Real Time Google Search via Twitter Addons
While the term “Real Time Search” implies a search engine that returns the results according to when those web pages and articles where posted… The fact remains that we do not currently have any decent, real time search engines and even if we did who would use them over Google?
The current Google algorithms actually do a bad job at real time search and servicing the core need for such a tool. How many times have you had to wade through Google search results, ever dodging those outdated posts from 2006, desperately trying to find something current and relevant. In fact a website I SEO’d for a client of mine took over a year to outrank it’s main competitor in the search results for what could definitely be called a ‘real time search keyword‘ (one that implies that the searcher is looking for current information). It was obvious that the competitors website was being favored because it was an older, established site. A site that I know first hand had actually been abandoned by its creator and not updated since 2005.
So what tools do we currently have to satisfy our quest for real time search results?
Google News is limited.
Once you have Googled just click on the ‘News’ link at the top left of your search engine result page. Google News is a limited ‘real time search engine’ that only searches an approved selection of websites that it believes are carrying genuine news articles… Actually any one can submit their website for consideration and the crud being what crud is, will always slip through the cracks.
Hot on the heals of the Web 2.0 revolution came ’social media’ and suddenly the whole world is having zero cost international conversations with each other and the very second that a news worthy event happens in the world people are reporting it online faster than traditional media can say “Stop the press”.
First we had Myspace (2003) which threw money and resources at trumping the very first social network Friendster (2002). Although dominating for years MySpace has never really shaken off its grungy image of being a hangout where flirting teenagers can see how my bell, whistles and flashing lights they can fit into a profile page.
Facebook (created in 2004, public in 2006) offered something more professional and it has managed to keep out the teen graffiti because no trendsetting kid in his right mind is going to stick around in a place where his Dad hangs out! Facebook will soon implement its own version of real time conversational search.
WOH, look out! Because then comes Twitter (2006), and users find something they love. It’s over the shoulder, five second blurts of conversation that are easy to post and there is absolutely no obligation to reply back to people that are talking at you or about you! Twitter is a bit like a party but unlike your blog (internet home) it is not a destination but more like a transmission of constant noise, like a universal chat room integrating with phones, websites and desktop applications.
Using Twitter does make you question your own integrity and susceptibility to narcissism as you search for your own tweets amongst the; inaccurate, useless, self-absorbed, distracting, and occasionally useful but endless transmissions of others. Measuring success via the novel excitement of being heard… clicked to… And subscribed to… Rather than being of value to those that you have qualified as most beneficial to network with or most likely to benefit from your own perceived value. “I’m eating toast” does not cut it unless your attempting to break up your incessant marketing spam or your only follower is your girlfriend.
When I first started using Twitter I very quickly discovered its search capabilities; the initial people search, the Summize tool which was quickly acquired by Twitter (2008), the inbuilt search tool on Twhirl, and that tiny hidden SEARCH link right down in the Footer next to Help, Terms and Privacy (Summize incorporated as a subdomain). The more savvy users recognized and started using its power immediately in two distinct ways:
- Twitter Search is the best, fastest way to find people in your market, niche or industry and start networking with them, because you find the people that are talking about the things your into. A lot of people do jump on Twitter hoping that its going to be a sales platform for their product and services. The truth is… the best that you can hope for is a platform to get new targeted subscribers into your email lists via a link to your website/blog via your - 140 character - profile box. Just remember that if you are looking for customers on Twitter you are more likely to find competitors and allies because as it becomes more and more popular, the more it will be targeted and used as a marketing tool rather than a shopping tool.
- Twitter Search is also a great way to find out what people are currently saying about a product, subject or anything that you are wanting feedback on. Its a window into peoples minds and therefore a quick research tool.
The search engine at Twitter does support a few Boolean operators like:
- OR (as opposed to AND)Breaks the default setting of returning tweets containing all the words in your search phrase.
- - Minus signBefore a word will filter out all tweets with that negated word.
- ” ” (quotes)Will only return tweets with the phrase (contained within the quotes” intact.
Unfortunately Advanced Twitter Search does not allow you to restrict your searches to just the people you are following but you can use it to restrict a search to people within a specified radius of geographical locations.
