Babl is a mobile application (currently available for iPhone) that gives users a new ways to interact with Twitter and discover new conversations.
Typically, users scroll through a list of tweets posted by people they follow on Twitter or by searching for a phrase and then reading tweets in which the phrase appears. Babl offers an alternative by allowing users to first see the avatar of a Twitter user and then decide whether or not to read the tweet.
Babl helps users find conversations about interesting topics and current events by using crowd-suggested topics. Every Babl user is free to submit any topic they’d like to be read about more widely. The submitted topic is then added to a list that is automatically fed to other users. Recent suggestions have ranged from bombings in Pakistan to Wimbledon to debt.
The app makes clever use of Twitter and doesn’t rely on any databases or back-end programming to run.
Please check out Babl in Apple’s app store.
Students
Patrick McNally, Computer Science
Faculty Advisors
Larry Birnbaum, Computer Science
Jeremy Gilbert, Journalism