Twitter has just become my favorite location-aware application! In a blog post today, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone revealed that a location API will soon be made available for developers to use in their applications. Soon after, geolocation will be added directly into the Twitter platform enabling the addition of latitude and longitude coordinates to any tweet.
Just for the privacy concerned, Stone says that the feature will be turned off by default so users will have to turn it on manually. Furthermore, Twitter won’t hold onto any location data for longer than necessary-though exactly how long the company will have it isn’t known.
I can’t help but wonder how this will affect developers of Twitter applications already utilizing location. Currently, location is derived from whatever we happen to share in our profile. While the new location API will help make established location-based Twitter apps better, will the eventual incorporation of location into the Twitter platform itself spell the end for these types of apps?
Whatever the case may be, developers will have access to the location API before it’s added to Twitter so they’ll have a bit of a head start.
I also wonder how this change will affect other location-based social networks such as Loopt and Whrrl. Will Twitter become the all-powerful location-based application that destroys all others?
