Twitter is testing a new feature called “nearby” which displays geographically local tweets to users.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the new feature can source tweets whether you are following a close-by user or not.
Twitter began allowing for location based tweets in 2010, however, the feature is turned off by default. Because of that fail-safe users are not likely to voice privacy concerns when they opt-in to share their location based information.
While Twitter is testing the feature it has already been released by other worldwide micro-blogging providers including China-based Weixin and Weibo. Those services allow users to find nearby users and check out their posts, photos, and videos, if they have turned on location-based services.
The biggest move in this direction could help local marketers who will be able to more easily discover Twitter users in their direct locale.
If Twitter pushes further into the location-based service we could see the company come in direct competition with the likes of Foursquare, Facebook Check-Ins and other providers.
Do you think the Twitter Nearby feature is the next big push for location-based micro-blogging and advertising?
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