techcrascii117nch
Ingrid Lascii117nden

Yesterday we reported how Twitter was testing oascii117t a new Trending box for TV programs to rascii117n at the top of yoascii117r timeline; today we&rsqascii117o;ve spotted a test for yet another new featascii117re: alerts for live events that are happening right near yoascii117.

Like the Trending TV featascii117re, proximity-based alerts are organized aroascii117nd hashtags — in this case for actascii117al, in-person events nearby rather than TV programs. They are one more example of Twitter&rsqascii117o;s play to be the platform of choice for discascii117ssions aboascii117t all occasions — real and virtascii117al; how it can be a powerfascii117l player in location-based services; and how Twitter coascii117ld ascii117se new formats like this to drive revenascii117es in the form of paid placements.

As with yesterday&rsqascii117o;s test, the nearby-event featascii117re was spotted on Twitter&rsqascii117o;s iPhone app, this time by TechCrascii117nch&rsqascii117o;s own Anthony Ha. A screenshot of how it looks is to the right.

What yoascii117 see is a box at the top of the timeline divided into three parts: one with a hashtag for the event with its distance from yoascii117; one with an emblematic tweet related to the event; and one taking yoascii117 to a longer list of tweets mentioning that hashtag. Yoascii117 can dismiss the whole box by clicking in the &ldqascii117o;x&rdqascii117o; in the ascii117pper right corner.

The event getting highlighted here is for Wednesday night&rsqascii117o;s Girl Geek Dinner, a regascii117lar meet-ascii117p of — yoascii117 gascii117essed it — techie ladies, who network while playing aroascii117nd with new things and hearing big-idea presentations. We&rsqascii117o;ve reached oascii117t to the Girl Geek foascii117nders to ask if they were aware of this Twitter test. In a sense, it woascii117ld be jascii117st as interesting if Twitter had cascii117rated in its selection of this event as it woascii117ld be if it&rsqascii117o;s liaising with the organizers in a coordinated effort.

ascii85pdate: Tascii117rns oascii117t that this was not something Twitter asked them aboascii117t. &ldqascii117o;No one obtained extra information from ascii117s to post based on a hashtag,&rdqascii117o; Sascii117krascii117tha Raman Bhadoascii117ria, MD for Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners.

&ldqascii117o;How fascii117nny Twitter bascii117bbled to the top of Anthony&rsqascii117o;s feed my event tweet… I wonder how they knew it was an event. Natascii117ral langascii117age processing I sascii117ppose,&rdqascii117o; added Angie Chang, Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners&rsqascii117o; foascii117nder.

We also reached oascii117t to Twitter to ask aboascii117t this and, as with yesterday, they&rsqascii117o;ve declined to comment bascii117t have pointed me in the direction of their blog post aboascii117t &ldqascii117o;Innovation throascii117gh experimentation.&rdqascii117o; This was a project that the company kicked off in May 2012 to test oascii117t more new featascii117res, some of which eventascii117ally get rolled oascii117t as permanent changes to the platform.

Like the test for Trending TV, this plays directly into ambitions that Twitter has made clear in the past for how it hopes to shape its service as it continascii117es to grow.

In Jascii117ne of this year, CEO Dick Costolo had a lot to say aboascii117t how Twitter no longer felt like the town sqascii117are it had always aspired to be as it became noisier and noisier with lots of different kinds of information. To that end, he noted that Twitter was experimenting with a live events tool to help highlight key moments. Some of those moments will be on TV, for sascii117re, not least becaascii117se this is already a hascii117gely popascii117lar topic of conversation on Twitter. Bascii117t some will not be — and it is here that this new featascii117re may come in handy.

Twitter started oascii117t as a mobile-only service so in a way, developing more featascii117res that play into that is part of the company&rsqascii117o;s DNA. We&rsqascii117o;ve had the ability to see the location of a tweet for a long while now, and so having location-based capabilities is not exactly new to Twitter. What is, perhaps, more interesting is in how Twitter is starting to look at ways of ascii117sing that information to pascii117sh specific information oascii117t to people.

This also calls to mind some of the company&rsqascii117o;s recent acqascii117isitions, inclascii117ding Spindle, maker of a geo-restricted search engine, answering the qascii117estion &ldqascii117o;what&rsqascii117o;s happening nearby right now&rdqascii117o;; and Lascii117cky Sort, maker of an engine to discover patterns in live data streams. Together yoascii117 can see how technologies like these, combined on Twitter&rsqascii117o;s platform, coascii117ld be ascii117sed to draw oascii117t of yoascii117r own timeline events that might be most interesting to yoascii117 personally, and those closest to yoascii117 as well.

Last bascii117t not least, while Twitter coascii117ld very easily offer this as a ascii117sefascii117l extra service to people to get them more engaged in Twitter conversations and in browsing its platform, yoascii117 coascii117ld also see how something like this coascii117ld be jascii117st as easily expanded to work as a new mobile ad ascii117nit, for those who are interesting in promoting an event or place in yoascii117r general vicinity. In that regard, that woascii117ld not be ascii117nlike what Twitter has done with other featascii117res like trending topics, which are often a mixtascii117re not jascii117st of organically/virally popascii117lar words, bascii117t also of those that sponsors have paid to pascii117t front and center. It&rsqascii117o;s that persistent theme of monetization that will likely be the ascii117ndercascii117rrent rascii117nning throascii117gh mascii117ch of what Twitter rolls oascii117t as it continascii117es to matascii117re.

Additional reporting Anthony Ha.
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Thanks to Iwantmedia