Power up WordPress with these five quality plug-ins:

1.  Tweet Blender

AUTHOR: Kirill Novitchenko
URL: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tweet-blender/
VERSION NEEDED: v2.0.2 or higher

Twitter is the microblogging social networking tool that millions of us cannot resist. It offers information quickly and succinctly making it a must-have everyday online commodity. Tweet Blender is an absolute cornucopia of features that ultimately ensures that WordPress social butterflies can get their tweets displayed smartly in a blog. The plug-in can also show tweets for multiple authors and multiple keywords and multiple hashtags, which are all then blended together into a single stream. Other features include the option to switch on/off a user’s photo, saving screen space, but allowing photos to be switched on in the Archive page, this is full list of tweets. There is the option to show a maximum of ten tweets and a minimum of one tweet in the initial display.
All a user really needs to do is supply the plug-in with a host of currently active Twitter sources. Users can simply add keywords, @screen_names or #hashtags separated with commas and the job is done. The plug-in is a darling to control, the widget can be control via Settings>Widget or alternatively its Appearance>Widget to take quick control. Plus, the finished on-screen widget in action is simply, but beautifully, crafted and great to look at, what more could you want?

2. Facebook Dashboard Widget

AUTHOR: Chris Chrisostomou
URL: http://mou.me.uk/projects/wordpress/plugins/facebook-dashboard-widget/
VERSION NEEDED: v2.5 or higher

This plug-in provides the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone being something of a time saver and easily accessible from anywhere. This nifty little plug-in integrates itself into the WordPress admin area allowing WordPress users a quick fix of Facebook. The plug-in processes the Friends status updates RSS feed, posted items feeds and/or Facebook notifications feed, and adds a widget for each to the WordPress admin dashboard. Managing the widget is pretty simple, each section – Friends Status Updates, Notifications and Posted Items – simply asks if users want to display the related widget, the number of updates to show and the widget height. To make each of the widgets active the Feed URL needs to be posted and if you have no clue there is a handy set of instructions on how to find each of the required URLs. Make sure you read these as it will definitely help. Once set up each feed can be posted into the sidebar individually via Appearance>Widgets. Admittedly this is not the most constructive use of Facebook in a WordPress environment but we couldn’t resist. If you love Facebook and need a regular fix this plug-in is just the answer.

3. uQuery iPhone App Widget

AUTHOR: RADSense Software
URL: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/uquery-widget/
VERSION NEEDED: v2.6 or higher

The soon-to-be omnipresent iPhone is a mobile gadget that is hard to ignore, but what has it got to do with WordPress? Well, in this case this simple lightweight plug-in is all about telling users where they can get a specific iPhone app. With developers constantly expanding the already burgeoning iPhone apps library, desirable apps can be hard to find. The purpose of this extension is to paste in the app ID or the iTunes URL and it will automatically link to and format the relevant details. This in part is to promote its own website www. uquery.com, an App Store search engine. The iPhone App Widget is a little bit different in that it doesn’t go down the typical route as used by most other plug-ins. It installs a button that appears in the Add New Post window alongside all the other formatting tools. The plug-in can be configured and it really couldn’t be any simpler as there is only one option. There is a checkbox that offers the option to Include uQuery search box in the widget. This means introducing a search field which will allow users to search the entire uQuery website.

4. WordPress Mobile Pack

AUTHOR: James Pearce/dotMobi
URL: http://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/wordpress-mobile-pack
VERSION NEEDED: v2.5 or higher

The mobile web revolution is set to hit the big time soon and WordPress users need to be ready. The dotMobi WordPress Mobile Pack is a comprehensive toolkit that looks to assist with getting a WordPress site ready for the mobile screen. The pack includes four mobile themes allowing users to switch from the default buff and black to a more engaging green, red or blue. These are activated directly from the Themes windows, the same as standard desktop themes. All mark-up is valid XHTML-MP 1 and the site scores five on mobiReady, the dotMobi compliance and mobileOK test tool. The Mobile Switcher feature automatically suggests desktop or mobile, but lets users switch to the alternative option and remember the decision made. This option is disabled by default, enabling users to choose the switcher mode, ie Browser detection, a mobile-theme desired desktop domain. Mobile Widgets offers the option to select currently active widgets to appear in the theme. There is a mobile admin panel where bloggers can access the admin interface and edit posts. Finally, the plug-in also has basic recognition of mobile devices and is capable of rescaling images, splitting articles and posts into multiple pages, simplifying style and removing media.

5. Google Analytics For WordPress

AUTHOR: Joost de Valk
URL: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/googleanalytics-for-wordpress/
VERSION NEEDED: v2.7 or higher

The Google Analytics plug-in automatically tracks and segments links and downloads. It also allows users to track AdSense clicks, add extra search engines and track image search queries. To use the plug-in users need an active Google Analytic account and their Analytics Account ID. In its basic form the Google Analytics Settings module is nothing more than three options and one is the account ID. To get to the more meaty workings of the plug-in it’s over to the advanced settings. This activates the features domain tracking, tracking AdSense and track extra search engines with a single click.