Getty / Steve JenningsTwitter wants to start surfacing information for users that's relevant and interesting, not just timely. And it believes adding a location layer to its platform could be part of the solution.
Twitter and Foursquare are planning to partner together in 2015 to power location in tweets, a source familiar with the deal tells Business Insider.
The geo-based features could roll out as soon as the first quarter.
Twitter is independently staffing up in the location department, too. It recently hired a geo lead from Foursquare, David Blackman, and it has six other geo engineering job listings on its website.
What kind of location-based features will Twitter and Foursquare work on together?
Right now, Twitter's location features are limited. It can tell where a user is when he or she signs up, as well as the location a user lists in his or her bio. But it believes determining where each tweet originates could be powerful too.
A Twitter spokesperson declined to acknowledge the partnership with Foursquare, but noted the company sees location as a "vehicle of discovery." When asked which geo features Twitter plans to rollout, the spokesperson alluded to Foursquare-like venue check-ins in tweets, local recommendations, and organizing content around a user's current whereabouts.
Twitter outlined some of its plans to tackle location-based features in a recent analyst presentation. The company recently ran a test in a few major cities with new users. It showed some new users a bunch of tweets that were tied to the location where he or she registered for Twitter. Those people were more likely to reopen Twitter within 30 days than those who weren't shown location-based content.
"Our goal is to take those learnings and scale them to hte rest of the world," the Twitter executive stated. "There are two key [location] components to nail: 1) Understanding where content is coming from and where the conversation is happening: a country, a city, a neighborhood or venue. 2) Understanding places you care about, whether that's the place you're standing when you access twitter, your home country, or some place else on the globe that's captured your attention. Organizing the world's public conversations in real-time can offer limitless opportunities."
A Foursquare spokesperson declined to comment on the Twitter partnership.
Here are the relevant location slides from Twitter's analyst presentation.
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