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Twitter introduces simpler search

by Ben Romberg | 10.07.2012
Twitter has developed a simpler way to discover what’s happening in real time by changing its search engine. This is introduced following changes to the network that sees both Google and LinkedIn no longer able to display tweets in realtime, indicating a shift towards Twitter developing its own search engine internal to the network.

Last week, Twitter introduced search autocomplete and ‘People you follow’ search results to the profiles on twitter.com. In addition to recent improvements like related ‘query suggestions’, ‘spelling corrections’ and more relevant search results, these updates make it easier for Twitter users to source real time information.

Some of the changes to Twitter’s search engine are detailed below:

After you enter your search, you’ll find the most relevant Tweets, articles, accounts, images and videos for your query. Twitter have also made other improvements to make your search experience better.

  • Spelling corrections
  • Related suggestions: If you search for a topic for which people use multiple terms
  • Results with real names and usernames: When you search for a name like ‘Pete Tong’ you’ll see results mentioning that person’s real name and their Twitter account username
  • Results from people you follow: In addition to seeing ‘All’ or ‘Top’ Tweets for your search, you can also now see Tweets about a given topic from only the people you follow when you select the ‘People you follow’ view.

These updates introduce a new layer of search to Twitter, changing the dynamic of “social search”, and related search suggestions