Source: ReputationDefender Blog
Unless you’ve been under a rock or in some cave for the last year you’ve probably heard of Twitter. Put succinctly, Twitter is a 140 character micro-blogging service that allows you to follow other people on the network, and have them follow you in return. Really no different from any other blog-type service or network except for the 140 character limitation and the embedded follow and display functions that display on the user’s page.
Recently Twitter added a new level of functionality to its site, incorporating a search feature into the main page. The development had been announced in February, and many in the industry see the move as a step towards profitability and –possibly– a threat to Google’s status as the Lord of the Search Engines.
While Twitter is not at present a direct threat to Google, the addition of search functionality does put it squarely in the same arena as Facebook and Google. In addition to the search function, (which, it should be noted was always available at search.twitter.com, but as of March 6th has appeared on more user pages) Twitter is also adding a “trends” function that will display the most popular recent topics of site traffic. No doubt, Google and Facebook, which have both been looking for ways to expand their efforts in the social networking sphere, will take a long look at this development to see if they can innovate, copy or destroy.
“A search function offers opportunities to sell online advertising. For years there’s been a notion of capturing eyeballs and, once you have them on the site, leveraging that relationship for additional revenues,” Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT Research, said in an interview. “I can see how it would work for certain people in an organization, but it can suck the time out of your day,” King said. “It’s not quite a defined benefit yet.”
Twitter has risen in prominence very rapidly, but with the increased popularity has come a few issues, particularly concerns over phishing vulnerabilities. Last year there was a widely-reported Twitter-based phishing campaign designed to steal account data with promises of an iPhone. Biz Stone, Twitter’s co-founder, cautioned that privacy issues surrounding text messages may arise in connection with Twitter in the future.
Recently Twitter added a new level of functionality to its site, incorporating a search feature into the main page. The development had been announced in February, and many in the industry see the move as a step towards profitability and –possibly– a threat to Google’s status as the Lord of the Search Engines.
While Twitter is not at present a direct threat to Google, the addition of search functionality does put it squarely in the same arena as Facebook and Google. In addition to the search function, (which, it should be noted was always available at search.twitter.com, but as of March 6th has appeared on more user pages) Twitter is also adding a “trends” function that will display the most popular recent topics of site traffic. No doubt, Google and Facebook, which have both been looking for ways to expand their efforts in the social networking sphere, will take a long look at this development to see if they can innovate, copy or destroy.
“A search function offers opportunities to sell online advertising. For years there’s been a notion of capturing eyeballs and, once you have them on the site, leveraging that relationship for additional revenues,” Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT Research, said in an interview. “I can see how it would work for certain people in an organization, but it can suck the time out of your day,” King said. “It’s not quite a defined benefit yet.”
Twitter has risen in prominence very rapidly, but with the increased popularity has come a few issues, particularly concerns over phishing vulnerabilities. Last year there was a widely-reported Twitter-based phishing campaign designed to steal account data with promises of an iPhone. Biz Stone, Twitter’s co-founder, cautioned that privacy issues surrounding text messages may arise in connection with Twitter in the future.
