The Google and Twitter experiment

In early February, it emerged that Google and Twitter had reached an agreement; following this announcement, neither Google nor Twitter provided any further details regarding the content of this agreement. This radio silence has now been broken.

In early May, it emerged that Google and Twitter were set to launch a small experiment; that ‘small experiment’ is now live. As part of this experiment, Google is including Tweets in its mobile search results.

Why are the two internet giants joining forces?

Through this partnership, Twitter hopes to capitalise on the more than 500 million people who visit the social network each month without logging in. The company is struggling to retain these visitors, expand its user base and thereby satisfy investors. This partnership will help increase their visitor numbers.

For Google, this collaboration is no less important. Google uses a highly advanced algorithm to determine which website ranks where in the search results. Google states that this depends on more than 200 ‘factors’, such as a website’s speed, user-friendliness and the relevance of its content to the search term. As Google now has access to Twitter’s data feed, it can benefit from even more information (signals). For example, Google can track the volume of Tweets and observe user interaction with specific search terms. With this information, Google can, amongst other things, determine:

– Which search terms are popular (# hashtag usage)
– Value of a Tweet (How many people view and interact with a Tweet?)
– Which Twitter users are highly influential
– Measuring links and page strength (links leading to a specific page or links within Twitter itself)

Google can use this data to respond immediately to trending topics and thus provide its users with an optimal search experience!

What does this partnership mean for us?

At the moment, it is still just an experiment and is only available on mobile devices in America, but it has already been announced that the experiment will also be tested on computers. Personally, I think it won’t be long before Twitter posts are fully integrated into search results, as both parties stand to gain a great deal from this collaboration.

When Twitter posts are fully integrated into search results, that strikes me as particularly interesting for business owners! What business owner wouldn’t want to be able to see in real time what’s on the minds of their target audience, interact with them and respond by, for example, running adverts on trending topics? After all, building a connection between business and consumer is essential in online marketing, and this collaboration represents a major step forward in the ability to convey ‘the right message at the right time’.