What Twitter's New Geolocation Makes Possible
Twitter turned on its long-awaited Geolocation API today, meaning that users can opt-in to having their messages annotated with their exact locations. The significance of this is made clear by comparing it with last week's release of 500 million …
Context & Ripple Effects
Twitter had already outlined its location ambitions in August and seen the Geolocation API appear in an early form in September. The formal opt-in rollout turns location from a prospective platform feature into data that can accompany individual messages.
The launch arrives during a wider run of Twitter product changes, including Lists and a broader native Retweet rollout. Location adds a new dimension to that stream: not just what people say or whom they follow, but where they choose to say it from.
First-order effects
- Users who opt in can attach exact location data to their messages, while developers gain a location field to build into Twitter clients and services.
- The initial rollout gives API-based applications an advantage over Twitter.com, which syndicated coverage says does not yet expose the feature.
Second-order effects
- Third-party Twitter clients can compete on how they collect, display, and filter opt-in location data, increasing pressure on Twitter to bring comparable location features to its own site.
- Opt-in becomes a product constraint: developers need to make the value of sharing precise location clear enough for users to enable it.
Third-order effects
- If location tagging gains adoption, Twitter’s message stream becomes a more useful platform for services organized around place as well as social connections.
- The rollout points toward contextual social data being governed by explicit user permission, making consent design part of platform differentiation.
The trend: Social platforms are expanding from text-and-relationship feeds into opt-in contextual data layers that outside developers can build on.