App of the week for journalists: TweetCaster, a Twitter app with souped-up search

App of the week: TweetCaster

Devices: Android, iPhone/iPad, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Bada

Cost: Free (or £2.99 to go ad free)

What is it? TweetCaster has several features not available in Twitter’s own app.

How is it of use to journalists? The Android version of TweetCaster was nominated for app of the week by Richard Kendall, web editor at PeterboroughToday.co.uk, who said:

I have found it faster than Twitter native app and smoother than Tweetdeck with plenty of options for sharing/managing found links and information.

TweetCaster has several functions you won’t find in Twitter’s own app, including a much more powerful search and filter that allows you to search your own timeline, all friends’ tweets or one person’s tweets.

You can also search for a keyword in nearby (geo-located) tweets, something that has obvious possibilities for journalists out on a breaking news story.

It also comes with Facebook integration, allows you to see who has re-tweeted a tweet and has a “zip it” function to allow you to mute a keyword, Twitter user or a trending hashtag.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

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App of the week for journalists – Glympse, for sharing your location

App of the week: Glympse

Operating systems: iPhone, Android, Windows, BlackBerry

Cost: Free

What is it and how is it of use to journalists? Glympse allows you to share your location privately by texting and emailing, or publicly on Facebook and Twitter.

It could be particularly handy if meeting a fellow journalist in a difficult environment, such as when covering a story like a protest or marathon, or more simply to send your whereabouts back to the newsdesk.

One advantage of this app over other location sharing options is that the person receiving your location can do so on a mobile phone or on a computer and the recipient does not need to have the app.

Glympse automatically records the time so the recipient can find out how long ago you were at that point and even track your movements.

The app has some handy features such as being able to add a message and specify your destination.

Reviews: It gets 2.5 stars in iTunes App Store, 4.5 stars in the Android Market and 2.5 stars in the BlackBerry App World.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

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