Yup, Google is Getting Twitter Search, Too

By  |  Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 2:58 pm

Google TwitterDid I just hear another shoe dropping? Shortly after Microsoft’s Bing launched Twitter search, Google’s Marissa Mayer has blogged that Google also has a deal to integrate Tweets into its results. Something will show up “in the coming months,” which could presumably mean either next week or sometime in 2010.

Mayer didn’t have much to say about what Twitter-within-Google might look like, but her post hints that Google may focus on weaving Twitter results into other results rather than isolating them, as Bing is doing:

We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you’ll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.

For now, Bing has bragging rights to an interesting feature that Google lacks–but I like the idea that both search giants will get the opportunity to figure out how to make Tweets make sense within the context of traditional search. It’s not instantly obvious what the best way is to do it–but with two fierce competitors working at it in parallel, we’re more likely to get there, and get there reasonably quickly…

 
4 Comments


Read more: , , ,

2 Comments For This Post

  1. Seumas Says:

    This will be FANTASTIC! Now you don’t need to even bother using the rip off report to harass people undeservedly and tarnish their reputation on the internet. You can just post messages on twitter saying all sorts of bad things about them and they’ll pop up in the results. Not only that, but they’ll probably be in a very heavily promoted and obvious front-and-center “LOOK AT OUR TWITTER RESULTS FOR THIS SEARCH!” section of your results.

  2. Backlin Says:

    Seumas is hilariously right on the money! Weaving Twitter results in with normal results is a way to spread wrong or biased information a whole lot faster than what is going on now. If Twitter results are to be included, there should be a module off to the side or give the ability to turn the Twitter results off.

2 Trackbacks For This Post

  1. Google Previews Social Search, Talks Twitter | Technologizer Says:

    […] cochair John Battelle also asked Mayer about Google’s deal to put items from Twitter into its search results. She clarified the company’s plans a bit, saying it sees Tweets as a useful way to get some […]

  2. Twitter’s Profitable (No, Really.) | Technologizer Says:

    […] deal with Google was worth about $15 million, and with Microsoft for Bing about $10 million. Without actual data on […]