Yes, its confirmed. Microsoft’s newest search engine, Bing, will be bringing real-time search results from Twitter and eventually, Facebook. The announcement was made by search head Qi Lu and senior vice president usuf Mehdi at the Web 2.0 Summit in Francisco held today.
Real time tweets were available in beta from Twitter at Bing.com/twitter starting today. Facebook info will arrive “at a later date”, according to Mehdi.
So how does this work?
Users of the Bing Twitter search can view the tweets that match their query chronologically. They also have the option to view the results in “best match” mode where according to Medhi, Bing’s team will “apply a bunch of our search techniques and relevancy to improve the results.”
“You have to do more visual things, you have to do more sophisticated things, and you have to have better access to data,” Mehdi said.
Don’t expect to dig out deets regarding how much the deal cost Microsoft though coz if there was, Microsoft and Twitter are keeping mum about it. Facebook however, was quick to set the records straight. According Shery Sandberg, Facebook’s site’s chief operating officer, “no money changed hands” in its deal with Microsoft.
