Twellow Categorized Twitter User Search Launches

Twitter may be the darling of the social media set right now and the addiction of many both in and out of social media circles, but it has certainly been going through some growing pains lately. Because of this, Twitter users have had to seek ways around the Twitter issues to make sure they don't lose the thread of their conversations.

It is a testament to Twitter user loyalty that Twitter users are so willing to use third party services to help feed their Twitter addiction when Twitter is Fail Whaling on them. Each day my Twitter stream is full of suggestions of what third party applications to use (FriendFeed, Summize, TweetScan and others come to mind).

Not only do Twitter users suggest places to keep up with the conversation, they suggest methods as well. One handy suggestion from Twitter user fairminder (Jim Spencer of JBS partners) was to use this string in Summize to find every tweet about you or to you, not just the ones where your names shows up first: -from:yourtwittername yourtwitternameagain

Today's new Twitter helper application is Twellow. Twellow acts as a categorized directory of Twitter users. Where TwitterLocal stepped in to help you find Tweeple talking in your area, Twellow steps in to help you find Tweeple based on what they do or what their interests are. This is incredibly handy, especially if you need something specific, like a programmer or web design, and aren't sure which of your Twitter sphere can help.

Considering Twellow is in alpha right now, it is surprisingly complete. It already has me indexed and listed in a comprehensive list of categories that seem to be based on a combination of my bio and things I have tweeted about, and it got most of it right (it is missing Writer, Editor and Speaker categories for me, which is huge since that is my business).

One omission in the alpha I'd like to see fixed for the beta is a way to adjust or add categories yourself. I don't think we all need carte blanche editing on our profile - that will just create a home for spammy types, but perhaps a way to suggest a missing category for ourselves would be doable.

I was pleased to see how quickly Twellow updates your latest Tweet as well. It's a great way to keep content on this profile fresh. I also noticed that it had my avatar change up in minutes as well. Very efficient, and something I like since i tend to change my avatar according to where I'll be or who I will be seeing that day so that they know who I am.

The site design leaves much to be desired. As far as colors and appearance go it is truly hurl-worthy. I am definitely not a fan of the smiling yellow ball - it reminds me of Wal-Mart for some reason, even though they are dissimilar.  Regardless, this is a fairly strong release for an alpha, and I'm impressed. Twellow has absolutely made my bookmarked list of Twitter tools.