Like Google Labs and Facebook Prototypes before it, Twitter Labs will allow developers to test out new features for the site with a voluntary beta community prior to their official release. Not only that, but Labs would allow outside developers to create and work on add-ons and other features that could then become deeply integrated with Twitter itself, instead of just being relegated to external clients that use the API.

The news comes via the Future of Web Apps conference currently taking place in London, where Twitter engineer Britt Selvitelle made the announcement earlier today. Based on the announcement, it sounds like Twitter is planning something in between Mozilla’s Firefox add-ons and Google’s Labs playground for experimental features.

While this is undoubtedly good news for people looking to get something more out of Twitter, I’m wondering if it doesn’t run counter to the core idea behind the service’s success to date. What I like about Twitter is its simplicity, as opposed to the layers and complexity of Facebook. While browsing Facebook is a time-consuming, involved process for me, it’s easy to keep Twitter active in the background all day, popping in and out when the mood strikes while still easily disengaging when necessary.

Twitter add-ons and apps threaten to complicate the process. I dread the day when my tweet timeline is cluttered with survey results and invitations to try out such-and-such disguised personal data mining application. Perhaps I’m being overly fatalistic, but Facebook’s track record shows that such things are possible.

On the other hand, with enough oversight on the part of Twitter, and with responsible API usage, Twitter Labs could open the door to making the service perfectly suited for each individual user. Until evidence proves otherwise, though, I remain skeptical.

What do you think of this announcement?

Prior to Gmail, I used Outlook for email, which has a less-than-optimal search capability. In other words, if I didn’t file an email into the proper folder, my chances of ever finding that email again were slim. When I first started using Gmail, I brought this filing behavior with me, and I obsessively tagged and labeled everything. I ended up with a bunch of labels that I probably didn’t need. At some point, I realized that Gmail’s search facility is so amazing that labeling and filing every email became unnecessary. Now, for most emails, I read them, respond if necessary, and archive. All without bothering to give them labels.

Now, to contradict myself. I also make extensive use of Gmail’s filtering capabilities to automatically add labels to some email. However, I reserve this capability for the really important stuff, like client email — you know, the people who pay me money to do stuff. I want to keep careful track of those emails.

When I get a new client, I create two separate filters for that client. The first one looks at the “from” address and applies an appropriate label (for example, “coolclient”) to any email coming from its domain (“@coolclient.com”). The second filter looks for anything in the “to” address that matches the same “@coolclient.com”. Now, I can click on the “coolclient” label and see all of my correspondence with that client.

Like most people, I also have an issue with too much email overflowing in my inbox, and I don’t want to miss any of those important emails from clients, so I need to have the client email stand out. Gmail lets you apply colors to labels, so for  important clients, I make the label bright green to make sure that I can see all of my client email at a glance.

I handle my big list of labels by using a keyboard shortcut that lets me go directly to a label without having to scroll for ages. To do this, you have to enable keyboard shortcuts under “Settings”, and then go to Labs and enable the “Go to label” feature. Now, I can hit “g” then “l”, type in my label, and get dumped right into that label. Again, it’s important to embrace the chaos of having too many labels and use this feature to avoid scrolling through them.

The key to using Gmail effectively is to embrace the chaos: Let Gmail’s search handle most of the organization, and keep labeling to a minimum. By only labeling my client email and a few other important categories, I’ve simplified my labels down to a manageable level.

How do you organize your email?

Recently I discovered a new Labs feature that makes me love Gmail even more: the “Send & Archive” button.

I rely on email as my main line of communication with my clients, and I have a whole system worked out. I use my inbox like a to-do list. Clients email me tasks, and as I complete them, I move the message out of my inbox. Whatever remains in my inbox are the tasks that I need to complete; the goal is to have an empty inbox.

My old method was to reply to emails and then manually move them out of  my inbox with the “Archive” button, a laborious two-step process. That was until I discovered the “Send & Archive” button! Now I just click one button to send my response and archive the email out of my inbox.

