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02 July 2009
Bing to include 'tweets' in search results
Yesterday, Microsoft announced that it would start incorporating 'tweets' - short updates posted to micro-blogging site Twitter - into the search results provided by its new search engine, Bing.
Bing was recently launched as a challenge to Google's dominant market position, and it clearly hopes to lure new users by including 'real time' results into its search listings. Neither Google nor Yahoo yet offer this functionality.
In a blog post, general manager of Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Search Technology Center Sean Suchter revealed the new plans.
There has been much discussion of real-time search and the premium on immediacy of data that has been created primarily by Twitter. We’ve been watching this phenomenon with great interest, and listening carefully to what consumers really want in this space. 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.
Suchter named some of the prominent Twitterers as Microsoft's own Danny Sullivan and Kara Swisher, as well as big names like Al Gore.
The thinking behind the move is likely to be twofold. Firstly, Bing will be able to offer advertisers targeted placements to reach people interested in particular topics, events and celebrities. Secondly, it will hope that people will turn to its search engine for details of breaking news – for example, many turned straight to Twitter for confirmation of singer Michael Jackson's recent death, knowing the information would be there before reaching most major news sites.
It now remains to see how long it takes Google and Yahoo to offer their own version of real time search, and what additional features or content they will provide. Something tells us it won't take long.
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