Comments on: Facebook vs Twitter – The Real Time Search War

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:51:09 +0000

Interesting observation James. I agree it would make a lot of sense for Twitter to get into bed with Google. As you say, time will tell…

By: James Duthie

James Duthie — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:48:36 +0000

Quite possibly James, but Twitter had a head start. And if they could patent a solution first (ala PageRank), they’d be in the box seat. Time will tell I suppose.

By: James

James — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:35:54 +0000

Whilst a partnership between G & T may seem logical I don’t think it’s likely. G really has access to all the data it needs and has acknowledged the strategic importance of real time search. They will make it work…their way.

By: James Duthie

James Duthie — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 08:51:36 +0000

Do you think acquisition of Topsy or Tweetmeme is enough Tad? That’s only really a gauge of popularity, rather than authority. For real time search to be valuable I think it has to go beyond popularity and analyse the authority/credibility of a given person on the relevant topic.

By: Tad Chef

Tad Chef — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 21:29:24 +0000

I think Google will buy Topsy or Tweetmeme and then they have what they need. Still Facebokk might get the better results via the already prevalent like buttons. It’s far easier “to like” than to retweet.

By: James Duthie

James Duthie — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:49:31 +0000

Spot on Matt. It’s all about finding a way to rank the real-time data in terms of quality. Which is no mean feat when you think about the sheer volume of data being produced across multiple platforms.

Someone needs to find a way to rank people’s authority on a subject, just like Google does for web pages. And whoever does is going to end up very rich!

By: inspiredworlds

inspiredworlds — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:38:52 +0000

Twitter has a deal with Google (and Bing). They have access to the firehose. Startups also have access to the firehose for free (they don’t get the full data though).

But your right, real time search isn’t ranked in the same manner as Google search results. I’ve started seeing trending tweets like “most retweeted”, this could be similar to Page Rank. Other metrics could include no. of clicks on links, most replies, etc…

There is value in real time search. If I want the latest sporting results or to find out if an event happened, twitter is often the place to go! Whether its true or not is another question, maybe there’s a way to rank more authoritative sources higher (such as news outlets, people with expertise etc…)