The Buzz Bin

BigTweet is a free service used to ‘surf the web and post to Twitter.’ Developed by Scott Carter, the owner of Social.com, this new Twitter application is a bookmarklet offering more than just quick updates to your Twitter account.

To use BigTweet, all you need is your Twitter account login and password. Go to the BigTweet site and drag and drop the button (looks like the image) to your toolbar. All major browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and even Google Chrome) support BigTweet. From there, you are ready to experience BigTweet. Click on the BigTweet button, now in your toolbar, whenever you’re surfing the web and want to share the site you’re on with your Twitter friends. The open window automatically shortens the URL of the site you’re visiting to be included in your tweet. Ever feel that 140 characters are not enough? BigTweet lets you choose between the normal 140 characters limit to double the size of 280 characters. You can make your tweets more exciting with over 60 different unicode characters to choose from:

A question you might ask: How secure is BigTweet? The Twitter application uses the secure https protocol during login and your password is always kept encrypted while on the BigTweet servers. You also have the option to keep yourself logged in. If you choose to uncheck the “Keep me logged in” box, your encrypted password is not stored when you close your browser.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 4 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: BigTweet goes above and beyond Twitter’s existing features with the different character limit choices (280 or 140) and the unicode characters. It’s a fun and simple tool.

Negative: The open window you use for posting does not go away after posting. You have to manually close it. It would be nice if it closed automatically. For Internet Explorer users, you can’t see the BigTweet bookmarklet unless you expand your Links Toolbar.

Conclusion: The drag and drop button reminds me of social|median’s “Clip it!” Applications or services that make it easier to surf and share what’s on the web seem to be the growing trend. I’m especially enjoying the unicode characters. BigTweet is a big hit in my book.