Google has just announced that it’s ramping up its Real Time Search service by giving it its own URL separate from the main search page. This move coincides with the launch of some new real time search tools.
The page, at www.google.com/realtime isn’t live for everyone yet (we’ve heard reports of Error 404s for some users) but it features some nifty tools for finding out exactly what’s happening now.
- Geographic refinements to find updates and news near you, or in a region you specify.
- Conversation view. Google says: “Often a single tweet sparks a larger conversation of re-tweets and other replies, but to put it together you have to click through a bunch of links and figure it out yourself. With the new “full conversation” feature, you can browse the entire conversation in a single glance. We organize the tweets from oldest to newest and indent so you quickly see how the conversation developed.”
- Realtime Google Alerts: Google says: “You can create an alert specifically for “updates” to get an email the moment your topic appears on Twitter or other short-form services. Or, if you want to manage your email volume, you can set alerts to email you once per day or week.”
Google has been relatively slow off the mark in embracing realtime features. It first dipped its toe in the water with basic realtime results in December last year. Today’s new tools offer a more well-rounded experience for monitoring the social web as it happens.
Here’s Google’s introductory video.
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