Oh my. A lot has been going on in the Search Market. There hasn't been this much buzz since Google went in cahoots with China on censorship and Ashton Kutcher saved someone from a not so glamorous suicide. Wow.
So Microsoft and Yahoo, the number 3 and number 2 companies in the Search Market respectively (and respectively WAY behind Google) have inked a 10 year deal to combine their efforts. Combine ad platforms mostly…letting Bing (Microsoft's used-to-be MSN used-to-be LIVE) handle that. But it's that what it's all about.
From what I see from the individual SERP's, I personally think Bing is way ahead of Yahoo in its clearer quality guidelines and sensible indexing. Yahoo has been all over the place for the past year. Especially in it's PPC results. So, it just makes sense that these two giants combine.
But Google doesn't seem to frightened by the prospect, though certainly there will be a round of anitrust suits to follow the deal. And why not? Google gets in trouble for every company it acquires…and it should. Why should Google, Microsoft, and NewsCorp own EVERYTHING (directly or indirectly)?
Which brings us to Twitter. Though Twitter burns through cash faster than American auto-makers, it's still just a pebble in Google's shoe…but the prospect of real time search results, getting indexing on a real time basis – what's hot NOW because of behavior, NOT because of a long list of code and content protocols – is interesting. Interesting enough to be a game changer. Or so they say.
Check out this article on the top contenders in real time search, and the problems each one faces in immediacy, popularity, and relevancy.