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Twitter now lets businesses tell you where to find them

Twitter now lets businesses tell you where to find them

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A map and business hours can be added to the top of a business profile

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Twitter has a new feature useful to brick-and-mortar businesses that can put crucial information near the top of their Twitter profiles. The new Location Spotlight feature, launching widely today, lets businesses add information like store hours and address, a Google Map with directions, and a quick tap option to contact a business via phone or Twitter direct messaging.

Location Spotlight could make it easier and quicker for customers to, say, decide if there’s enough time to walk three blocks for coffee before a shop closes. While it may be faster to search a business directly on a map app, if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that information may not be correct or up to date.

Part of a broader business-centric feature set Twitter has been working on

Businesses had to adjust hours at an instant to comply with local laws or to protect their workers, so social media became the de facto way to know what a business’s status was. Places like Instagram and Twitter provided ease where businesses could quickly connect with their customers, whereas sources like Google Maps and Yelp would give businesses less control.

These features already existed in the About Module that Twitter introduced last year, which was only available to a limited selection of professional accounts. Now called Location Spotlight, it’s available worldwide for businesses with professional Twitter accounts. It’s all part of a broader business-centric feature set Twitter has been working on, including its new Shop Module that lets some brands sell items within Twitter, Revue newsletter subscriptions, Shopify store integration, and QVC-style livestreams.

Twitter also has other services in the works to expand professional accounts. There’s an upcoming “Professional Home” feature to track performance, a planned expansion of profile spotlights, and the company is going to start running training sessions on how to use its platform.

If you’re interested in adding Location Spotlight to your business Twitter account, follow these steps on your smartphone:

  • Go to your Profile in the Twitter app, and tap on Edit profile.
  • On the bottom, tap Edit professional profile. (You’ll only see this if you already have a professional account.)
  • You’ll see a section called “Profile Spotlight,” which you’ll need to tap.
  • Tap on the Location toggle switch, then enter your business address, hours, website, and contact information. (This will be publicly displayed on your Twitter account page.)
  • Once you have everything entered accurately, tap Publish in the upper-right corner. Customers now have access to all the information you provided, a clear indication if you’re open or not, and are one tap away from getting directions or contacting you.

Correction, August 4, 2022 12:42AM ET: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the About Module is now a part of Location Spotlight. The About Module and Location Spotlight are the same thing. We regret the error.