I am a fan of social web discovery app StumbleUpon. I have, in fact, found some incredibly interesting and useful stuff simply by hitting the “Stumble” button in my browser. That sort of serendipitous discovery is an enjoyable alternative to my full throttle, heavy-duty research-focused method of pulling information out of the Web.

I admit it. I struggle with using Twitter as an information source. Although I have to say the Smartr iPhone app has gotten me pretty far along on the path to being a Twitter -information-aggregator convert. But I will save my love for that tool for another post.

Another tool that has gotten my attention is one that combines the gushing firehose of Twitter with the serendipitous discovery of StumbleUpon. The tool is called Tumbl.in and works much like StumbleUpon does, but for links scattered through your favorite Twitter search topics and lists. StumbleUpon users will recognize the top menu bar with buttons for retweeting, rating, saving for later or the simple Tumbl.in button that will pull you to another link. If you prefer, you can browse links from a given sub-section of your available Twitter links. Like StumbleUpon, you can select categories of interest to affect the results of the Tumbl.in randomizing button.

Tumbl.in definitely has its own niche here. And I like where it is going. If people are seriously going to employ Twitter as an information repository, then apps like Tumbl.in and Smartr that cull all but the links are a great start. Slice and dice through your Twitter stream and find the gems in record time, and leave the Foursquare checkins for the chaff pile.

If you check it out, would love to hear what you think of the service in the comments.