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Augmented Reality meets Twitter: useful, or just trendy?
Augmented Reality apps that overlay information on visuals from your mobile device's camera definitely have the potential to be more than a trend. Uses like viewing restaurant reviews, real estate listings, or pointers to the nearest subway stop just scratch the surface of the game-changing power of Augmented Reality. Sometimes two great tastes don't taste great together, though, as in the case of an Augmented-Reality-Meets-Twitter app set to launch soon in the iPhone app store.The iPhone app is called TwittARound, and it overlays nearby tweets on your surroundings. The idea here is that people will have posted useful information about the places they've visited, and you can access it just by pointing your camera at something. It's a great idea, but it doesn't jive with the reality of Twitter, which is that the vast majority of tweets lack context or useful content. Nobody reads the public timeline on Twitter because at least 90% of it is going to be irrelevant to them, and filtering by location doesn't help all that much. TwittARound looks like a really impressive proof-of-concept, I'm just not convinced that AR and Twitter are a match made in heaven.
[via PSFK]
Comments
3
Subscribe to commentskojo87Jul 8th 2009 11:58PM
Twitter itself is a trend.
johnJul 11th 2009 10:23PM
I have started a facebook group petitioning Apple to open the API for video augmentation. This will allow agmented reality apps in the store! Please join and pass it on:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105162007611
ocellnuriJul 14th 2009 10:00AM
I have to disagree. I think filtering by location is one of the best ways to distill good content out of Twitter. If you point the phone at someone's house or office, then I think you'll get the pointless posts that make up the 90% you mentioned. However, point the application at a popular venue, store, or restaurant, and I bet you'll find more useful information than you'd expect. I'm going off of the surprisingly useful experience I had with Twinkle back in the day, and apps like Brightkite now, both of which have been useful tools for me while moving to new cities.