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Is Google planning to join the micro-blogging revolution?

BloggingCould the might of Google combine with the relevancy of Twitter in some way, soon? Rumors abound that Internet giant Google is working on some form of micro-blogging search engine. These rumors have leaked from the savvy folks who run an unaffiliated blog that focuses on Google’s operating system.

Google has long been rumored to be interested in the micro-blogging revolution and who would bet against them coming up with a viable platform, given that everything they touch seems to turn to gold. Apparently, their new micro-blogging search service would sort it’s results by relevancy and integrate them into Google’s web search engine. It will be possible to identify trends within these micro-messages and present the results through one of their recognizable and successful formats.

Twitter is, of course, the major player in the micro-blogging world. Whilst twitter is considered to be on the cutting edge in terms of social acceptance and “hipness”, the organization has not really come up with a compelling business model. If Google’s search-based business model is integrated in some way with the Twitter model, it could suggest considerable potential for advertising dollars.

Twitter has it’s own search engine, which is accessed through “search.twitter.com”, but this just trawls it’s users pages, rather than being also linked through and to sites that are referred to by its “tweeters”. Third-party, Twitter-plugin search engines also exist, including Tweetmeme, One Riot and Twitpipe.

Google’s new initiative is expected to work by ranking each micro-blog by relevancy. Results will appear in search based on frequently used keywords and will be integrated within Google’s main search engine. “Real-time information is important, and we’re looking at different ways to use this information to make Google more useful to its users”, according to a Google spokesperson.

A more direct quote, giving us insight into the company’s plans, emerged from search products guru Melissa Mayer. “We are interested in being able to offer, for example, micro-blogging and micro-messaging in our search, particularly in blog search and possibly in web search”. It is likely that Google sees micro-blogging search as a further opportunity to ensure that third-party content steers users into its arms.

Do we need another micro blogging site?

Adam Toren

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