Twitter + Google Maps = TwitterMap

+=TwitterMap

Update (March 19/07): TwitterMap LIVE! --> See TwitterVision Realtime (beta)

Heard of Twitter yet? Check it out.. Twitter is a cool new (read it: addictive) social networking service that allows members of the service let others know what they're up to in very brief fashion. users send messages via SMS or IM, then friends of that user can receive updates via web, RSS, IM or SMS. This isn't a blog or email - it's a micro-snippet of what someone is doing right now. Here is an example taken from a random user appearing on the Twitter front page right now:

Twitter community member DaveTroy has established a Google Maps mashup of Twitter users called, none other than.. TwitterMap! TwitterMap pulls the location and last message of Twitter community members using a public Twitter feed, then plots it to a Google Map. The resulting map lets you discover what geographic area your Twitter friends are from, or you can find new Twitter-folk to interact with in your community. Update: Stefan from Google Karten also suggests: GeoTwitter, another Google Maps + Twitter user mashup.

More on Twitter..

Steve Rubel from the Micro Persuasion Blog (where I first discovered Twitter) points out that there are now New York Times and Google News US Twitter pages which lets you treat the US as a Twitter user and get updates from it in the same way you would a friend. Micro Persuasion also points to US Presidential candidate John Edwards using Twitter. Steve has talked up Twitter in a number of other posts (search in-page for many references) that will let you see how this trend is evolving.. Business 2.0 Magazine also predicts this new web 2.0 concept might be the next Flickr or YouTube: "..It's too early to tell which brand of user-generated content will be the Web 2.0 phenomenon of 2007, but placing an early bet on Twitter might be a good move." - Check out the article here (and do a find in-page for Twitter for the mention or scroll down to: #4 -> A Buddy List That's Always Talking).

More Google Maps Web 2.0 Mashups here..

Technorati Tags: [Twitter], [Twitter Map], [Web 2.0]