Future:Media:Change

Twitter recently announced the introduction of Local Trends, giving people the ability to search by location-based trending topics.  The race for location based information is on, but what does this mean for non profits?  Can we capitalize on what may  become the 2010 buzz topic?

Twitter and Geo-location

Most people probably don’t realize they already put their location in twitter when they signed up because up to know the location based information hasn’t been highly utilized.  Twitter will soon however begin to contextualize their information to allow people to search based on trending topics by location.

Acquisition!

Twitter isn’t the type to make acquisitions, but when they do they’re a big deal. Their purchase of Mixer Labs — makers of the popular GeoAPI service — gives the company technology that is laying the foundation for the future of Twitter location services.

GeoAPI is a reverse geocoder, which means it can take the actual location (the exact latitude and longitude of your tweet) and transform that to identify a particular physical location. Their database includes 16 million businesses and supports layers from Flickr, YouTube, and even Foursquare, to add rich media context to neighborhoods. -MashableMashable

Planning for the Location 2010

Location based applications are undoubtedly going to be a part of the social media landscape this year, but what can non profits anticipate to see?

• Place Data – Knowing that tweets are coming from a specific city are great but what if you could tell that they are coming from a specific precinct?  With Twitter’s acquisition of the GeoAPI they will able to tell on a very granular level exactly where tweets are coming from.  Think about sending a petition with not just the number of names but the exact geo-location of all the constituents who care about an issue.  Having a rally, get people to twitter to show a local representative the power of your movement.
• Check-ins - You might not have to have a FourSquare strategy if Twitter and Facebook make geo-location check-ins part of their strategy.  Twitter might use their geo-location features to create their own check-in applications.  Checkout this Mashable post on some creative ways to use check-ins for your non profit.
• Crisis Info – With specific geo-location information your non profit could know exactly where emergency relief is needed and how many people need assistance. Mobile platform Ushahidi is already making some pioneering work in this area.