Bing indexes Twitter updates
Microsoft has begun including Twitter updates in its Bing results as the race to provide real-time search results hots up.
Bing is only including updates from “prominent and prolific” Twitterers for now, but is likely to increase the volume in due course.
While rival search engines, including Google, list people’s Twitter profiles, Microsoft is the first to take an active approach to including up-to-the-minute results.
Speaking on the company blog, Sean Suchter, general manager of Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Search Technology Center, said the move taps into people’s increasing desire to find out real-time trends.
“There has been much discussion of real-time search and the premium on immediacy of data that has been created primarily by Twitter,” he said. “We’ve been watching this phenomenon with great interest, and listening carefully to what consumers really want in this space.”
“When you search for these folk’s names in association with Twitter, you’ll see their latest Tweets come up in real time on Bing’s search results,” he explained. “The answer will include that person’s latest Tweets, along with an easy link to ‘See more tweets’ from that individual.”
