The Future of Search is... Social?

One announcement that for many likely went under the proverbial radar last week was that Twitter acquired a company by the name of Spindle.

What's so important about the acquisition for Twitter is that Spindle makes localized social content discoverable, something that's been quite difficult for the social network to do on its own - and you likely know this if you have ever tried to figure out what others are doing in a very specific geographic area.

"We've spent the past two and a half years building a product that helps you answer the question: 'What's happening nearby right now?'," the startup said in a blog post announcing its sale. "Every time we've experimented and looked beyond local discovery, we've been amazed by the breadth and quality of content shared on Twitter. 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."

So why is the acquisition so important to Internet professionals like you? Well, the application serves as a local search engine of sorts which is powered by social data from Facebook and Twitter - namely the social data published by businesses/brands. The application, which was just expanded in late March 2013 to include Austin, Chicago, and Seattle, aimed to show users through its technology the updates that would have the most personal resonance based on the time of day and previous behavior - for example, finding a bar around happy hour.

Should Twitter ultimately decide to release a local discovery service, Spindle will undoubtedly play a rather important role.