Google's Real Time Search

Realt time search offers some real benefits that should not be overlooked, in the in face of spam concerns.

Real time search can be great for finding out what people are saying about your product or a customer's product. This sort of market feedback can be really beneficial. I can imagine a marketing team watching real time results for their product as a commercial air during the Super Bowl, as just one example.

For example, I have been using ["starbucks via" site:twitter.com] as a demo for months, well before Google introduced real time search. I saw that the results were really positive. When Howard Schultz announced Starbucks' earnings and mentioned how well received Starbucks Via was in the market place, the price of the stock shot up. In retrospect, I was crazy to not have purchased the stock earlier.

The other benefit it has, while prone to spam, is the ability to see what other people are saying about a specific topic. One of the problems of our web age, is that people can spend all day only getting news from organizations that take their political view. Real time search is one of the few places where you can sit back and view a cross sections. No need to flip from one station to another.

Spam will always be a problem. As will stores that sell shoddy merchandise. As Internet users become more sophisticated, they will better be able to distinguish between the real thing and spam. Think how far use of the Internet to access information has come, not just from a programming point of view but how your regular user finds information and shops. I think people will be able to adapt and get better at identifying spam, lessening the downsides and accentuating the benefits of real time search.