To enable “Send & Archive”:

1. Click on the “labs” beaker
2. Scroll down to the “Send & Archive” feature and click the “Enable” radio button
3. Click “Save Changes”

Now when you compose messages you will have a fancy “Send & Archive” button seated very nicely right next to your now-archaic “Send” button.

I hope this method helps keep you organized. As a freelancer, I am often juggling multiple projects and like to make my life as simple and streamlined as possible.

What Labs features do you use to streamline Gmail?

First up, there’s a feature I know I’ve wished I had many, many times. And generally, when I found myself wanting it, my career was somehow involved. Basically, Gmail now has a take-back button for undoing a “Send” command. It actually holds the email for five seconds after you’ve pressed the send button, so it can’t actually reach out and steal a sent email back from the receiving server, but that five seconds is often all I need to realize that I’ve forgotten an important attachment in a client-facing email.

They’ve also added new preview features for a variety of services. This might not seem like a big thing either, but the cumulative time-savings the previews offers amount to a potentially significant productivity boost. Gmail now automatically detects YouTube, Picasa, and Flickr links, and also Yelp reviews, and gives you the ability to preview the associated content without leaving the page or opening a new tab or browser window.

In all cases, that means you no longer have to go clicking links and possibly getting lost along the way when dealing with these kind of potentially distracting emails. Yelp integration is especially handy if you’re trying to set up a lunch meeting or sales call, as long as all parties are using Gmail.

These new features aren’t enabled by default, so if you want to take advantage of them, go into your Settings and activate the options under the Labs tab. They’re available now for all users, including Google Apps account holders.

What are your favorite Gmail Labs features?

If you’re like me, you’ll nearly always have Gmail open in a tab on your browser. Unfortunately, when you open more than a few tabs, the tab width reduces to the point where you can no longer see how many unread messages there are.

Gmail in an inactive tab

It’s unproductive to have to switch back to the Gmail tab just to check to see whether you have new email. If you enable Title Tweaks (to find it click Settings, then Labs), it moves the count of unread messages to the start of the page title. This means that you can see whether you have any new mail in your inbox by just glancing at your tabs.

Gmail in an inactive tab with Title Tweaks enabled

This is very simple enhancement, but it’s very handy. Note that it also means that if you have a browser window minimized, you can keep a check on unread emails in the taskbar, too.

What are you favorite Gmail Labs features?

Now Google is getting serious by bringing the Labs concept to Google Apps. They’re starting with just 3 Labs add-ins. Google says they’re hoping 3rd party developers will get involved. Unlike the email Labs, these features must be added by your Google Apps Administrator. Usefulness depends on your organization/company needs. And remember, Google uses the “experimental” label to mean “use at your own risk.”

The first feature is Google Moderator, which reminds me a simple version of Salesforce Ideas. Expanding on Google Doc’s ability to use a spreadsheet as a form, Moderator allows you to let users create and vote up or down questions.

The next is Google Code Reviews, clearly aimed at software/web development folks to collaborate on code.

Finally, there’s Google Short Links. Organizations typically have many different resources all over the web shared by all staff. Google Short Links lets the administrator create easy-to-remember redirects for all those sites.

I gave Google Short Links a quick try.

Unlike email Labs where enabling the feature is as easy as toggling an “enable/disable” radio button, turning on these features must be done by someone who has access to your Apps administration control panel and the DNS settings on your domain. You have to set a CNAME record with your domain host so you can have a unique URL for your feature (ex: shortlinks.domain.com/shortcut).

If you didn’t break a sweat setting your company up for Google Apps, this is a no-brainer. If you’re wondering what a CNAME record is and you have no idea how to make one for your domain, then these new features may not be for you.

Google provides easy-to-follow generic instructions, and I found that the new URL was accessible within minutes, and adding new URLs was easy and intuitive.

The new Labs for Google Apps works with both the free and paid Apps accounts.

What features do you want Labs to add to Google Apps next?