Google may be the reigning champion in the search-engine stakes, but one itch that it hasn’t been able to scratch just yet has been real-time search, and by real-time serach we mean the constantly flowing Twitter timeline.
Bing, while being well-received already by bored Googlers and disenchanted Live Searchers alike, has now upped the ante by introducing Twitter into its search results.
For now this is how it will work: if you search for key people from Microsoft or tech reporters such as Kara Swisher, or perhaps well-known personalities like Al Gore, you will not only get the usual official webpages and biographical information – you will also get the latest tweets from that person, showing up in real-time in Bing results.
Some 1,000 people have been selected for now, based on their number of followers and Twitter output volume.
“There has been much discussion of real-time search and the premium on immediacy of data that has been created primarily by Twitter,” said the offical Bing blog.
“Today, we’re unveiling an initial foray into integrating more real-time data into our search results, starting with some of the more prominent and prolific Twitterers from a variety of spheres.
“This includes tweets from folks from our own search technology and business sphere such as Danny Sullivan or Kara Swisher, as well as those from spheres of more general consumer appeal like Al Gore or Ryan Seacrest,” it stated.
Bing is not actually indexing all of Twitter right now, but it certainly seems ready to go in this direction pretty soon, so when you Bing a topic, especially a newsy one, you will probably be enjoying the benefits of real-time results, fresh from Twitter.
By Marie Boran
