Is Real-Time the Real Deal?

Econsultancy raised an interesting argument regarding the integration of real time features into conventional search engine formats. With Twitter and Facebook providing updates by the millisecond and the huge popularity that both have subsequently achieved, questions have been asked over whether the likes of Bing, Google and Yahoo should follow suit.

Well, as we’ve reported Bing have already integrated real-time search while Google are still finding real-time search ‘interesting’ – no news on Yahoo or the others. Bing’s first foray into the world of real-time (documented in Bing Unleash Real-Time Search) includes short snippets of some of the most popular Twitterati’s contributions.

However, the question posed by Econsultancy, which is incredibly valid, is what real use will this information have in a consumer society? If you’re looking for goods and services, real-time is unlikely to offer anything relevant. By tapping into millions of private conversations and an equally high number of marketing messages, what chance do you really have of finding exactly what you want?

Real-time only really comes into its own for news trends. Everything from entertainment gossip and hard news are distributed at an incredible pace, far faster than any news agency could ever achieve. At the moment, this is surely the only benefit of real-time search. Until significant filters are put in place, the old style of algorithmic searching with accuracy as the primary criteria won’t be toppled. Real-time has a future, an important one too, but work will need to be done if it is really going to come to define the way we all search.

To read the Econsultancy post in full visit their site and select the article Real-time, red herring: why real-time on the consumer internet isn’t the real deal.

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