Google Captures the Live Internet with Real-Time Search

Look out. Google just upped the ante for search. On Monday, December 7th, Amit Singhal of Google introduced “Google Real-Time Search”. Now when you perform a Google search, you’ll not only see indexed web pages, but an up-to-the-minute stream new blog posts, news stories and tweets. (For an example, go to Google.com and search for “Tiger Woods”. You’ll see the scrolling Real-Time Search under “Latest results for Tiger Woods”.)

All of this news will come from a variety of sources, from news publications and blogs to social networking tools/sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and Identi.ca.

What does this mean? From our perspective, it signals at least three things.

First, search just became more powerful. This information was already available, but now it’s easier to obtain in one location.

Second, this is sure to solidify Google’s position as the top search engine. While Bing has gained market share, it’s been at the expense of Yahoo!, not Google, and this can only serve to enhance Google’s market share. If you’re buying advertising on Google, this is a good thing.

Finally, tying social media feeds into Google, a tool that most everyone uses - including those who have never tweeted - will help expose these tools to a new audience. As this audience gains a better understanding of how platforms like Twitter can be used, they’ll be quicker to adapt to these platforms. It’s just one more reason that we’re continuing to work with our clients today to help them better understand social media and establish and implement social media strategies and guidelines.