Twitter Ain't Search • Hacker News Board

Re: Twitter Ain't Search

#21

Post by bobbyi » Fri, Mar 06, 2009, 3:05 AM UTC

AndrewWarner wrote: post #5

Next time there's breaking news in your neighborhood (like an earthquake) try your search on Google and on Search.Twitter.com and see which has the news faster. Twitter is instant. Google has to wait for someone to publish an article on the news and then Google needs to index that article. Plus with Google, the article's headline doesn't give you the whole story. It's a tease. You have to click over to read the story…

Did you actually try your example? If I search on google for "earthquake san francisco":

http://www.google.com/search?q=earthquake+san+francisco

the most recent earthquake it tells me about is 3 hours ago (as of this writing).

The time, place and links to maps are all right there at the top of the serp where I expect.

If I do the same query on twitter:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=earthquake+san+francisco

The most recent result is 19 hours old and then I have to start clicking tinyurls in people's tweets to find more info.

Re: Twitter Ain't Search

#22

Post by dandelany » Fri, Mar 06, 2009, 4:28 AM UTC

yosh wrote: post #14

AndrewWarner wrote: post #5

Next time there's breaking news in your neighborhood (like an earthquake) try your search on Google and on Search.Twitter.com and see which has the news faster. Twitter is instant. Google has to wait for someone to publish an article on the news and then Google needs to index that article. Plus with Google, the article's headline doesn't give you the whole story. It's a tease. You have to click over to read the story…

Earthquakes are a poor example. http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latest.htm is going to give you more timely and accurate data than someone's random tweet.

Earthquakes are a great example. If I feel an earthquake, I might visit a site like that to get the scientific facts about the epicenter and magnitude of the earthquake.

However, there is a totally different kind of value to Twitter posts: instead of data, I'm getting firsthand accounts of who felt it, where, what they were doing at the time, and what effect it had on their life. Yes, this information is (obviously) anecdotal, but its also interesting, informative and immediate.

Re: Twitter Ain't Search

#23

Post by dandelany » Fri, Mar 06, 2009, 4:41 AM UTC

bobbyi wrote: post #21

AndrewWarner wrote: post #5

Next time there's breaking news in your neighborhood (like an earthquake) try your search on Google and on Search.Twitter.com and see which has the news faster. Twitter is instant. Google has to wait for someone to publish an article on the news and then Google needs to index that article. Plus with Google, the article's headline doesn't give you the whole story. It's a tease. You have to click over to read the story…

Did you actually try your example? If I search on google for "earthquake san francisco": http://www.google.com/search?q=earthquake+san+francisco the most recent earthquake it tells me about is 3 hours ago (as of this writing). The time, place and links to maps are all right there at the top of the serp where I expect. If I do the same query on twitter: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=earthquake+san+francisco The m…

Obviously, this is a poor example. It was a magnitude 3.1, so no one felt it, and it was 100 miles north of San Francisco.

The last one anybody felt was on Feb 21st at 11:01 AM, and the first (non-automated) tweet was at 11:21 AM (http://twitter.com/indiaknight/statuses/1234962301). This example is similarly bad, since it didn't really affect anyone in a big way. However, for instant reactions to notable events, Twitter can't be beat. If today's earthquake had been "the big one," you can bet twitter would have been flooded with information, missing people reports, locations for aid, firsthand accounts and so on.

Re: Twitter Ain't Search

#24

Post by njharman » Fri, Mar 06, 2009, 7:10 AM UTC

Twitter's real-time search can't be a Google killer cause unless I hadn't noticed Google doesn't have a real-time search product.

The other way round is plausible, Google comes out with a Twitter killer. That is a real-time search product. But, why bother... Besides Twitter is more than just real-time search and Google is much more than just search.

Re: Twitter Ain't Search

#25

Post by senthil_rajasek » Fri, Mar 06, 2009, 7:14 AM UTC

AndrewWarner wrote: post #5

Next time there's breaking news in your neighborhood (like an earthquake) try your search on Google and on Search.Twitter.com and see which has the news faster. Twitter is instant. Google has to wait for someone to publish an article on the news and then Google needs to index that article. Plus with Google, the article's headline doesn't give you the whole story. It's a tease. You have to click over to read the story…

what about rumours? how/who validates twitter search results as real news?

Re: Twitter Ain't Search

#26

Post by baddox » Fri, Mar 06, 2009, 9:06 AM UTC

dandelany wrote: post #23

bobbyi wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you actually try your example? If I search on google for "earthquake san francisco": http://www.google.com/search?q=earthquake+san+francisco the most recent earthquake it tells me about is 3 hours ago (as of this writing). The time, place and links to maps are all right there at the top of the serp where I expect. If I do the same query on twitter: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=earthquake+san+francisco The m…

Obviously, this is a poor example. It was a magnitude 3.1, so no one felt it, and it was 100 miles north of San Francisco. The last one anybody felt was on Feb 21st at 11:01 AM, and the first (non-automated) tweet was at 11:21 AM ( http://twitter.com/indiaknight/statuses/1234962301 ). This example is similarly bad, since it didn't really affect anyone in a big way. However, for instant reactions to notable events, Tw…

Or you can bet twitter would go down ;)

Re: Twitter Ain't Search

#27

Post by fortes » Fri, Mar 06, 2009, 1:30 PM UTC

AndrewWarner wrote: post #5

Next time there's breaking news in your neighborhood (like an earthquake) try your search on Google and on Search.Twitter.com and see which has the news faster. Twitter is instant. Google has to wait for someone to publish an article on the news and then Google needs to index that article. Plus with Google, the article's headline doesn't give you the whole story. It's a tease. You have to click over to read the story…

Sure, you might see that something happened -- but you get no details at all, and you have to know what to search for.

Re: Twitter Ain't Search

#28

Post by AndrewWarner » Fri, Mar 06, 2009, 8:09 PM UTC

bobbyi wrote: post #21

AndrewWarner wrote: post #5

Next time there's breaking news in your neighborhood (like an earthquake) try your search on Google and on Search.Twitter.com and see which has the news faster. Twitter is instant. Google has to wait for someone to publish an article on the news and then Google needs to index that article. Plus with Google, the article's headline doesn't give you the whole story. It's a tease. You have to click over to read the story…

Did you actually try your example? If I search on google for "earthquake san francisco": http://www.google.com/search?q=earthquake+san+francisco the most recent earthquake it tells me about is 3 hours ago (as of this writing). The time, place and links to maps are all right there at the top of the serp where I expect. If I do the same query on twitter: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=earthquake+san+francisco The m…

Yes. I was at my desk a few weeks ago and felt something. Couldn't tell if it was my neighbor or a quake, so I searched twitter. Got the answer instantly.

I also got stuck in crazy traffic on the 405 recently. I searched twitter and learned which side streets to take. Google's map program doesn't seem to cover side streets.

It doesn't replace Google for me, but it does replace it for certain searches.