The deluge of information rushing by on Twitter may get a little less intimidating.
Brizzly, the social media client from the team behind Google Reader, just launched a wiki-style guide to Twitter trending topics that stays long after hot stories fade from view. Each trending topic will get its own guide page that is a permanent source for up-to-date information where anybody can see the latest about a topic. Brizzly users can edit these pages to add context or the freshest news.
It’s a pretty interesting concept with lots of implications for journalism, if Brizzly can push enough users to participate and curate the pages. If the company is successful in engaging its community, it may have a much more diverse group of editors than Wikipedia in the long run — especially since the encyclopedia has become more exclusive. Brizzly was among the first companies that allowed regular users to add explanations for why certain keywords had sudden bursts of mentions on the microblogging network.
The company has made a bet on a wiki-style approach to curating information on Twitter by acquiring WikiRank, a visualization web app based on Wikipedia data, from Small Batch. Brizzly CEO Jason Shellen says the company will be integrating Wikirank technology into the Brizzly Guide over the coming months.
Last but not least, the company launched an iPhone app today that offers all the standard features: support for multiple Twitter accounts, lists, geolocation, the ability to upload photos, retweets and custom tabs. The special extras unique to the app are the Brizzly Guide and the ability to temporarily mute people you follow.
Companies: brizzly
People: chris weatherell, Jason Shellen
