25 Creative Uses of Twitter

You knew Twitter could keep you updated on your friends’ activities, but did you know it’s capable of so much more? Did you know it can teach you to cook, remind you to water your plants, or instantly poll your friends? Here are 25 wacky, fun and sometimes useful ways to use Twitter:

1. Avoid traffic jams

CommuterFeed aggregates tweets about traffic from people stuck in jams. By following your city’s feed, you can get updates about ongoing traffic tangles. New Jersey Transit riders have created a similar service.

2. Keep track of those pesky to-dos

Remember the Milk is an application that integrates with Twitter to help you remember all those things that can slip through the cracks.

3. Turn your thumb from brown to green

Botanicalls’ DIY Twitter watering project uses moisture probes to allow your plant to tweet you a message when it needs a drink.

4. Catch up on your classic literature

Two projects on Twitter are trying to share an entire novel tweet by tweet: James Joyce’s Ulysses or Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

5. Tweet from the womb

When Tyler Aaron Menscher (@kickbee) was born in January, he already had hundreds of followers. That’s because his dad, Corey Menscher, created a device that recorded and tweeted his son’s kicks from the womb as they happened.

6. Become a chef

The Belfast-based @cookbook tweets recipes in 140 characters or less, boasting more than 16,000 followers.
Here’s a recent tweet: Spinach Nut Salad: top 5c torn spinach w dice apple/c mix nuts/3T parmesan; +whisked 3T nut oil/T wine vinegar/.5t soy sauce&Dijon&dill/s+p.

7. Quit smoking.

Quitter is a Twitter tool from Tobacco Free Florida that helps track how many cigarettes you smoke each day, charting your progress until you’re smoke-free.

8. Get out of jail

James Buck, a 29-year-old UC Berkley journalism student, was arrested in Egypt in April 2008. He sent a Twitter message that said one thing: Arrested. The tweet alerted his friends, who contact authorities. Buck was walked out of jail the next day with an Egyptian attorney hired by UC Berkley and the help of the US Embassy.

9. Take a poll

Strawpoll lets you drop mini-polls into your Twitter stream – a quick way to make weekend plans among friends.

10. Remember that doctor’s appointment

Have @timer remind you of your meetings – or just to refill that parking meter in 15 minutes.

11. Move on from your retail or serving job

Look for opportunities Twithire or on @tweetajob, a virtual career fair that also shares interview tips.

12. Track your stuff in the mail

With @trackthis, you can keep tabs on FedEx, UPS and DHL shipments.

13. Drop those 15 pounds

Keep a diet journal complete with calories for everything you put in your mouth – and if you don’t know how the calorie count, TweetWhatYouEat will help you fill in the blanks. Foodfeed is another option.

14. Rant or rave about the movie you just saw

Share your 140-character reviews with MicroRevie.ws, on Twitter at @hreview.

15. Hit snooze on your annoying friends

If you follow some talkative folks but don’t want to permane ntly unfollow them, you can snooze them for a certain time so you don’t receive their tweets.

16. Deck out your Twitter account

Deck out your Twitter account with free profile backgrounds from Twitter Backs, Twitter Patterns and Tweet Backs. Or pick out some free Twitter buttons from Siah Design.

17. Share your favorite new song

Twittytunes lets you tweet what you're listening, watching or reading, and Blip.fm offers a similar service.

18. Spill your secrets on Secret Tweet

Remember PostSecret, the project that collected anonymous confessions the world over? Combine it with Twitter, and this is what you’ve got.

19. Find out who’s swearing on Twitter

Curse Bird tracks the dirty mouths.

20. Boast your Xbox 360 skills

Boast your Xbox 360 skills with Xbox 360 Gamer Tag or Twee60, which will automatically update your followers with what you’re playing.

21. Remember your I-O-U’s

Did your friend spot you a few bucks for coffee the other day? Foamee tracks who you owe coffee or beer to.

22. Post like a Pirate

Arrr, Matey! Turn your tweets into pirate speak with this fun tool, particularly useful on Sept. 19 for Talk Like a Pirate Day.

23. Are you a shopaholic?

Use Deal Tagger to tell your followers about the bargains you find.

24. Love the LOL Cats meme?

Juxtapose your tweets on top of silly cat images using LOL feeds.

25. Roll the dice

This tool comes in handy when you’re betting or playing games with your friends.