Because of its simplicity, Twitter has great potential for many different uses and applications. With a little creativity, the possibilities are nearly endless.

A recent survey out of Norway sheds some light on that, showing that tweeting journalists use the service in multiple ways – at least in that country:

• Research (30 percent)
• Private use (29 percent)
• Getting story ideas (23 percent)
• Promotion and branding (17 percent)
• Building network with other journalists (15 percent)
• Get in contact with sources and do interviews (13 percent)
• Get feedback from readers (12 percent)

This list is far from exhaustive. Twitter can also be used to actually cover events, live tweeting from them or documenting a question and answer.

There are many other possibilities as well for creative uses and team projects, such as shared accounts and reaching out to a designated target audience. Twitter can also be used as a publishing platform for headlines and breaking news.

In the end, it oftentimes depends on the individual journalist or organization and what they seek to accomplish. They may elect for a combination of the above, and that’s OK. The many uses help make the service special, and if you can think of a creative one, you’re likely to set yourself apart.

Ever wish there was a way to organize your chaotic Twitter stream into a series of columns, one with pictures, one with replies, one with retweets, one with generic chatter, and even one with potential story ideas?

Yes, there’s Tweetdeck for those familiar with Twitter, but now there’s a new option out there, designed with the journalist in mind: JournoTwit.

JournoTwit organizes your Twitter feed by columns for an easier read.

Andrew Spode Miller, a UK tech journalist and Web developer, says he designed JournoTwit “out of necessity.”

“Twitter was taking up way too much of my time, but I knew it was an invaluable resource,” Miller said. “I was a big fan of TweetDeck, but they just weren’t implementing the features I was after.”

JournoTwit makes Twitter “more digestable,” he says. It is entirely Web-based so there are no downloads required.  Your settings are stored, so you can move from computer to computer without losing the setup. And it supports use of multiple accounts, as many journalists operate both personal and professional accounts.

“The biggest feature is the way that JournoTwit divides your Twitter feed up,” Miller said. “Frankly, I think it’s ludicrous that we are still monitoring a single feed of data, where there are clear classifications of tweets available.”

Anytime someone you follow posts a picture, it displays as a separate feed. When someone sends an @ reply to someone else, it goes under “Chatter.” Anytime someone posts a link that isn’t a picture, it goes to the “Potential News” column. As Miller says, “When someone posts a link to something – chances are, it’s to a news story or to something interesting going on that you should know about.”

The best use of the potential news column is following accounts with automated feeds, Miller says.  These accounts are news sources that simply spit out a headline with a link.  Now they can be separated from your main feed and not get in the way.

Miller (@spode) says he has big plans for JournoTwit.  He is working with Dan Monsieurle (@mled) on further development and hopes to implement additional features. He said of the next version, “It’s looking to be quite something.”

So what are you waiting for? Give JournoTwit a try for yourself.

Let us know what you think of the client by sending an @ reply to @TwitJourn or leaving a comment below.