Internet search went into its second decade without changing very much during the first. But over the last few years, search has been rapidly transforming from a service with results based solely on text to one with blended media (images, videos, books, etc.) and human input. All these improvements have expanded the power of search, making it more informative for users. Now, the latest gimmick is real-time search.
What is real-time search?
Real-time search involves looking for and finding online information immediately after it's published. If you need to know what's happening in the world right now, you want real-time search, the ability to search through information published on microblogging sites like Twitter. There's no delay between the time information is written and published, making it instantly searchable.
Microblogging consists of brief text updates, or micromedia such as videos, photos, and audio clips, which are published online for viewing. Updates, or tweets, can be sent by text message, instant message, email, digital audio, or the web, becoming searchable in real time.
Timeliness of information is what separates real-time search from general search due to the time lag in serving search results. Most content isn't searchable in real time since it must be written, published, and found. Information in real-time search is available instantly.
Is real-time search important?
When interviewed recently on The Guardian, Google's Marissa Mayer said, "We think the real-time search is incredibly important, and the real-time data that's coming online can be super-useful in terms of us finding out something like, you know, is this conference today any good?" Mayer went on to say, "[T]here's a lot of useful information about real time and your actions that we think ultimately will reinvent search."
Real-time search is currently one of the hottest areas in search, as users flock to find results based on what's happening right now. Twitter Search is fast becoming the default engine for discovering what people think about any topic at any given moment. This information is valuable to consumers as well as marketers.
Why do we want real time search?
If you're looking for an answer to an immediate problem like why a certain website is down or why you can't use Hotmail, you won't find the answer readily on Google because such information would have to be typed and indexed before it could be searched and found. On Twitter, you'd get immediate results ranked by a system based on the reputation of the person who wrote the tweet (i.e., number of followers, number of original tweets, retweets, etc.). Because posting is brief and immediate, real-time search gives you ultra-fresh information.
Many tweets are social in nature -- like where to get the best lobster in Boston -- which may be rather trivial. However, if you have a need for immediate information, like finding the epicenter of an earthquake in Southern California while the earth is still shaking, a Google search won't help. But Twitter can give you all the details right now. That's the value of real-time search.
Google recognizes this and is looking at ways to integrate microblogging capabilities into its search product. The unofficial Google Operating System blog reported Google will launch a microblogging search service to index and rank content from microblogging sites like Twitter. Results will be sorted by relevancy and will also be integrated with Google's web search engine.
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