Twitter recently launched Twitter Places, a technology that allows users to tell Twitter where they are in the world. The benefit for the user is simple. Their tweet now has more context.
From twitter:
When turning to Twitter to keep up with the current world cup soccer game, it helps to know where a Tweet is coming from—is that person watching the game on TV or is he actually in the stadium? To help answer that question, we’re excited to announce Twitter Places on twitter.com and mobile.twitter.com. Starting today, you can tag Tweets with specific places, including all World Cup stadiums in South Africa, and create new Twitter Places. You can also click a Twitter Place within a Tweet to see recent Tweets from a particular location.
This also means that Twitter will now have similar attributes to the new social media startup Foursquare. Location is becoming an important part of online socilaising, which makes it no surprise that Twitter is now entering this space.
Most people have come to realise that I only care about adoption when it comes to social media. There is no point marketing into a social media platform unless your public are using the network. Twitter has the potential to create serious competition for Foursquare here as they have a user base of about 11 million with 64 million tweets occuring each day. The latest stats I could find on Foursquare sat at 1.4 million users. However in true social networking spirit Foursquare and Twitter have been working together to get this technology working and integrated on both platforms which seems to suggest a more symbiotic relationship between the two networks.
Although I like Foursquare and enjoy playing the game, I would suggest that people take note of Twitter Places and start tracking the tweets that surround their retail outlets, hotels, venues and stadiums. It could provide a great channel for listening to public opinion for your business.
Twitter has the following to say off their company blog:
“Over the next week, we will roll this out to users in 65 countries around the world, so keep an eye out for the “Add your location” link below the Tweet box. This is possible thanks to key data partnerships with TomTom and Localeze. We are also working to bring Twitter Places to our other mobile applications, including Twitter for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. Follow @geo for geo-specific updates, and check our Help Center to learn how to use Twitter Places.”
If you would like to know more about using twitter check out our latest twitter presentation/workshop Twit, Twitter and Tweet
