
As the new Twitter continues to role out across the network, it’s clear that the micro-blogging platform intends to be here for the long-term.
Its initial use as a short message system has evolved into a truly multi-faceted and game-changing platform. Business, cause marketing, non-profits, customer service, lead generation and more – Twitter really does have something for everyone.
A lot of blogs (mine included) often concentrate on the best ways to use Twitter for business, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But wouldn’t it be cool to mix it up with a bit of fun too?
With that in mind, here are 10 fun apps for Twitter that you might not have heard of but are definitely worth checking out.
- SecretTweet. Founded in April 2008, SecretTweet allows you to tweet your darkest secrets (or those of your friends) for Twitter to comment on. There’s? a mix of the funny and bizarre on the site, though there can also be sad ones as well.
- Twitter Tussle. A cute little cartoon site, Twitter Tussle answers which topics are more popular on Twitter by having two cartoon Twitter birds duke it out on-screen.
- ASKch. A great healthcare resource, ASKch (currently in beta) from Change:Healthcare allows you to send a question about healthcare costs and options in your neighbourhood, and receive an automated response and information link within 60 seconds.
- Mombo. A fun and useful service, Mombo collates tweets about movies and formulates them into a review and overview of how good (or bad) that movie is according to Twitter.
- BollyTweet. Like Bollywood movies? Got an iPhone? BollyTweet allows you to connect and chat with your favourite Bollywood stars. And in great Bollywood fashion, you can shake your iPhone to get the latest tweets.
- Twitter for Busy People. Need to know at a glance what your Twitter friends are up to? Twitter for Busy People collates their images into sections (Last Hour, Last Day, More Than a Day Ago) and lets you hover over them for the latest update.
- CheapTweet. Almost like a Digg for deals, CheapTweet collates all the best retail offers being tweeted, and allows folks to vote on the best ones so you can save the most.
- Twitgift. The idea behind Twitgift is simply awesome. Want to send a gift to a Twitter friend? Choose a gift and send a tweet to them, and if they accept it gets mailed out to them. You don’t even need to know their address, Twitgift takes care of this.
- Twistori. A very cool visualization project, Twistori gathers tweets about six main topics – Love, Hate, Think, Believe, Feel, Wish – and runs a colourful stream with tweets about that topic.
- HootCourse. An interesting idea, HootCourse takes educational tweets and builds online classes around them. Virtual classrooms are created and students and teaches can meet to hold informal classes, complete with teaching materials and formats.
So there you have it. These are ten Twitter apps that might add a bit of fun to your tweeting and help mix things up a little when you want to get away from the serious stuff.
How about you – any Twitter apps you’ve found worth sharing? The comments are yours.
Image: Twitter Tussle