Twitter, Foursquare may team up to add location to tweets

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Twitter and Foursquare are forming a partnership to build location information into tweets, a new report claims.

If the social networks ink a deal, Foursquare would help provide location information for individual tweets, reported Business Insider on Wednesday, citing an unnamed source. The partnership is set to start next year, and the new “geo-based” features could roll out as soon as the first quarter, said the publication.

Twitter already offers some location-based features. It can identify a users location when they sign up for the service and users are able to share their location in their bio if they want. Twitter does not currently in-depth location information for individual tweets.

Foursquare has been operating in the location space since 2009 — letting users “check in” to locations and discover the city around them using its mobile app. In May, Foursquare changed tactics a bit and spun off the check-in feature into a standalone app called Swarm. The Foursquare app is now more focused on local search and curated content based on a person’s location and likes.

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Twitter continues to work to make tweets more relevant and interesting for users and convince investors that its growth hasn’t stalled. At an analyst event earlier this year, Twitter indicated that location-based information could enhance its service by providing context to tweets — identifying if a conversation is taking place in a country, a city, a neighborhood or venue — and improving user engagement. The company also said location information could help users find tweets from the places they care about, whether that’s their hometown or where they are when they access Twitter.

At this point, it appears a deal between Twitter and Foursquare would be a partnership and not an acquisition or merger.

Foursquare declined to comment on the news. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.