In a tweet from @waynesutton earlier tonight I was introduced to a new Twitter service called Tweetworks, a site designed to make microblogging more useful for people and businesses by creating groups and centralizing discussions around specific topics.

Although there are rudimentary ways to track conversations on Twitter by using hashtags, Tweetworks takes it a step further by creating discussion groups and threading conversations together. According to Tweetworks creators, “tweets stay together where they belong.” They claim that users will no longer need to click on an endless procession of “in reply to” links (something that was even more futile a few months ago before Twitter implemented ‘in reply to’ functionality) just to follow a conversation.

No New Accounts Needed

Like many other successful Twitter services, Tweetworks requires no additional account to be created to participate. All you need is your Twitter username and password. In my opinion, this method of logging in speaks immensely towards the ability of open microblogging standards and the power something like that could have if all apps, platforms and services could agree on a standard way of processing data and categorizing actions.

Also, because you are using a Twitter account that already exists, Tweetworks makes it easy to repost your messages from inside Tweetworks groups back to Twitter with a follow up link, hopefully enticing your followers and friends to join in.

Making Group Functionality Easy

Tweetworks takes functionality that doesn’t exist in the standard version of Twitter and brings it to life in a simple, elegant interface.

There are three tabs when you first log in: you, groups, public.

• You — This is all of the conversations you have participated in over the last 24-72 hours.
• Group — This is all of the conversations that have taken place within your groups (public & private) over the last 24-72 hours.
• Public — This is all of the public conversations (the “Everyone Stream“) happening on Tweetworks over the last 24-72 hours.

Click the ‘Browse Groups’ button in the sidebar to take a look at what groups have been created by other users, or create your own. At the time this post was written, there were 85 groups.

Enterprise Applications

Tweetworks mentions that they are hoping to make microblogging easier for businesses, but they don’t quite outline how. Some applications I can see for businesses include:

• creating a private group for company discussions (as long as you don’t also repost messages to Twitter)
• creating a group (private/public) for brand loyalists or fans to gather product feedback

Each of these applications allow businesses to use a tool that already exists (Twitter) and then leverage it for their own purposes, rather than booting up and registering for another tool in addition to Twitter.

Ways to Monetize

As sad as it seems, monetizing apps seems to be one of the first things on many people’s minds when new websites launch these days. Maybe its the economy, or maybe its just how people are wired, but here are a few of our ideas for ways Tweetworks could add some cashflow to its business:

• allow paid users to create more than one private group (right now a user can only create one)
• allow customization of groups (adding graphics, outside links, RSS feeds)
• allow paid users to customize their interface and color scheme
• charge businesses to set up their own private group (if used as an internal communication tool)

The Next Takeover Target for Twitter?

The last ‘big,’ widely-adopted service based on Twitter with no additional sign-ins was Summize, and they ended up getting purchased by Twitter. With many users clamoring for functionality like this within the basic Twitter platform itself, could this be the next takeover target for Twitter? Although Twitter is supposedly still fiddling around trying to find a business model, grabbing Tweetworks and sliding in relevant, group-related sponsorship or advertising might not be a bad idea.

Join Our Discussion

We will continue to watch this service as it grows and gains traction. If you’d like to participate in our discussions on Tweetworks, check out the Microblink group.