About
Subscribe

Twitter brings tweets to desktop search party

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 24 Aug 2015

In a playful interaction on the micro-blogging site, Twitter and Google announced real-time tweets will now appear in Google desktop search.

On Twitter, the official Google account tweeted: "Hey, @twitter. Search party at our place. Meet us on desktop?" and the official Twitter account replied: "You got it, @google. We'll bring the tweets."

Tweets relevant to a particular search will now be featured as standalone results alongside the usual list of Web sites returned.

Tweets have appeared in Google mobile search for the last three months. Google updated its blog post from the mobile announcement in May: "We've extended this to desktop now too, and in English everywhere."

Google senior product manager Ardan Arac says this addition to Google search results is "a great way to get real-time info when something is happening. And it's another way for organisations and people on Twitter to reach a global audience at the most relevant moments."

Jana Messerschmidt, VP of global business development and platform at Twitter, said: "When [clicking] on a tweet in Google search, you'll be taken directly to Twitter where you can view the tweet and discover additional content."

Non-Twitter users will have to sign up for the service before exploring additional tweets related to their search.

This extension is the second update to come out of a deal struck in February between Twitter and Google to make tweets more searchable online.

Rumours and slow growth

This year, there have been several rumours that Google, or another tech giant, is looking to buy Twitter.

Last week, The Guardian reported Twitter shares, previously as high as $69 a share, fell 6% on Thursday to below the $26 initial public offering price when Twitter floated in November 2013.

Last month, Twitter's shares fell more than 11% after the micro-blogging company said its number of monthly average users grew at the slowest pace since it went public in 2013.

Twitter said it had 304 million core users in the second quarter, up from 302 million in the prior quarter.

"It seems that everyone and their uncle is betting that Twitter will be bought by another firm," said Steven Place, founder of options firm investingwithoptions.com in Florida.

Share