The Twitter Address Bar Search is a restartless add-on that lets you search for #hashtags and @usernames from the Firefox address bar.  It is a very simple tool, but does what it says it is going to do – so you can not argue there.  The neat feature here is that you can also use it on the mobile version of Firefox too. 

Here are a few more praise worthy features from the developers:

• Instantly connect: Search people and topics on Twitter using @ and # from the address bar.
• Stay informed and updated: The pinned Twitter App tab lights up when new Tweets arrive.
• Search Twitter: Switch to Twitter Search by clicking the drop down arrow in the search box.

You can pick up the Twitter Address Bar Search add-on for Firefox from the Firefox Add-ons website.

Mozilla’s social sharing button has gotten a few new improvements. F1, from Mozilla Labs is proposed to be a future default feature in a later version of Firefox, so think we should learn as much about it as we can.

The big update this time around is that the add-on now supports LinkedIn – so you can share things with your friends there. The interface has gotten a ‘bit of a facelift too.  Rather than expanding it’s interface down from the top of the browser, it shows a pop-up window that is more in-line with the Firefox 4 interface.

You also get a thumbnail picture preview when you share things on your Facebook account too.  I wish they would include the ability to post on Facebook fan pages – however, the new ability to post to your Facebook groups is a nice addition.

F1 is an add-on you have to try out if you are using Firefox 4 and have any sort of Facebook or Twitter-like social existence.  It might be about the best add-on I’ve seen when it comes to sharing links you have run across with family, friends and fans.

Want to display your Twitter timeline on the toolbar in Firefox? It is easy to do with Tweet Line. This simple add-on for Firefox will give you your very own Twitter powered news ticker.  What tweets do you see? Well, after authorizing your Twitter account, you see tweets from all the people you follow.

Once installed, Tweet Line will take up one toolbar space.  Inside though, you have easy access to a picture of the tweeter, the twitter message from the friend you are following, and several tools to either navigate or interact with the messages themselves.

Here are some of the commands you will have at your fingertips from within the toolbar itself:

• User icon
• This user’s status
• What application this user uses.
• Update time
• Current index / total number of downloaded statuses
• Toggle favorite
• Open update form
• Open update form to reply to this user
• Move to previous / next status. (Click with shift key then move per 5 updates and click with alt(option) key then move to first or last updates.)
• Open popup menu
• Collapse Tweet Line

If you find visiting Twitter.com a chore when it comes to seeing what people are up to, Tweet Line makes using Twitter just a little ‘bit easier.  You can pick up Tweet Line from the Firefox Add-ons website or learn more about it on the official Tweet Line website.

The biggest pain, other than cosmetics, is having to re-teach yourself the way you browse.  You have to get used to having that ability at your fingertips to do searches inside a website and get used to the usefulness that an add-on like this brings.

What are some of the newest features?

• Customizable keyboard shortcut to call up Apture Search
• Performance improvements, contextual search results now even faster
• Secure: Automatically disabled on HTTPS (secure) websites to not interfere with your private information
• What’s that word? Dictionary definitions now included in search results

and that is only scratching the surface of what the amazing Apture Highlights add-on can do.

You can pick up the Apture Highlights add-on from the Firefox Add-ons website.

If you are looking for a fast and easy way to share your thoughts without too much work, Statusus really get the job done.  Want to show your support for this fantastic idea or get to know the guys behind the Statusus add-on? They have a Facebook Apps page at which you can contact them or just tell them how much you like their Firefox add-on.  I am sure they probably would love feedback and suggestions too if you happen to have any.

You can pick up the Statusus add-on for Firefox on the Firefox Add-ons website.

Mozilla is getting into the world of social link sharing.  With F1, you can add the functionality of sharing a link on Twitter, Gmail or Facebook into the Firefox browser.  This neat add-on has a lot of potential, and is simple enough for anybody to pick up and use.

To share a link with F1, all you need to do is hit the share icon in the toolbar, choose the service you wish to share the link on and type out your short little message to your followers.  Once you then hit share, it will be sent out.  By default F1 works only with Twitter, Facebook and Gmail but I could see other services being included down the road.

