Google, Bing to Launch Twitter, Facebook Search

The battle between Bing and Google has heated up with both sides agreeing to deals with micro-blogging site Twitter. In addition, Microsoft has reached a separate agreement with Facebook, while Google is launching its own, unique search tool for social networking sites.

User demand is behind decisions by Microsoft and Google to include social networking in search results. While both search sites update their index of web pages regularly, they still struggle to cope with very recent information such as current events. While both Google and Bing have dedicated searches of news websites, that doesn't cover comments and reports by non-journalists, including those on hand during a major event -- information which is available through social networks.

Twin Tie-Ups For Twitter

Twitter appears to have pulled off a smart marketing move by having deals with both search giants announced within hours of one another. Bing has already released a beta edition of its Twitter search which, unlike the facility on Twitter's own site, includes a list of the web pages which receive the most links in Twitter posts. That's a useful way of finding the latest talking points. (Source: pcworld.com)

Bing will also be including Facebook status updates in its main search results, though the precise details haven't been confirmed yet. It seems sensible that this would be limited to updates from users who have made their posts available to everyone, rather than restricting it to friends. If this isn't the case, there could soon be a privacy disagreement brewing. (Source: webworkerdaily.com)

Google Launches Social Search

Google will likely be including Twitter posts in its main search results, though it could take some time to implement. More immediately, Google has announced a separate project titled Social Search; rather than covering all social networking users, this simply adds relevant posts from your contacts and friends to the main search results.

Though this doesn't sound like a big deal, it could prove particularly useful in special cases. For example, if you were to search for an Italian restaurant in your city, Google would not only bring up reviews from professional websites, but might be able to track down comments your friends had made about those venues.