Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Bing Adds Twitter to Real-Time Search Results

When I first heard the news that Bing was incorporating Twitter into its search results (in real-time) I wasn't sure I thought there was much to talk about. Sure I find Twitter Search useful, but I use it in a completely different context to how I use normal search services. It wasn't until I considered what it meant for searches performed on specific people.

The convenience of being able to see a real-time feed of results for name mentions and comments, along side actual web results gives a more accurate and complete view of how someone is seen online.

Microsoft revealed that it has started indexing tweets from popular Twitter users in real-time on Bing. Furthermore, while they have started by only indexing the tweets of a few thousand people (based on follower count and tweet volume), the service would ultimately be expanded.

Bing displays these results sepperately from the main body of search results, but only when the search phrase includes "Twitter", "tweet" or the "@" with the name of the person they are searching.

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