Twitter has become one of the leading sources for real-time information, but it appears the social network also has its eyes on being a prime source of local information. Spindle, a discovery engine for the social web, recently announced in a blog post that it was acquired by Twitter. Marketers who use Twitter to engage prospects might find they can better reach local groups that are ready to make purchase decisions.
Spindle’s location-discovery application pulls social content from networks like Twitter and Facebook to deliver users with up-to-the-minute information about nearby businesses and events. The company wants to go above-and-beyond search engine’s ranking signals by incorporating social, mobile and contextual information in its results.
It’s important to note that Spindle doesn’t draw from the web, it only pulls data about businesses with active presences on social networks – something that could make marketers’ branded content even more important.
“Every time we’ve experimented and looked beyond local discovery, we’ve been amazed by the breadth and quality of content shared on Twitter,” the Spindle blog stated. “We can do so much more to help you find interesting, timely and useful information about what’s happening around you.”
“We can do so much more to help you find interesting, timely and useful information about what’s happening around you.”
Between Twitter’s acquisition of Spindle and Google’s updated local search display (see Brafton‘s previous coverage), it’s clear that local will play a significant role in web users’ purchasing decisions.
More than half of American consumers own smartphones and use them to research their products and services every day. If brands can leverage real-time channels like Twitter to deliver timely messages, they can push prospects through the sales funnel when they’re on the verge on converting.
