Twitter, the popular micro blogging site that is taking the world by storm, helps you stay in touch with friends, family, business partners, colleagues, clients, and other people via short messages called “tweets,” usually around 140 characters long. By following tweets of other people, users keep up with each other. Every time someone you follow posts a tweet, that post shows up in your Twitter feed. Similarly, if you publish a tweet, your followers can read your that message.

Twitter has a simple user interface, without having too many options to organize or manage your feed. If you are a power user, you may want to have an application or two that could help you use Twitter more effectively.

Here are 5 add-ons that you may want to incorporate in your Twitter account.

1. WeFollow

This is a Twitter application that allows you to submit yourself to a directory. Send a tweet to WeFollow, including up to 3 hashtags that describe yourself. Hashtags are somewhat like keywords. For instance, if you are an adventurer, you might submit a tweet like this: @wefollow #rock climber #blogger #adventure.

This sends your account into a WeFollow directory which categorizes it according to the hashtags you follow. Thus, your Twitter account is categorized and searchable on WeFollow. WeFollow is also a cool way to find people with similar interests to your own. For entrepreneurs, you may find potential clients that need your services and companies that complement your line of business.

2. Qwitter

It happens—one day, you have 100 followers, but the next, you are down to 90? Twitter does not inform you when someone stops following you. You may be curious as to who among your followers dropped you. However, it would be a really cumbersome effort to comb through your followers list to find out who took you off their list.

If you want to know when and why someone ceases following you, then you might want to check out Qwitter. Just register your account on the Quitter Web site, and Qwitter will monitor your account. When someone drops you after you post something, you will get an e-mail with the username of the person who dropped you and the post that may have triggered them to leave.

3. TweetDeck

TweetDeck brings you several Twitter tools in one integrated client. With the application, you can manage the people you follow, send tweets and direct messages, follow any @ mentions and replies, and a lot more.

In its original interface, you need to refresh the Twitter page every time you want to see updates. With TweetDeck, you get updates immediately as they come in. The application will notify you with a beep or visual flag if you receive a reply.

TweeDeck organizes your contacts into a column-format list, which is very helpful if you are following a lot of people. You can set your contacts in groups too.

TweeDeck also has a feature called TweetShrink. This allows you to reduce a tweet or URL that is too long and provides a shortcut to image and video uploads and a button that allows you to send your tweets to Facebook.

4. TwitThis

A blogging tool rather than a true Twitter tool, TwitThis is a great application for anyone who is looking for a way to promote his Website or blog. If you want to share interesting information to others, you can also use TwitThis.

The application provides an HTML code that you can add to your website. The code places a button on your Web page or blog. A reader who wants to share your site through their Twitter account just needs to click the button.

You can still use TwitThis even if you do not have a website or blog or promote. It can be used as a bookmarklet, a one-click tool that sits in your browser’s toolbar. If you are searching the Internet and found something you like to share on Twitter, just click the bookmarklet, and the URL of the page you are viewing will post directly to your feed.

5. TwitPic

Do you want to share a photo of your new product? Or maybe images of your vacation? Then use TwitPic, an application that allows you to share photos on Twitter. Set up an account in TwitPic, log in, then use the application to upload photos from your computer. TwitPic will store the photo on its server. At the same time, it creates a post to your Twitter account with a link to that photo. You have the option to tag your photo or place captions.

Even better, you can use Twitpic to share photos from your mobile phone. The application creates a unique e-mail address that is based on your username. Just e-mail the photo to that address to make it appear in your Tweeter feed.

If you visit the Twitpic homepage, you will find a Google world map that features recently uploaded photos from all over the world.

Use these applications to make your Tweetering more effective, flexible, and enjoyable.