Twitter just announced that it is slowly releasing a new interface to a subset of its users that will put Twitter Search and Trends right on users’ profiles. Until now, Twitter’s real-time search function, which was acquired from Summize last year, lived on a separate subdomain and was not fully integrated into Twitter. Clearly, Twitter has realized that real-time search is one of its core features if it wants to monetize its service successfully.
The only search function that was available from the profile pages until now was Twitter’s people search. For users who already have access to the new interface, a search box will appear at the top of the page, as well as a link to Twitter’s trends page.
According to Biz Stone, the integrated search will become available to all users in the near future, after “a bunch of us have kicked the tires a bit.”
Until now, a lot of users were probably not even aware of the fact that Twitter had a search engine, and Biz Stone explicitly mentions that private accounts will not be indexed by Twitter’s search engine. According to Stone, over 90% of all Twitter users make their updates public.
Twitter’s real-time search is probably one of Twitter’s most valuable features, as it allows you to keep track of an event as it unfolds in real-time. Here at RWW, we use it daily – either through Tweetdeck’s or Twhirl’s built-in search, or directly on the web.
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