2 Simple Ways To Add Twitter Counter In Your Blog

Twitter is getting very popular now. Many bloggers predict Twitter will go mainstream in year 2009. Today, I’m going to show you how too add Twitter follower count in your blog.

What Is Twitter?

In case you don’t know, Twitter is an micro-blogging service bringing you a new way to connect and communicate with your audience.

Started as a side project in March of 2006, Twitter has grown into a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices. In countries all around the world, people follow the sources most relevant to them and access information via Twitter as it happens—from breaking world news to updates from friends.

TwitterCounter

TwitterCounter is a third party service which keeps track of the number of your followers.

In addition, it will try to predict your follower count in future base on the average calculated. It also has nice Flash showing the number your follower in the past history and future prediction in a nice linear graph.

In the following section, I’ll show you various options on how to add the Twitter follower count in your blog.

Option #1: Using TwitterCounter WordPress Plugin

This is a plugin developed by Ajax Souza. You can download the plugin from his own website. Just activate the plugin and add it to your widget sidebar and it’ll show the count automatically.

Steps to use the plugin:

1. Download TwitterCounter WordPress plugin.
2. Extract the contents of twittercounter.zip to /wp-content/plugins/ folder. You should get a folder called twittercounter.
3. Upload the twittercounter folder to your FTP folder /wp-content/plugins/.
4. Activate the plugin in plugin admin screen.
5. Goto Options > TwitterCounter to configure. If you are upgrading from an earlier version, it is recommended that you click ‘Default Options’ so as to clean up any old options.
6. Add <?php do_action('echo_tc'); ?> to your theme file where you want to display the counter. Alternatively, if you can use the sidebar widget, if your theme has widget support.

Option #2: Add Twitter Follower Count Manually

This is an advanced option which you have the total control on it. You can show the count any place you like.

1. Go to TwitterCounter website.
2. Type your Twitter username in the box next to “Generate your Graph. Who are you on Twitter: @” and click “Show”.
3. Then click “Get more followers: Add TwitterCounter to your site, blog or social network.” at the top of next page.
4. In next page, you will see four counters in different styles. The JavaScript code is appeared below each counter.
5. Pick one of the counter style that you like and copy the JavaScript code.
6. Now go to your Widget admin page in your WordPress.
7. Add a new “Text” widget to your sidebar. If you like, you can use existing “Text” widget in your sidebar and append the code to it.
8. Click “Edit” link on your “Text” widget and paste the code into the empty textbox.
9. Click “Done” and “Save” button to show your TwitterCounter.
10. If you’d like to show the count in your blog post, you can paste the code when you add/edit a post in the HTML mode.

TwitterCounter In 4 Different Styles

Manually Add The TwitterCounter In Your Sidebar

Manually Add The TwitterCounter In Your Blog Post

Conclusion

It’s cool to add the Twitter follower count in your blog. It will give your audience a new opportunity to connect to you! It’s simple, just do it.

You can see my Twitter follower count below in the blog post.

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