Twitter Buys Spindle, Targeting Local Businesses

Twitter has bought local discovery app Spindle in a move to bolster its product lineup.

Spindle made the announcement with a post on its blog, where it confirmed that it would be “sunsetting” its current service in order to prepare for its move to Twitter’s San Francisco office.

Spindle, available on iOS in parts of the U.S., describes itself as a “news feed for your neighborhood”, collating Twitter and Facebook posts from local businesses into a stream of local events and offers.

It allows users to receive push notifications when businesses they are particularly interested in make a post, or when a topic or product they like is mentioned locally. It also gives them the ability to post directly to social networks from within the app.

Use cases the company suggests include Groupon-style special offer notifications and last-minute cancellation suggestions.

Spindle’s blog post outlined the reasons behind the buyout:

Every time we’ve experimented and looked beyond local discovery, we’ve been amazed by the breadth and quality of content shared on Twitter,” the post stated. “By joining forces with Twitter, we can do so much more to help you find interesting, timely, and useful information about what’s happening around you.

This article was originally published on http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/news/2276469/twitter-buys-spindle-targeting-local-businesses.