Twitter to allow users to track tweets by location

published 21 August 2009

Twitter is to allow developers to add latitude and longitude to any tweet through a new API tool, opening the way for users to organise tweets by specific locations.

When the new feature launches, users will need to activate it, as it will be off by default. The exact location data will also not be stored for any extended period of time.

If users do opt-in to sharing their location data tweet-by tweet, Twitter said that "compelling context" would be added to each tweet.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said on the site's blog: "With accurate, tweet-level location data you could switch from reading the tweets if accounts from anyone in your neighbourhood or city whether you follow them or not."

"It's easy to imagine how this might be interesting at an event like a concert or even something more dramatic like an earthquake," he added.

Platform developers will get access to geolocation before it is added to Twitter. This will mean that many mobile apps will have the feature before it's available on the microblogging site.

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