Twitter is pushing ahead on two fronts with just one move. The company is now launching a new Sign-Up API which allows users to sign up for the service from any third party site or app which implements it. For now, the API isn’t public but has already been implemented by online local guide Citysearch. This last bit is important as it shows one way Twitter plans to tackle the business services market.
Citysearch is the latest to partner with Twitter to access its rather valuable but mostly untapped data supply. The microblogging platform has recently signed up both Microsoft and Google which will integrate data from Twitter in their search results in one form or another. Citysearch users will be able to manage their Twitter accounts from the site and tweets from their accounts will also show up on their business page on the local directory site.
This isn’t exactly revolutionary though it is a rather deep integration of Twitter features with a very specific market, local businesses. However, if the business doesn’t have a Twitter account, it can create one without leaving Citysearch and then proceed to use it just like they would any other account.
There was no financial component to the partnership between Twitter and Citysearch, but the latter company may decide to introd… (read more)