There is light at the end of the hyperlocal tunnel
Whitney had a post about his lack of enthusiasm for Twitter’s API and platform potential. I’m actually quite bullish on Twitter because of their decision to include geo data and expand their support for hyperlocal search. For the same reasons I’ll explain below, I’m also extremely bullish on foursquare.
Targeted hyperlocal advertising has been the holy grail for several years now. I think Twitter and foursquare finally have a successful model in reach. When you check in somewhere with foursquare, it’s the perfect opportunity for a store down the block to buy an ad that says "Come in and mention ‘foursquare’ to get 10% off". The same is true (with slightly different mechanics) if tweets can be individually coded with location data.
The potential for local small businesses to be able to attract foot traffic in this way is huge. Interestingly, it does make Chris Dixon’s point about competition between complements even more appropriate.