Or just use these search operators:
- near:(specify a location)Finds tweets from people based on the location specified in their profiles.
- within:(specify a distance in KM or mi)Extends the geographic search out to a specified distance/radius
For Example: combine the above 2 searches with a question mark to find people in your area that you could network with by answering their question, further qualified by other words…
- near:chicago within:100mi ? which
- near:melbourne within:100km ? what
As you will discover below, Search.Twitter.com is more valuable than Twitter.com when it’s integrated into Google’s search engine as a quick side glance on queries that you are already undertaking on a daily basis.
2009 and Twitter is now wheeling out a more prominent search box, smack bang on the top of your home page (for a select subset of users, during a test period) and the search results from within that box will have some additional features, one of which could be a placeholder for Twitter’s first attempt at actually making some money via sponsored links similar to those on Google. The new search box may be a small change - that simply increases the amount of users that are using Twitter’s existing search feature - but with so many people jumping on board the Twitter train every day, it will quickly become one of those Google-like tools that we can NOT live without and Google in its current format can’t compete with and therefore ignore.
I personally think Digg deserves a small mention and FriendFeed, which aggregates all kinds of feeds from social network and bookmarking sites, including your blogs, could offer something useful via it’s Real Time Search but it can only search the Twitter Feeds (and other feeds) that users have submitted. On the upside you it does offer the ability to search within your network of friends.
The future of real time search is however, unwritten.
On one hand Twitter may end being the VHS that killed all the Betamax’s only to be superseded by the DVD… The ‘DVD’ incarnation of Twitter will probably follow cell phone technology, as Twitter’s 140 character limit is currently aligned with mobile phone text messaging and who wouldn’t want 2 text messages for the price of one (280 characters) and while we are at it, lets get the information automatically transcribed into text for us as we constantly speak short, blow-by-blow, self commentaries of our daily lives, into our nose piercings… ending with “Blog That”, “Twitter that”, “Email that”, “Memo that”, “Press Release that” or “File that”. Hmmm! But then our bosses will discover that we spend half the day on social media websites instead of selling widgets. The real fantasy then would be communicating, broadcasting, surfing, socializing, flirting and entertaining all rolled into one device. Presented to you free of charge when your born.. Ohh wait!!! I think I just described the Human Body 
On the other hand Twitter may be the YouTube that Google has to buy because it is the new age search engine that has snuck up on them under the guise of a micro-blogging tool. What Twitter started with (once realized) was a well funded tool that collects the experiences and opinions of real people by simply providing them with a free web 2.0 site that makes communication easy, fast and fun. What you end up with is a massive database or real time feedback on everything from commercial brands to natural disasters. The Twitter search engine taps into that - arguably valuable - database of information and serves it up back up to the huge ‘billion dollar box of eyeballs’ that Twitter has become.
The downside is that Twitter’s search engine will quickly become a new battle field for SEO wars where the person that ranks #1 for a popular keyword is the last person that has used the phrase in a Tweet.
Another problem is that, while we may Google stuff 20-30 times a day we are not going to Twitter search every one of those phrases unless its integrated into Google or a tool that is with you all day.
The answer, and this is your big takeaway!!!
How to make Google real-time with a Twitter Search Add-on.
Step #1 - You should be using Firefox over Internet Explorer because, among a myriad of other benefits, it’s faster and required for this to work.
Step #2
Option A - Install the WebMynd ‘real time search’ extension for Firefox and it will integrate a customizable selection of ‘Social Media site’ results (like Twitter) into the Google Search Results Pages… above the Google Ads
(click the link above and then you may have to look out for the ALLOW button to drop-down below the Firefox tabs bar or an INSTALL button to pop up, then follow the prompts to customize it)
Option B - Another option for you comes as a two part install into Firefox and the result is simpler add-on that only displays the last 5 Tweets from Twitter, and serves them up to the top of your Google search results » Realtime Twitter Search Results on Google
And above all else, make sure you are placing limits on the amount of information that is allowed to distract you from more productive tasks and always measure the time you spend on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.