Twitter tweeting birds
Credit: Image by petesimon on Flickr. Some rights reserved

What is it: An app that lets you record short audio clips and tweet them.

Devices: iOS

Cost: Free

How is it of use to journalists? The pressure to keep audiences up to date with news is always on. And while reporters might like some time to sit down and write or edit a news package, Twitter followers would like to know what's happening as it's happening.

Chhirp is a free app that lets you record quick soundbites and tweet them to your followers with just a few taps on your smartphone's screen. It's raw, unedited audio that can offer listeners a window into the reporting process, or a teaser to a story that's about to be published.

Once you open the app, you will need to log in with your Twitter account to start using it. You will then be greeted by a hard-to-miss red button which controls when to start recording and when to stop.

Press and hold the button to record your message. The longest chhirps are around 1:30 minutes long, and the app starts counting down when you're about to run out of time to give you a chance to wrap it up.

You can then listen back to the audio before deciding whether to tweet it or to start again.

chhirp
Screenshots from Chhirp.

The app also allows you to customise the message you will tweet alongside the recording – and the audio will play inside the tweet without redirecting your followers to a different browser window.

You can also listen to your own Chhirps inside the app, and check out other popular Chhirps collected by the team in the 'hot' section.

Chhirp was created by the Cord Project, a team who experiments with the use of short audio messaging across platforms. You can also check out Cord.im for sending private soundbites to your contacts.