Google Real-Time Search

Google Real-Time Search is a feature of Google Search provided by Google in which search results also sometimes include real-time information from sources that include Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and news websites.

The feature was introduced on December 7, 2009. Real-Time Search included Facebook status updates beginning on February 24, 2010. A feature similar to Real-Time Search was already available on Microsoft's Bing search engine, which showed results from Twitter and Facebook.

The interface for the engine shows a live, descending "river" of posts in the main region (which can be paused or resumed), while a bar chart metric of the frequency of posts containing a certain search term or hashtag is located on the right hand corner of the page above a list of most frequently-reposted posts and outgoing links. Hashtag search links are also supported, as are "promoted" tweets hosted by Twitter (located persistently on top of the river) and thumbnails of retweeted image or video links. In January 2011, geolocation links of posts were made available alongside results in Real-Time Search