HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Status Updates

Some studies show that
11 percent of online adults are using status updates, but if you think about
the history of the status message and its roots in instant messaging, that number actually seems pretty small.

Even though we predict big things to come from these short status updates, the reality is that the present day status update has the potential to make you more productive in and outside of Twitter, help you extend your reach, improve your visibility, and of course have a little fun. So, we can all look to the future for even more innovation, but we’ll show you how to do more with your status updates right now.

This post is part of a Mashable mini-series providing analysis of social media?s smallest big trend: the status update. The series is supported by the
TurboTax SuperStatus Contest, which invites you to win up to $25K for an interesting Twitter or Facebook message.

How to get productive with your tweets

There are a
myriad of amazing ways to use your tweets for an entirely different purpose than your typical tweeting behavior. For
Remember The Milk you can use twitter commands to jot down mental to-dos. Plus, you can direct message
@timer to create a Twitter timer or alarm, track time via
Harvest, or DM
@gcal to add meetings or events to your Google Calendar.

When it comes to Twitter, you can even use a status message to help you collect survey data using
twtpoll, manage the guest list for your next event using
twtvite, create and disseminate your gift registry with ease via
twtwlst, and offer exclusive Twitter coupons via
twtQpon. All of these
twtapps could be big time savers, and since they tap into your Twitter network, your status has never been so flexible.

Short-form messaging on other services

There’s a whole host of other productive things you can do with your status independent of Twitter. If Facebook status is more your thing, you can kill two birds with one stone and use
Xoopit to view and update Facebook status messages while checking your Gmail account. Plus, since Facebook just
opened up the Facebook Status API in February, we’re likely to see more functional applications that help us use our Facebook status for a myriad of purposes.

If you’re a browser-based person,
Ubiquity for Firefox is a short-form in-browser messaging utility for doing more than meets the eye. Ubiquity can be pretty intimidating to first time users, but once you learn a few commands you’ll be hooked.

Say, for example, you’re a Gmail user and you find a note-worthy passage you want to email to a friend, just select the text, launch Ubiquity (Alt or Ctrl + Space Bar), and type the command “email (insert optional text) to @emailaddress.com.” Ubiquity will automatically add a link to the page you were on, and open up Gmail with your pre-constructed message. All you need to do is hit send.

In addition to the built-in commands, developers are also busy making super short-form friendly custom commands that you can subscribe to to make Ubiquity even cooler. Just search the
Herd for the community generated commands you want. There’s quick commands for everything from URL shorteners to commands for updating your status (and finding friends) on all the popular social media sites. You can even search Last.fm, get a weather forecast, and search Google (g + search term), Twitter (tsearch + search term), or Wikipedia (wiki + search term).

How to extend your reach

Depending on your social presence, you’re likely to have networks of friends and contacts across a variety of social sites. That’s where sites like Ping.fm and HelloTxt come into the picture. Whether you’re updating your status from the web, via SMS, email, or a third-party application, these services can help you spread your updates with zero effort. Of course, definitely show some restraint in this department and create special commands in Ping.fm to ensure that you’re not double posting messages on the same site.

A bonus feature for bloggers looking to leverage status updates to syndicate their new blog posts is
Ping.fm’s brand new integration with Notify.me, the
alerts friendly site. Now you can use Notify.me to input your feed URLs (a l

HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Status Updates