What's in a bot?

So, I rented a book from the library about Twitter.  I know, I know, how dorky...My husband has already gotten on me about that.  I'm kind of a bookworm and it was something I needed to learn anyway, right?

So, this book, "Twitter - Tips, Tricks & Tweets" by Paul McFedries was a very easy read.  I do have to say, much easier that spending a couple weeks figuring out the ins and outs of twitter by copying everyone else.  I actually learned something from the book that was quite interesting.  I didn't know twitter has these useful bots out there.

A twitter bot is an automated twitter account.  A person does not run the account and RT and send DMs.  Things are done automatically.  When you follow a bot, the bot follows you.  Here are some useful purposes of a bot...

Follow: http://www.twitter.com/timer

It's a bot, so it will follow you back automatically.  Then, once it follows you, you can send DM to it.  If you send the message "10 Call Mom", in 10 minutes, it'll DM you back with the message to Call Mom.  This works great if you have alerts coming to your phone.  Now, it's not recommended you use this as your way to get up every morning since twitter can be "over capacity" at times and not delivery right on time but it could come in handy.

Follow: http://www.twitter.comt/411

Once it follows you back, you can DM "map Detroit, MI" and you'll get a DM back with a URL to the link of the map.

Follow: http://www.twitter.com/twanslate

First, you need to DM them with "twanslate help" and this will give you the directory for the different languages to twanslate.  For example, FR is French.  Then, you'd DM with "fr I love Twitter" and it will DM you back with the twanslation.

Follow: http://www.twitter.com/forecast

DM it with "city, state" or with "zip" and it will DM you back with the forecast for that area.

These are just a few of the bots that are out there.  Just like technology, there is always something new. I would suggest searching "bot" on twitter and see if there is anything out there that would interest you.