Spindle lets tourists tap into local newsfeeds for a here-and-now snapshot of cities

The newly funded social discovery app Spindle announced its arrival in New York this Thursday, the third city where social updates from businesses are being spun into a discoverable newsfeed for users.

Spindle (currently just on iOS) filters through status updates from restaurants, stores, event venues, and museums to bring users a real-time newsfeed of where to go and what to do. Originally created for locals to find out what was going on in their neighborhood, the app has the potential to become a go-to tool for visitors looking to experience a city like a local.

Social updates serve as a city guide

The app, which launched in early August in Los Angeles and Boston, digs through the updates and data and presents the events and deals based on their proximity to the user’s location and how recently the updates were posted. Here some examples of what activities the app showed in New York. 

“Spindle’s software had to identify over 91,000 official social networking accounts owned by over 70,000 places. These businesses share nearly 400,000 results per week and are mentioned over 2.2 million times,” explains Pat Kinsel, Founder and CEO.

Updates come from popular social platforms like Twitter and Facebook that businesses have already integrated into their marketing efforts. AllThingsD points out this gives the app an edge over competitors, like Foursquare‘s discovery platform, which require businesses to engage yet another platform that they might not already be using.

Functional filters

Spindle currently filters content by Food & Drink, Shopping, Nightlife, and Deals & Discounts, but plans on adding timely and seasonal filters in the future. For example, a Thanksgiving filter in Boston highlighted themed activities and deals last week. This feature could be used by tourists who come to New York for the holiday season and want to immerse themselves in those specific experiences.

Spindle announced their first $2.3 million round of funding from Polaris Ventures, Greylock Partners, Lerer Ventures, SV Angel, Atlas Ventures, Broad Beach Ventures, Project 11 and two angels in mid-November.