Buffer is a new app that will build a tweet queue, spreading out your updates over time. As you read your daily websites, you probably come across numerous articles to which you want to link and share. Rather than post them quickly during your morning or lunch break, Buffer will let you create your tweets, then automatically space them out haphazardly so that it will seem like you’re actually posting them in real time.

This service is free for up to 10 tweets in your queue, which should get you through a week of tweets. If you are posting more than that, you may want to upgrade to the $10/month Pro account that lets you schedule 50 tweets or the $30/month Premium account that lets you schedule unlimited tweets. Both accounts come with other added bonuses and additional Buffer features.

Buffer requires an email and password to sign up. Then you’ll link your Twitter account and authorize the app to access your account, which all takes less than a minute. It also allows you to link to Facebook, although this is in its beta mode for now.

Buffer has the fun option to “Suggest me a Tweet”, which will auto-create a tweet of interesting facts, a quote or a funny news story if you have writer’s block.

 

Next to that is a little gift box icon that will create a tweet with a link to invite other people to join Buffer.

 

The link button will automatically shorten links for you without your having to sign into a link shortening tool.

 

These two buttons give you the option to tweet now or Add to Buffer, which will store it in your queue.

 

This app provides you with analytics on your posted tweets, or you can switch back to your Pending tweets view.

 

 

To try it out, I added a few tweets to my personal account:

 

Buffer will automatically assign posting times to you that can be changed in your Settings. Note: be sure to update your time zone correctly! So far I have gotten 11:08 AM, 2:50 PM and 5:04 PM. I decided I wanted my post about a rainy day and dropping my phone in a puddle to be next to each other (since they happened the same day) so Buffer let me click and drag the posts to arrange them. The times automatically switch and it saves the new order instantly.

Within the settings you can change your link shortener tool (like bit.ly), your post times, how many posts you want per day, and you can add team members who can also log in and create tweets on your Buffer account — perfect for businesses with a larger writing or social media team. You can also add multiple Twitter accounts among many other easy-to-use features.

According to Buffer’s startup analysis of a 2,000-user sample, on average it increased click-through rates on tweets by 200% in the first three weeks after sign up — probably because users were tweeting more often and at times of the day when more people are using Twitter. It is also worthwhile because you can download extensions that will let you create Buffer Tweets from any web browser page that you want to share.

For a free app, Buffer is simple and quick to use with many useful features. I am a huge advocate for if you can’t interact, schedule because it keeps your Twitter account lively and interesting even if you have no time throughout the day to be either. So why not let Buffer do the hard work for you?