About the Tweet With Your Location Feature

Brings about the long awaited context aspect to blogging. Does this also pave the way for advertising and in particular targeted advertising on Twitter ?

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Nov 12, 2009 

 

Twitter's Tweet With Your Location feature allows you to selectively add location information to your Tweets. This feature is off by default and you will need to opt-in to use it.

Once you've opted-in, you will be able to add your location information to individual Tweets as you compose them on Twitter.com and with other applications or mobile devices that support this feature. The location information that is shared publicly can be either your exact location (your coordinates) or your place (like a neighborhood or town).

Tweeting with your place or coordinates can add context to your updates and help you join the local conversation, wherever you are. For example, here's a weather report from Coleen, tweeting from the SoMA neighborhood in San Francisco:

Meanwhile, John tweeted his exact point in the San Francisco International Airport, as he awaits to board a plane full of nerds en route to the SXSW conference:

Even once you turn Tweet with Your Location on, you have additional control over which Tweets (and what type of location information) is shared. The FAQ below has more information about how locations are displayed with your Tweets.

Your Privacy and Tweet with Location

We want you to have control over how and when your location information is shared. Tweet With Location is off by default, and as a user you need to opt-in to the service. You can turn Tweet With Location on or off at any time, as well as clear your location before you Tweet. You can also delete all your past location data with a single click.

It's already a good idea to be cautious and careful about the amount of information you share online. There may be some updates where you want to share your location ("The parade is starting now." or "A truck just spilled delicious candy all over the roadway!"), and some updates where you want to keep your location private. Just like you might not want to tweet your home address, please be cautious in tweeting coordinates you don't want others to see.

Remember that when you're opted in to Tweet With Your Location, you can still select to not share your location for individual Tweets, or choose to share a more general location level if your application allows.

Tweet With Your Location FAQ

What location information is displayed?

All geolocation information begins as an exact location (latitude and longitude), which is sent from your browser or device. Twitter won't show any location information unless you've opted-in to the feature, and have allowed your device or browser to transmit your coordinates to us. Based on that information, Tweets can be annotated with just that exact location, with a place (a town or neighborhood), or with both types of information.

For each Tweet, we will publicly display whatever location information you've elected to share. For example, if you update from Twitter Mobile and have specified that a particular Tweet should show your exact location, these coordinates can be seen on Twitter.com, Twitter mobile, and in third-party applications.

If you choose to only share your place, those Tweets will only be displayed with the general neighborhood information. Application developers are required to be up-front and obvious about whether your exact coordinates will be displayed, or just the place. When you tweet from a third-party application or mobile device, it should be clear which type of data will be publicly displayed.