Blogging Tips

Is there a cause that you feel very strongly about and would like to promote on your Twitter account in a unique way? Twibbon allows you to do so by adding a small icon in the corner of your Twitter avatar (though I have seen a few that cover the enter avatar).

Twibbon has a large directory of causes to choose from but, if you can’t find the one you’re looking for you can start it yourself. I was actually looking for an Army Wives Twibbon and there wasn’t one, so I created one. Since I’m pretty familiar with image editing, it took me about 5 minutes to create mine. If you’re not so familiar, it may take a little longer but it’s definitely not that difficult to do.

Creating A Twibbon

You will need an image editing program that allows you to create images with transparent backgrounds.
ie. Photoshop, Pixlr, Paint.net, Gimp

You’ll need to make sure that the icon sits in a corner of the Twitter avatar. Therefore, it will need to be small so that it does not cover up the actual avatar (unless you really want it to) yet large enough so that people can recognize what it is. After that it’s pretty simply, just fill in the title, description, category, tags, etc for your cause and attach the image.

As suggested by Twibbon, it’s a good idea to use a hashtag in the title. Since the title is what will be tweeted whenever someone supports your cause, having a hashtag in it could create or add to a trending topic. Once you have all that together your Twibbon will be done and added for others to support and use.

You’ll be able to see how many people are using your Twibbon. You can also change it whenever you like, though it can be a bit tricky.

Supporting a Twibbon

If you don’t want to create a Twibbon or there’s already one created for the cause you’d like to support, then you’ve got it easy. Just click on support, login with your credentials or via OAuth and your Twitter avatar will then have the Twibbon added. A tweet will automatically be sent out from your account (like below) so don’t be alarmed.

As of right now, Twibbon permanently replaces your Twitter avatar with a new one containing the Twibbon. So, if you ever want to get rid of or change your Twibbon you’ll need to change your avatar picture.

Twibbons are a great gesture and can really get the word out about a cause that is important to you. If you haven’t already, definitely give it a try. They’re not obstructive, so they don’t take away from your avatar.

Which Twibbon are you or do you plan to support?