Many musicians create a twitter account and give up on it rather quickly. Nielsen reports a 60% twitter quitter rate within the first month of using the service.  Another study, by Rapleaf, shows that 65% of tweets originate from the web interface (as opposed to from mobile phones or desktop applications). Musicians only using the web interface probably contributes to them giving up so quickly – Twitters web interface is a clunky user experience.  I was absolutely in the dark when I first started tweeting, which was exclusively from the web or by texting, until I discovered the wonders of the third party twitter app. If you want to understand how to harness the power of twitter, do not go to the web site, but download a third party app.

The Twittervers is a big place, and there are many third party apps available. Simply Google Twitter app or Twitter widget and you will have your pick at any number of possibilities.  To spare you the headache of having to figure out what apps to use, below are a few suggestions. I have no specific reason for suggesting these apps, except that I have found them to work quite well at enriching the Twitter experience. If you have thoughts on better options please share below.

Desktop: TweetDeck was the application that completely changed the Twitter experience for me. It is written in Adobe Air so you may have to install that first as part of the install process. The app works with all major operating systems and is actively developed. For a nice tutorial on how to use TweetDeck, view this link. The best part about tweet deck is that it allows you to update not only twitter, but multiple social sites at the same time, including facebook and myspace.

Mobile: You can keep in touch with your fans who follow you on Twitter while on the road from your hand held device. I have found my mobile Twitter app very helpful when making updates and sending pics, etc while on the move. Most touring musicians I know are using either an iPhone or a BlackBerry and there are very good twitter apps for both of these devices.

• iPhone: The mobile version of TweetDeck.
• Blackberry does not have as many options, but I have found great success with UberTwitter. This app is still in beta, but it has proven to be quite stable. If you would prefer a non-beta app you can always try out the less feature rich TwitterBerry

Mashable has a list of 21 desktop apps if you are interested in reading up on a few more.

Tanacea is the music spazz and you can follow him @tanacea.

A better way for musicians to tweet, build fans, and make money