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Twitter to Introduce Geolocation and Retweet Features

by Terrence O'Brien on September 23, 2009 at 05:32 PM

Will New Twitter Features be Unveiled This Week?As we speak, 140: The Twitter Conference is underway in Los Angeles, and many are expecting Twitter to use the gathering to unveil some of its newer features.

Perhaps the most anticipated is the launch of Twitter Local, a new feature that will attach longitude and latitude data to your tweets in order to pinpoint location on a map. In addition to locating your friends and yourself, this data could also search for nearby twitterers via GPS. According to Mashable, the feature is ready to go live "any day now." Could that day be today?

Another expected addition is the so-called "Project ReTweet," which will officially integrate the common practice of forwarding tweets. Reports show that the new formatting for retweets has started to appear for some users -- but only for a few users, and only in some third-party Twitter apps.

Retweets will be displayed on the retweeting user's page, but listed under the name of the original tweeter -- as you can see in the image above. For example, if we retweeted our mom's update (as we never, ever do), her original tweet would show up on both her page and ours. This is already causing confusion, though, as retweets are appearing in newsfeeds attributed to the original poster, even if you don't follow that person. (Reportedly, this has sent the not-so-tech-savvy Justine Bateman into a bit of a Twitter-based hissy fit.) When the new feature goes live, retweets will feature a label identifying the post as a retweet (like replies and times-of-tweet are currently noted).

Neither feature is yet available to anyone at the Switched offices, so, for now, we too are stuck waiting for the next step in Twitter's evolution. [From: GeekSugar and Download Squad]

Update:
Some details about Twitter's geolocation features were revealed today, though the service is still not quite ready for prime time. Here are some quick highlights:
  • Users will have to opt-in, the feature will not be turned on by default.
  • Initially, there will be no sign of the new feature on the Twitter Web site, except in settings. Third party app developers will get access to the feature first.
  • In order to avoid potential subpoenas, Twitter will delete all location data from Tweets older than 14 days old. (Good news for those worried about privacy.)
The geolocation switch is expected to be thrown any day now, so we can finally see what bustling metropolises and remote locations our devoted fans and re-tweeters call home. [From: Smarterware]

Tags: 140 characters conference, 140CharactersConference, retweet, top, twitter

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