Name: Tweetboard
Quick Pitch: Tweetboard is a Twitter-powered "microforum," and runs on your site rather than being a "destination" site.
Genius Idea: Tweetboard is for website owners who want to display threaded Twitter conversations on their own site and create an instant Twitter-powered forum, where all tweets from the Tweetboard link back to the publisher.
The unobtrusive Tweetboard forum sits on the left hand side of your screen as a small tab indicating the count of tweets since a viewer's last visit. Visitors can then click the tab and the Tweetboard will slide open with a view of all tweets pulled in from your Twitter stream, threaded appropriately. Tweets pulled in include your account updates and @replies to other users. Replies, however, show up in context of the original message, so as to create a back-and-forth conversation-like feel.
This conversation format spontaneously adds a Twitter friendly-forum to display chatter between you and your followers, friends, customers, and would-be clients. Users can even use Sign in with Twitter to tweet from the page, expand replies, add their own reply, and filter tweets by date, last activity, and most active.
Tweetboard is a pretty nifty addition that many a brand or startup — or even celebrities that want to have a fan forum — should consider implementing on their site. Not only does it reinforce that you have a strong Twitter presence, but it could help reduce support emails, increase your reach across the Twittersphere, grow site traffic, and help new customers/users get engaged.
140ware, the company behind Tweetboard, is automatically approving alpha invite requests to Twitterers who make their request to @140ware in this form: "Requesting an invite for Tweetboard Alpha (http://tweetboard.com) by @140ware, for my site: http://ReplaceWithYourURL.com."
Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.