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Google launches site for real-time search
Reuters
Last Updated IST
Google launches site for real-time search
Google launches site for real-time search

The move expands the Internet search leader's efforts to compete with Microsoft Corp's Bing in letting Web surfers track up-to-the-minute comments and postings and could also be a useful tool for organizations tracking public opinion on everything from a movie to a new product.

Google's effort underscores the importance of real-time data on social media, in an increasingly competitive Internet search arena which it dominates. Microsoft in October also announced partnerships with Twitter and Facebook to provide real-time search results.

A link on search results also lets users track conversations on the Internet -- back-and-forth comments about a particular topic -- in real time, and another click lets users choose to monitor discussions from a specific geographic location in English, Japanese, Russian or Spanish.

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Hollywood studios, for instance, can quickly scan initial comments and snap reviews after a movie premieres, or a company can check out opinions on a new product on launch day.

The company has no plans for now to sell advertising on the separate site -- which users could also access from search results generated on the main page.

"It's a great way to find out what people are saying about something ... right now," product manager Dylan Casey said. "Real time search is a core feature of Google search."

Google decided to hive off the separate site after research showed that enough users wanted to limit their Internet trawls to real-time results only. Addressing potential concerns about privacy, Casey added that only publicly available postings are displayed.

The stock of Google -- which runs the top search engine in the United States with more than two-thirds of the market -- slipped 0.15 percent late Thursday afternoon.

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(Published 27 August 2010, 08:51 IST)