Commentary

Twitter Ditches Foursquare For Yelp On Internat'l Place-Based Services

Apparently Twitter doesn’t believe in the dictum of dancing with the one that brought 'ya. A year after partnering with Foursquare on place-based services, the social giant is expanding the program outside of the States -- with Yelp.     

U.S. Twitter users will still receive venue suggestions from Foursquare after tagging the location of their tweets. Twitter users in the U.K. and Japan, however, will now receive such suggestions from Yelp.

“Twitter users in the U.K. and Japan can now simply tap the location icon to add Yelp geotags to Tweets,” Chad Richard, SVP of business and corporate development at Yelp, notes in a new post.

When users click on particular places, they will see a separate card with businesses’ Yelp ratings, locations, and even a direct link to Yelp’s app.

Germany has already been added to the deal between Twitter and Yelp, and France should be added shortly.  

Regardless of its running buddy, the addition of place-based features comes at a critical time for Twitter. Despite its cultural prominence from the United States to Japan, too few consumers see the platform as a useful service. Serving as a business directory of sorts might engage a few more consumers.

Twitter isn’t the only social network embracing business listings, however. Positioning itself directly against Yelp, Angie’s List, and similar services, Facebook recently launched a site that endeavors to connect consumers with “local businesses and organizations with the best Facebook reviews and ratings.”

Dubbed Services, the site is actually an extension of Facebook’s flagship property, featuring a slew or professional services from plumbers to automotive to child care.

Service suggestions are geo-targeted to users’ locations, and feature customer reviews, a star-based rating system, and general business information.

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