Look ma! A Twitter tool that actually does something useful! I can hear the chorus and relieved sighs as I type this. Like me, I suspect most of you are tired of seeing the waves of useless Twitter and iPhone apps that keep flooding the Web hoping to glob onto the social buzz wagons.
LocaFollow.com is a Twitter search tool that searches profiles to find people by location or interests. You can also search names and tweets for things as well, but the tool is most useful for finding people by location. You can also bulk follow, tweet the results, or create lists that you can reference later to go through to find new friends.
Jumping right into the tool, I searched “Boca Raton” as a location in LocalFollow and it immediately came up with a list based on that. The users are ranked randomly, apparently, as I could find no rhyme to the order they appear in. First on the list is Chief Dan Alexander (@bocachief). Each result is in a blurb that includes their profile photo, number of followers/following/tweets, biography, etc. Their latest tweet is shown as a speech bubble next to their pic.
The LocalFollow app is very slick, loads and searches quickly, and is definitely something to be included on your list of tools for Twitter. You can use the site without logging in, but in order to save, follow, or bulk follow others, you’ll need to sign in. You can do that with your Twitter account.
The random featured users that pop up are interesting. Google coders, semi-famous people, and randomly interesting (and active) Twitter users are featured at the top of each search, separate from results. Other nice touches include the large layout and easy navigation. Definitely a great site.
