Andrew Rollins Technology, entrepreneurship, the Internet, and video games

Twitter Search

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to trying Twitter’s search. All it took was a few queries for me to realize its potential.

(For those that don’t know, Twitter gained in-house search functionality when it acquired Summize last year.)

One afternoon, while I was mucking around with Ruby on Rails, I encountered a problem with a release candidate. Annoyed, I took to the Internet searching for a solution. Google wasn’t of much help; the RC was just too fresh for there to be much information on regular web pages.

Disappointed, I started thinking about other ways to find an answer. The Rails IRC channel was one possibility, their bug tracker was another. That's when it hit me - why not try Twitter?

It seemed logical. After all, Twitter is the place for soapbox style venting. Someone must have complained about the same problem. Maybe they even offered up a link to a solution.

I did a search, and to my amazement, I actually saw some interesting comments. For the first time, Twitter actually helped me save time rather than waste it.

Therein lies most of the value in Twitter. Forget for a moment the mundane, narcissistic, attention whoring tweets that occupy most of Twitter. If you cut out all the garbage, the rest of Twitter is a rich source of real-time information about problems, products, places, news, and more.

Social marketers already know this. They're using Twitter search to monitor brands and engage their customers. But allow me to go even broader. Twitter search isn’t just for social marketers, it holds great promise for the average seeker of information.

Want to hear what’s going on at an event? Favorite web site down? Check Twitter.

This is a new breed of real-time information. Think of it as collective experience. Sure, you could say Facebook has been doing it for ages, but Twitter is special. Twitter’s culture encourages public sharing. That’s what makes it great for searching.

Over time, people will slowly discover its value. As the mainstream starts to search Twitter and similar public streams, third parties like Google will start to realize the value in indexing it. They will provide new views into the information that we haven’t seen yet. Startups will also jump on board and innovate.

One could even argue that this is half the point of Google Friend Connect. Google is inserting itself into the chain so it can start analyzing and presenting that information for search.

Let’s not forget that a new source of information means a new area for targeted advertising. This is great for a company like Twitter, because it gives them another option to consider for their business model.

On that note, I’m starting to come around on the idea that Twitter could be a viable business. Expanding their reach, introducing users to their search, and then monetizing the results could be a great source of revenue just like it is for Google.

I’d also like to see Twitter start introducing business accounts. They should give businesses ways to manage groups of accounts so employees can participate in company tweeting.

Another possibility is to provide features to analyze the response to tweets (e.g., see how many people are tuning in, and what kinds of people are listening).

Twitter has already started taking steps in the right direction, and I really do hope it works out.

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