Helsinki, Finland-based MultiTouch Ltd. has announced the release of what it's billing as "the industry's first large-scale multitouch, multi-user Twitter wall application."

The MultiTouch Twitter Wall consists of at least six MultiTouch Cell 46 Advanced displays, 46 inches wide, in a three-by-two (three long, two high) configuration that visually displays tweets from selected hashtags and keywords. Users of the MultiTouch Twitter Wall can open tweets, represented on a rotating sphere, by touching a profile image and moving, or resizing, the tweet on the display. The MultiTouch Twitter Wall offers alternate views on the spheres that enable images from Flickr to be displayed, searchable with a keyword, as well. Using Panphonics Sound Shower directional loudspeakers, the MultiTouch Twitter Wall can further engage users with positional audio from tweets and other content displayed.

MultiTouch will produce the official 2011 International CES Twitter Wall with the Consumer Electronics Association Jan. 6-9, in the North Hall lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The wall will incorporate Twitter feeds from CES — including the official #CES tag — as well as 2011 CES news from show attendees, bloggers and exhibitors, and will curate stills and video content from the show as well.

As many users as can physically fit simultaneously in front of the MultiTouch Twitter Wall can it, the company said. The MultiTouch Twitter Wall complements the existing MultiTouch Cell system, which can display text, video and interactive drawing applications.

"We have created the first large-scale display application for Twitter, which is ideal for a public multitouch, multi-user display system," said Petri Martikainen, CEO of MultiTouch Ltd. "Social media and user-generated content are as much a part of the multitouch display experience as archival content, and the MultiTouch Twitter Wall enables greater access to the curated real-time media stream, in a tactile and enlightening way."

The MultiTouch Cell 46 Advanced is a 46-inch display that, at only 30 centimeters (12 inches) deep, and 37 kilograms (82 pounds), is designed for standard VESA mounting for more flexible public installation. The product's improved brightness and smooth borders offer aesthetically appealing and flexible configurations, including MultiTouch's unique asymmetric table or wall display patterns.

"Digital signage networks need to live in the same space as the consumers to which they convey information; iPhone, iPad, and other multitouch devices are in the hands of millions of consumers, and public displays need to complement these activities with more sophisticated multitouch applications," said Hannu Anttila, vice president of sales for MultiTouch. "Our system enables customers to complement their own application suites, and we expect to see further developments along the social media multitouch front going forward."

The MultiTouch Cell 46 Advanced is designed for high-resolution HD applications and can be programmed for sophisticated augmented reality applications, including 2-D barcode, tag and marker readers.