Want to create a Twitter app for free? You can learn how to manipulate Twitter’s Application Programming Interface (API), using the free resource we’re going to tell you about.

It will take you a little time to learn, but it’s time much better spent when compared to how you currently spend time online: reading or writing long status updates on Facebook and Instagramming your lunch.

Codecademy offers free courses to help you write real-life apps and build websites that can text your phone, pull in YouTube videos, or connect to Facebook and Twitter, using APIs.

Its courses are community-created, with the goal of opening up knowledge. “Everyone knows something they can teach someone else and we want to help them do it. Our community has created tens of thousands of courses and taken millions of courses.”

The course that focuses on Twitter’s API will be of particular interest to you, no doubt. It teaches you how to create a Twitter app and start accessing data from users, Tweets, and timelines.”

There are two series of courses you’ll need to take to accomplish this, broken down into multiple exercises:

As someone who has started their “getting started with programming” course, I can attest to the lessons being extremely user-friendly and requiring little beyond some focused attention.

And they’ve gamified it a bit, allowing you to earn points and badges for completing exercises. It’s a neat little incentive that will appeal to those fond of Foursquare badges and such.

What can you DO once you’ve mastered these courses? Check out these success stories for a taste. “Codecademy has inspired thousands of people just like you – and changed the lives of people who are very different from you.”

Want to add yourself to their ranks? Check ‘em out and let us know how it goes!

(Image from @Codecademy)