Check out this short video to get more details on how F1 works:

Overall, I have to say I am pretty excited to see where F1 will go next.  Will Firefox having an add-on like this put services like AddThis.com out of business?

The Firefox add-on Thumbnail Zoom will do the work for you, and works with a lot of the popular image hosting websites out there.  All you need to do is download it, and then get to zooming!

This add-on for the Firefox browser will show you a floating panel with the full size image of whatever the thumbnail is about. You hover over the thumbnail image, and the add-on will take care of the rest of the work for you.

Here are some of the websites the Thumbnail Zoom add-on is confirmed to work with:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace
• Amazon
• Picasa
• Flickr
• LinkedIn
• Hi5
• Twitpic
• deviantART
• PhotoBucket
• Wikipedia

You can also enable or disable each site’s ability to zoom on the thumbnails via the status bar menu (or through the add-on settings).  So if you need to zoom in on thumbnails when on Facebook, but not on Twitter – you have full control.

You can pick up the Thumbnail Zoom add-on from the Firefox Add-ons website.

Do you belong to every social network that pops up on the Web?   I am kind of a sucker for them, so of course I turned towards Firefox to help me keep up with them all.  Yoono helps you keep all your social networks and instant messaging needs all in one easy to use application. Easily get all your updates or update your own status, across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and more.

Once Yoono is installed, it lives inside of your Firefox sidebar.  It helps you stay connected in your online social life by connecting you to such services as MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, FriendFeed, AIM, Yahoo IM and more and keeps all the contact information in one central location.  You can also use it to share links, images and videos across all your networks at the same time.

Here are a few more features of this fantastic social networking tool:

• Connect to all your social networks and never miss another status update from friends or family. You’re connected wherever you are on the web.
• Update your status across all your social networks at the same time.
• All your IM services right in your browser sidebar to easily chat while your surf the web – no more logging on to multiple services.
• Easily share links, images, and video from the page you are viewing with all your social networks at the same time.
• Discover cool stuff with the discovery widget that shows you related websites, images, videos and more as you browse.

It might not be for everybody, but for some of you out there – this could really help simplify keeping up with all of your social networking friends.

You can get Yoono from the Firefox Add-ons website, or learn more about the product from yoono.com.

You can clip things, post them by email, add them to your blog or even share them on a micro blogging service.  The choice really is up to you.

Now, there are a lot of places that promise to make your blogging and social networking life easier – and yes, Amplify does that too.  However, here are a few features that might set it apart from the rest of he pack.

• Amplify any URL or specific parts of a page you want to discuss.
• Easily clip, share and spark conversation about any specific Tweets on twitter.com.
• Everything you Amplify goes on your personal, fully searchable Amplog.
• All you need is a Twitter or Facebook account to sign in.
• Immediately connect with your friends from around the web to see what they’re Amplifying.
• Works directly from Google Reader.

You can learn more about Amplify over at Amplify.com, or pick up the Firefox add-on for it over at the Firefox Add-ons website.

Needing an extension-less fix for converting long links into short ones?  Now, we all know there are dozens of Firefox add-ons that could do this for you, but do you really need another extension to your browser? Maybe not. 

I got an e-mail from a Firefox Facts reader who asked…

"What way do you suggest is best for link shortening? I don’t want to install another add-on if possible.  Thanks!"

I’ll share with you the way I handle all my link shortening needs.

I would suggest you go sign up for bit.ly.  They are one of the best link shortening services out there today.  They have been around a while, so you know they are not going away (and breaking all your short links) anytime soon.  They also give you tons of statistics for all the links you shorten too.

The bookmarklet is the best part about the service.  As you can see in my screenshot above, it opens up a pane on top of the page you are looking at with the text all ready to copy, paste and share.  You can even use it to tweet your short link via Twitter too – if needed.

To grab the bookmarklet, all you need to do is register for bit.ly, and then drag the bookmarklet to your links toolbar in Firefox.

So there is your quick and easy extension-less fix for an everyday browsing problem.  While I still fully love all the Firefox add-ons and extensions out there, sometimes there is a better or easier way to do things without installing one more addition to the browser.