Sunday, June 14, 2009

DTN News: Is Google About To Introduce A Microblog Search Offering?

DTN News: Is Google About To Introduce A Microblog Search Offering? *Source: Reuters (NSI News Source Info) INTERNET - June 14, 2009: Google executives have openly professed their admiration for Twitter’s success and they may finally be able to cash in on it. The Google Operating System blog reports that the company will launch a search service that will index content from Twitter and other microblogging sites, similar to Google’s current blog search offering. Results would also be incorporated into Google’s main web results. Google Operating System (which is not associated with Google) does not cite sources for its story but does note a recent Google listing, which refers to “Google’s MicroBlogsearch” and mentions Twitter as “the popular service associated with this format.” As the blog notes, it also wouldn’t be too surprising for Google to launch a way to search Twitter, considering that Google’s Marissa Mayer has said that that the company is “interested in being able to offer ... micro-blogging and micro-messaging in our search.” It’s unclear whether Google would be launching the service independent of Twitter. The two companies have been rumored to be in discussions about some sort of search partnership—and Google CEO Eric Schmidt has talked about how ads could be attached to services like Twitter—something that he said Google would be “very happy to pursue with them.” If Google did launch its service independent of Twitter, it’s easy to see how users could swoop to the Google version, rather than Twitter’s own search service, which is riddled with problems. A Twitter executive said last month that the company was planning to bulk up its own search function but nothing has been said about those plans since. Google representatives did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment Saturday. Related: *How Will Twitter Monetize Search If It’s Broken? *Twitter To Expand Search Beyond Own Site *Google’s Schmidt: ‘We Don’t have To Buy Everyone To Work With Them’ *Schmidt: Google Would Be ‘Happy’ To Work With Twitter

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