As you probably have noticed, I have been on quite the Twitter kick lately. Twitter is a powerful tool that allows marketers to take a lot of guesswork out of building a brand. As such, I have been exploring many different programs to help and automate the tedious parts of Twitter and give more time to networking and relationship building. You may recall I talked about Twitter Hummingbird and its features just a little while ago. Now I’m going to explain Twitter Bird Feeder.
First Impressions of Twitter Bird Feeder
The people at PaceSys Software stopped by and left a comment on my Twitter Hummingbird Review post saying they believed their program mopped the floor with Hummingbird. So naturally I had to check out Twitter Bird Feeder. I was disappointed they didn’t offer me a free full version of the software, but life goes on.
The trial version allows you to follow and unfollow 250 people before it stops working. I’ll tell you first off that’s all you need. I was hooked instantly and bought it right away. These $175 programs really start to add up. Here are some of the best features Twitter Bird Feeder has:
Manage Accounts
You can add, manage and update unlimited accounts with Bird Feeder Pro ($175), the version I have. Bird Feeder offers a cheaper version of the program for $59.95. This version limits you to 5 Twitter accounts.
Twitter Bird Feeder Manage Window
Follow by Search
Unlike Hummingbird, Twitter Bird Feeder allows you to search and follow people with more precision. You can do the normal search and follow through Twitter’s search but can also select to follow by location.
Right away you’ll notice some neat features to the left on the program where you can select to skip people still rockin’ the default picture on their profile. Also, Bird Feeder has a built in time delay for following people, allowing you to have a more natural or delayed approach. Along with that, if you leave the program running, you can schedule Bird Feeder to automatically follow and unfollow people at a set time (handy while away from the office for a while).
Follow By Search
Follow by People
I follow people the most with Bird Feeder by selecting to follow the friends or followers of people I know on Twitter. If someone is a friend of one of my friends, chances are he or she would follow me back. You can choose to follow a person’s friends by newest or oldest. Again, using a time delay or set time and only following those without default images.
Another option is to follow by people’s usernames, first names or last names. This is really handy in the event you want to follow 1,000 Heathers or every Josh on Twitter to rub it in that you are the only real Josh 
. I actually use this feature a lot.
Unfollow People
Like Twitter Hummingbird, you can protect people you want to stay followed to even if they aren’t following you back. Then we see some improvements over Hummingbird with Bird Feeder such as unfollowing a specific number of people, time delay, scheduling and the ability to unfollow people after so many hours or days. For instance, @therealjosh is at a point where I can follow 1000′s more than are following back. This gives people more time to follow me back in return because I unfollow people every 3 days.
Having the ability to unfollow people by length of time and/or by newest/oldest is a huge improvement over Hummingbird. This feature alone would be enough to justify the switch from Hummingbird to Bird Feeder. Like most programs on Twitter, it remembers who you have followed and unfollowed as to not follow them again. But be very careful when switching from Hummingbird or another program to Bird Feeder. You might get your account suspended by re-following many of the same people again. Oops.
Account Tab
This is pretty straight forward. You can view your account stats and update your tweets.
Conclusion
I would recommend buying Twitter Bird Feeder over Hummingbird in a heartbeat. It is a little cheaper and has many more features. Plus, if you use less than 5 Twitter accounts you’ll save a ton of money. Twitter Bird Feeder also has an affiliate program that offers up to 25% of sales. Although this is not as good as Hummingbird, you can feel better about the program you are offering to others. I will be switching my endorsement to Bird Feeder over Hummingbird. I’ll continue to promote both and rank for those terms, hopefully persuading people to pick Bird Feeder.
I hope you saved some money and time by reading my reviews of these programs and making a more informed decision on what you want to use to help automate Twitter. Tell me your thoughts about Bird Feeder if you have used it before.
Enter code: MINUSTEN to save $10 when you click the affiliate button above.
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Tags: Bird Feeder, Brid Feeder Review, Marketing Ideas, Twitter, Twitter Bird Feeder, Twitter Marketing
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Don’t forget that I have discount codes if you decide to try and then purchase Bird Feeder. $10 off.
Josh. This seems really interesting. I’ll have to look into this. Thanks for posting!
hanji
Wow, Bird Feeder KILLS Hummingbird! Thank you so much for posting this!
WOW, Chris is right! Bird Feeder rocks! I just downloaded the trial. Thank you Josh for putting up such valuable information. I’m definately going to be moving over to BF. As Chris wrote.. it KILLS over HB!!
[...] Update: (6-16-09) If you’d like to use a program with more features and much cheaper visit my Twitter Bird Feeder Review. [...]
Awesome post to be honest! Great job!
Hey Josh
I purchased the software.. it’s great. Thanks for the coupon code!
hanji
Hi!
this really help me to understand twitter.
thank you.
Great review exploring Bird Feeder. Interesting how it can improve and automate the tedious parts of Twitter.
I’ve been searching for software that would help me find potential Twitter followers who might be genuinely interested in my products without getting involved in black-hat techniques or spamming anyone, and Bird Feeder looks as if it might be just what I’ve been looking for.
I love the fact that there’s a free trial available, which I’ll be delighted to take up.
I don’t have more than 5 accounts at the moment, so the cheaper version would be fine – but if this inspires me to go beyond that, is it possible to upgrade the package, rather than having to buy a complete new version?
I’m very grateful for the detailed reviews (a welcome change from the usual hype about Hummingbird!) – thank you.
What are the discount codes for this?
I was really looking at using his software until I realized how much it cost. I just can’t afford that kind of price. Does anyone know if there is a cheaper program that has most of the same features?
Hi Josh,
I wondered if you had any contact or info on bird feeder now? I purchased 2 days ago off their site and have had no contact at all, no registration code for the software, nothing apart from the PayPal confirmation saying they got my money!
I have tried everything to contact them for days now to no avail so I’m reduced to google searches for bird feeder scam etc to see what I can find!
Are they still in business do you know?
Would really appreciate anything you can tell me.. I will get a refund thru PayPal and buy again thru your link if I can verify they still exist!
Cheers
Andy
Hi all
have to admit was using twitter bird feeder with great success then upgraded pc and laptop to windows 7 and forgot to save the license file on both machines upon reinstaling it now says license exceeded as you only get 2 use it on 2 machines and been emailing them direct and filling in support requests to no avail for over 2 months now…. spoke to paypal to try get refund but its been to long and what is worse their registered web address with paypal now goes to some porn type site hmmmm this is really a shame as the software really is good and would have bought again but i would say its very risky indeed as seems others have now bought and not recieved code.
Sorry to dampen your review josh as i to went via your site with the discount code but thought you better know about this and also to others
)
Marcus
Nice review, when I am ready I will buy through your link. I had been considering Hummingbird, so you saved me some aggravation.
Thanks for stopping by. I don't use it everyday like I used to (have plenty of followers now, ha), but I still do use it. Their program has been a really consistent program that does what it says it does. I hope that when you do get a copy you enjoy it.
Nice review, when I am ready I will buy through your link. I had been considering Hummingbird, so you saved me some aggravation.
Thanks for stopping by. I don't use it everyday like I used to (have plenty of followers now, ha), but I still do use it. Their program has been a really consistent program that does what it says it does. I hope that when you do get a copy you enjoy it.