Real-Time Google Searches Yield Facebook Updates, Twitter Tweets
by Clint Boulton
Granderson Joins the Yanks
Google surfaces tweets and Facebook status updates on the trade of Detroit Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson to the Yankees.
President Obama
eWEEK did a regular search on “President Obama.” When we initially saw no real-time results, we clicked on the search options button atop the results page, then clicked latest in the left-hand rail. This is what we saw. News articles, press releases and tweets appearing right before our eyes. In fact, results streamed in so fast, we almost had to pause the stream to take a screenshot. This technology really works.
Tiger Woods
What does this say about people when the news stream about golfer Tiger Woods pipes in faster than that of the U.S. President? It says salacious affairs sell. eWEEK actually had to pause the real-time news flow to take a decent screenshot here.
Woods Updates
We then wanted to see a full page of real-time updates on Woods. So we clicked on search options, then clicked Updates in the left-hand rail. This is what we saw.
UPS
We then used Google Trends to find hot topics. What’s so hot about UPS? Our guess is it’s the holiday season. People are racing online to check package status updates. Here is where Google’s real-time search had trouble: disambiguating the term for the company UPS from the word “ups,” as in “ups and downs.”
Copenhagen
With the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen this week, the capital of Denmark was the top hot trend on Google. Here are the real-time results.
Norway Blue Lights
In something out of The Twilight Zone, mysterious blue spiral lights appeared over Norway. What are they, where do they come from, people are tweeting. Gizmodo has more.
Public Option
Public Option is the hot, controversial topic in healthcare reform. People are tweeting and publishing stories on it en masse.
Champions League Soccer
Much ado about Champion League soccer on Google. Liverpool lost to Fiorentina 2-1.
TARP
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions is getting a lot of play in the U.S. as the ailing economy struggles to recover.
