Twitter just announced that as an option you can now share your location on a tweet-by-tweet basis. And, at www.twitterfall.com we can watch tweets by location.
On a news front it would be interesting to watch tweets only coming from the scene of a major event. That might even trump cable news for learning about events as they happen.
From a marketing point of view imagine being in an office downtown and reading all the tweets from nearby restaurants telling you about lunch specials and wait times. Or, being the restaurateur who broadcasts specials until the restaurant is full and then cuts off the promotion.
I don’t think any brand should plan on spending a lot of money on Twitter just yet as it’s a long way from mainstream but it’s easy to see how technology is rapidly bringing us to hyper-local advertising and promotion.
Google has figured out Local Search and proven that it is effective and ready to go right now and you should be spending money on and with your retailers there today.
Local advertising is being re-invented and if you’re managing a brand through local retailers you have to be rethinking the way you communicate with consumers today and ready to change tomorrow.