Future Tech: Twitter Food Delivery Services

2012 was a huge year for social media innovation, not least for advances made on Twitter. The past year saw the introduction of Twitter photo filters, brand new Twitter profiles including the platform's first-ever cover photos, significant Twitter mobile app updates and more. One cool Twitter tweak to look forward to in 2013? Increasingly, Twitter users will have the ability to order or deliver food or drink via tweet. After all, we can already obtain everything from pizza and Chinese food to groceries and beer via one quick online form. A 140-character tweet isn't too far removed. Here are a few products that already, or will likely soon, afford Twitter-enabled food and drink delivery. Tweet-A-Beer: The folks at Tweet-A-Beer have created a nifty Twitter app that lets you send an ice cold brew to any of your Twitter friends – whether they’re in the bar next to you or on the other side of the world. Here's how it works: you sync up your Twitter account with PayPal, and turn tweets into $5 cash using third-party app Chirpify. Baseball stadium booze sellers: A few wily individual beer vendors around the country have figured out a smart way to make a quick buck: delivering beer via Twitter at sports games. Instead of waiting that extra half inning for the traditional Mariners beer man to make his way through the aisles, visitors to Safeco Field can send a message to Kevin Zelko's Twitter account, @Msbeervendor. Include your order and your seat number, and he’ll beer you in minutes. Similarly, the MLB.com At the Ballpark app lets you order food and drink right to your seat via tweet. It's available at the following ballparks: Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia), Minute Maid Park (Houston), Chase Field (Phoenix) and Marlins Ballpark (Miami). Tacocopter: Hoax though it was, this Silicon Valley startup was a pretty rad idea. Tacocopter lets you order tacos on your smartphone, beam in your GPS location information and have your order transmitted to and delivered by an unmanned drone helicopter. Sounds like Hunger Games, without the sponsors. No reason you wouldn't be able to order via tweet in addition to ordering via app. Burrito Bomber: Building on Tacocopter's precedent-setting technology, research lab Darwin Aerospace built a clever drone called the Burrito Bomber. You connect to the app, order a burrito - your phone sends your location to the delivery service's server, which generates a waypoint file compatible with the drone's autopilot - and the burrito is loaded into a custom-made Burrito Delivery Tube. The drone flies to your location and releases your meal, then flies itself home. The project is being held up by FAA regulations, namely laws that ban use of drones for commercial purposes. But back in February, President Obama signed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act, which, among other things, requires the FAA to allow drones built by private companies to fly in U.S. airspace. So there's hope for hungry tweeters. Check out a video of how the Burrito Bomber works: Pretty cool right? If you could have one thing delivered to you via tweet, what would it be? (Parachute image from Shutterstock)

Social Pro Daily

Future Tech: Twitter Food Delivery Services

Allison Stadd

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Allison Stadd