<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Twitter has a wealth of data - it's a global thought-stream on every topic imaginable.  But how do we convert that raw data into insights, trends and actionable information?  How can we find the signal in all that noise?\nFortunately, there are several tools out there that can help analyze Twitter data, understand user behavior, and graph it for analysis and presenting to others.  Today, we've picked out five great tools to get you started.  \nFor more in-depth information about trend tracking on Twitter, take a look at last month's article, 15 Fascinating Ways to Track Twitter Trends. \n1. TweetStats\n\n\n\n\nTrying to figure out how often you're actually tweeting?  Want to know the trends of individual accounts?  TweetStats graphs out information on how often you tweet, when you do it, and your @reply habits.  Useful for understanding how you, or anybody else, uses Twitter.\nIdeal for: researching individual behavior on Twitter\n2. Trendrr\n\n\n\n\nTrendrr is a new favorite among analysts looking to keep track of trends and compare information.  It tracks statistics on multiple social media platforms, but for Twitter, its Twitter Search graphs are invaluable - they provide graphing of keyword mentions on an hourly basis.  There's also Twitter user stats available, and all of this information can be compared to things like blog mentions.  Also check out TweetStats Trends.\nIdeal for: tracking Twitter search, comparing information\n3. Tweetmeme\nIf you're looking to do research on retweeting and link-sharing on Twitter, Tweetmeme provides retweeting stats for articles on Twitter.  It's best for recent events, but does have legacy. \nTwitturly and Retweetist also do similar things.  Also be sure to try out Twist if you want to graph out Twitter trends. \nIdeal for: researching trends\n4. WeFollowwe and Twellow\n\n\n\n\nYour boss asks for a report on the most popular people in your industry that use Twitter - where do you go look first?  While no option is perfect, WeFollow and Twellow are both directories of Twitter users.  WeFollow uses hashtags to categorize people by industry or hobby.  Twellow organizes categorically as well, but also has the TwellowHood tool for finding Twitter users by location.\nIdeal for: tracking groups of users, tracking an industry\n5. Xefer Twitter Charts\n\n\n\n\nXefer Twitter Charts is another way to research individuals on Twitter.  Xefer graphs Tweets and replies using Yahoo Pipes and Google Charts to display hour-by-hour information.  The other cool thing about Twitter Charts is that it will show you all the @replies a person has ever used, sorted by person.  You can quickly find out who they favor.\nIdeal for: Individual user research\nMore Research Tools to Come\nTwitter research is only growing, and there are many more tools than the ones listed here.  Innovation will breed even more useful Twitter analysis tools that can help us better understand not only social media, but how we function as a society.  \nWe know there are more great Twitter tools, so if you have one you want to share, be sure to include it in the comments.\nMore Twitter resources from Mashable:\n\n- HOW TO: Find a Job on Twitter\n- 29 Twitter Apps for the iPhone Compared\n- How Twitter is Dethroning the Old Guard\n\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, Norebbo"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2009/05/03/twitter-research-tools/>