The Morrison Agency Blog

In case you haven’t already noticed, let me be the first to direct to the new Twitter home page.

Notice anything different? Twitter has redesigned the page, and put absolute focus on a new feature headlined by “See what people are saying about…” followed by a search bar. Results are generated by finding users who have posted “tweets” including your search term/phrase.

What is the significance of this occurrence? Simple. Twitter has finally taken the first step in unseating Google as the dominant organic search site. You may think I’m crazy in this belief, but I am willing to bet that sooner or later, Twitter will in fact overtake Google as the #1 online search service (sorry Bing).

The reason? Results aren’t based on some ominous algorithm cooked up by the crew in Mountain View California. Instead, results are compiled by information from people just like you and me. Why would this happen? I’ll give you a good example: About a month or two ago we had a terrible thunderstorm come through Atlanta, that happened to spawn a number of tornadoes along the way. My satellite reception in my home became non-existent, and power was eventually lost. In order to keep aware of the location of the tornadoes, and the storm system in general, I grabbed my iPhone, launched Tweetie, and performed a search for “tornado”. Immediately I received hundred of tweets detailing the events happening around the city from the perspective of everyday people.

Long story short, Twitter made it possible for me to stay informed of current events in real time, without the need for editorialized news services. The difference between traditional search, from Google’s perspective, and a Twitter search has everything to do with the timing of the results. A Twitter search can generate results only seconds old, whereas high ranking Google results, have been made possible due to ongoing SEO initiatives.

So, in closing, do you agree? Is Twitter > Google? How do you see the search game unfolding?