:16:22 -0700

One of the easiest ways to keep up with Twitter is to have tweetymail automatically email you tweets you are interested in. tweetymail has long provided a "Tweets Alert" that automatically emails you the latest tweets from the people you follow. However, even though the Tweets Alert allows you to specify filters and group several tweets into a single email, it can become overwhelming if you follow a lot of people that tweet frequently.
This is where Twitter Lists come in. A Twitter List allows you to target a specific set of Twitter users and group them into a list. You can then focus on only the tweets from the users in that list. You can also share your lists and easily follow lists created by other people. You can learn more about Twitter Lists on the Twitter website.

Today, we are very excited to announce our first feature support for Twitter Lists - automatic List Alerts!

A List Alert will automatically send you tweets from a Twitter List. It works exactly like the Tweets Alert except that you will only receive tweets from the users in that list. You can create List Alerts for your own lists as well as for Twitter Lists created by other people. The List Alert is available to all tweetymail users, including FREE users (but remember, FREE users can only create a maximum of two alerts).

Here is how to create a List Alert:
Sign in to your tweetymail account
Navigate to the Alerts tab
Click the "Create a List Alert" link

Enter the name of the list and click Create Alert

We are really excited about this feature and hope that you find it incredibly useful! Please leave us your questions and comments below.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

How to use Twitter from your email

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:31:44 -0700

As you might have noticed on the tweetymail homepage, we finally have a demo video of tweetymail! The purpose is to demonstrate -- in less than 3 minutes -- all of the different ways that tweetymail allows you to keep up with Twitter from your email inbox. Check it out below:

Did we do a good job? Did you learn something new? Let us know your thoughts!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Reply all to a tweet from your email

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:25:06 -0700

If you have FULL or MAX access, you know how easy it is to use tweetymail to reply to a tweet from your email. Just click on the reply link next to a tweet to auto-compose a reply email, type your tweet in the email body, and send the email. It's the most convenient way to keep up with a conversation on Twitter when you are not in front of a computer.
Sometimes, though, a Twitter conversation can involve several people and you might want to reply to all of the people in the conversation. That's why tweetymail emails now include "reply all" links:

A "reply all" link will appear next to any tweet that contains mentions. Clicking on the "reply all" link will auto-compose a new email containing the usernames of everyone involved in the conversation. Simply type your reply in the email body and send the email!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Tweet over 140 characters via email

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:41:00 -0700

FULL and MAX access users can now post tweets longer than 140 characters! We've introduced a new email address to make this possible: post@tweetymail.com
How does it work?
Send an email to post@tweetymail.com and it will post your tweet on Twitter. It works almost exactly like tweet@tweetymail.com, except that when your tweet is longer than 140 characters, tweetymail will 1) post the full text of your tweet on the tweetymail website, and 2) post a tweet on Twitter that includes a link to the full text of your tweet. View and click on the example below to see how it works:

http://twitter.com/anilchawla/status/18398908503

What about tweet@tweetymail.com?
tweet@tweetymail.com continues to works the the same way it has always worked. If your tweet is longer than 140 characters, your tweet will fail and you will get an email from tweetymail letting you know. However, you now have two options for retrying your tweet: You can either edit the tweet and retry it, or you can just post the entire tweet as it is! Here is an example of the email you will receive when your tweet is longer than 140 characters:

Why the two separate email addresses?
tweetymail is all about convenience and flexibility! If you want tweetymail to always post your tweet -- no matter how long it is -- just use post@tweetymail.com. On the other hand, if you want to find out when your tweet is longer than 140 characters so that you can decide what to do, keep using tweet@tweetymail.com. We think that giving you these two email addresses is better than picking one behavior over the other or using a "setting" that forces you into one choice.
Give it a try!
Try it out and let us know how it works! You can find more details in our user guide, and as always, feel free to leave your comments and questions below.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

See what a tweet is "in reply to"

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:39:00 -0700

A quick enhancement - tweetymail emails will now show you who a tweet is in reply to:

FULL and MAX users can additionally click on this link to see the actual status on the Twitter website. This enhancement includes all email alerts as well as emails sent in response to 'latest' requests. Enjoy!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Auto-refresh your Twitter timeline by sending an email

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:46:00 -0700

tweetymail provides a number of easy ways to receive tweets in your email. One of the most popular features is the ability to request an email with the latest tweets from the users you follow on Twitter (i.e your timeline): just send an email to latest@tweetymail.com. The nice thing about this feature is that you can choose exactly how many tweets you want to receive by putting a number in the body of your email. But wouldn't it be nicer if you could sometimes ask tweetymail to just send you the tweets that are new? Now you can!
Send an email to latest@tweetymail.com with an empty email body (in other words - don't specify the number of tweets you want) and tweetymail will respond with up to 200 tweets that are new since your previous request to latest@tweetymail.com! It's exactly like refreshing on the Twitter home page or refreshing your timeline in another Twitter app. As you've probably realized, this enhancement replaces the behavior of defaulting to twenty tweets when you leave the email body empty. This new enhancement is only for FULL and MAX access users. FREE access users will continue to receive a default of twenty tweets when leaving the email body empty (upgrade your account).
Apart from this enhancement, latest@tweetymail.com still works the way it always has. If you want to receive a specific number of tweets (even if you have already seen them), you can still specify the number of tweets you want in the email body. If you want to receive tweets from a specific user, instead of all of the users you follow, you can still put that user's Twitter username in the subject line. Also, this enhancement does not affect automatic email alerts in any way.
One last thing to understand: tweetymail will keep track of the tweets you have already seen based on the subject line of your emails to latest@tweetymail.com. Therefore, you can independently "refresh the timelines" of multiple users by sending emails to latest@tweetymail.com with the appropriate username in the subject line and leaving the email body empty.
We've updated the user guide with this enhancement but feel free to ask questions and post your comments below!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »