According to our sources at Citysearch , Twitter is opening a new Sign-Up API. Citysearch wrote us to say that the API will “allow local businesses to integrate their existing Twitter presence or create a new account directly from the Citysearch business profile and tweet from their Citysearch profile page.” How does this new API relate to Twitter’s OAuth feature? What can a Sign-Up API do that OAuth doesn’t? Also, how did Citysearch get wind of this development before a general announcement was made? Sponsor We were able to confirm that the API is, in fact, different from Twitter’s OAuth feature. Citysearch rep Brandi Willard told us this evening that Twitter has not yet made a public announcement about the API. “We’re the first company to implement it,” she said. Willard continued, “There are a lot of options for the type of content you can show with Twitter integration. It’s pretty much the same functionality [as OAuth, but you can also sign up." "We've been talking to them for a while about integrating Citysearch with Twitter, and they were looking to bring on more smalll businesses. It just made sense." So Twitter is dipping into Citysearch's trove of small, local businesses - and potential Twitter users - for the maiden voyage of its latest API. This makes sense in light of Twitter's recent integration of geolocation information with some tweets, and it also makes sense from a monetization standpoint. Companies in the small, local business space could benefit a lot from sign-up and geolocation APIs, and many of these companies are already devoting significant chunks of marketing budgets to the online and interactive advertising. Twitter is definitely a hot commodity for small businesses that can figure out how to use it, but we're still unclear on exactly how the new API will work. Here's what the sign-up looks like on Citysearch, and what the Twitter data will bring to a business' Citysearch page: We will bring you more news and technical details about the Sign-Up API in the morning, when we'll interview more Citysearch execs and quiz them to our heart's content. In the mean time, the folks at Citysearch are happy to have another avenue to integrate Twitter data. "We really value having all the right content on our site to allow consumers to make an educated decision,' said Willard. "We see social media as a big part of that, whether the content is generated on our site or elsewhere. The more businesses that sign up for Twitter, the more content we'll have on our site." We applaud Citysearch's new semantic, synaptic direction in aggregating content, and we look forward to learning all about how their new sign-ups will work tomorrow morning. Stay tuned! Discuss
![fdc1842383osmall.jpg Twitter Rolls Out New Sign Up API, Citysearch First to Implement [SCREENSHOTS]](http://www.claimangels.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/fdc1842383osmall.jpg.jpg "Twitter Rolls Out New Sign Up API, Citysearch First to Implement [SCREENSHOTS]")
See the original post here: Favrd , a site which aggregated the most popular starred tweets, has closed down. The site was a favorite of Twitter humorists, people who use Twitter mainly to express their wit. Favrd was the first of its kind to repurpose Twitter favorites (stars) into an aggregation site, where users could see who had “faved” their tweets, view tweets with 3 or more faves as a real-time feed, and check the most faved tweets in a 24-hour period on the Leaderboard. It was kind of like the Techmeme of funny tweets. Sponsor A similar site called Favstar launched in mid-09 ( our review ) and it appears to have taken the momentum from Favrd. Favrd was the original though, so it’s disappointing to see it throw in the towel. Most people think of stars as a way to keep a personal library of favorites. But according to a regular Favrd user we spoke to, “Favrds” (people who used Favrd frequently) throw them like confetti and rarely look back at their own stream of favorites. Favrd was also different from Favstar because it only counted faves of people who were registered – although you could fave anyone. For a good overview of why many Twitter humorists liked Favrd, read this post by popular witterer Joe Schmitt ( @joeschmitt ). The site’s creator, Dean Cameron Allen a.k.a. @textism , left the following suicide note for Favrd. You can tweet your condolences using this hashtag: #thankyoutextism . “Alas, stars on Twitter have become mere take-out menus hung on the doors of other restaurants. There are still lots of clever and funny things to read every day, but finding these is no longer a challenge – you already follow your sources. Sites like this one now serve mainly as fuel for emotional up-fuckedness in the guise of a game. Just an idea: next time you see something you like, write the person who made it a note telling them so. Even better, explain why. Take care! – dca” Discuss View post:
Favrd Shuts Down – Not Twitter’s Last Laugh (Thank you, Textism)
