14 DAY TRIAL // Google has been adding new sources to its real-time search from time to time and after the recent addition of MySpace status updates comes a new one that is much more interesting in the big picture. Google has announced that real-time results from Facebook Pages are now live on the search engine, making it the 12th source for real-time data. And the best part is where Google announced it, on Twitter.
The company isn't saying much, except that the integration is now live, without giving any details. The move isn't unexpected, though, it has been known, ever since Google launched real-time search, that some Facebook data is coming. What it means for the user is that they may find updates from Facebook pages among the search results if Google's algorithms deem them relevant.
The move is significant in itself, but is actually a very small part of what could be achieved. There are over three million Facebook Pages at the time, mostly held by celebrities, politicians and other public figures, but also companies and organizations. While their updates could prove important, they're not really the 'voice of the people.' And with 400 million Facebook users, that voice could have been a loud one.
When factoring in the latest privacy-policy changes at Facebook, which were designed to get people to be more open and post more public updates, it's clear that the social network could prove a really valuable source for real-time information, even though Twitter currently steals the crown in this department.
Google added real-time results to its search engine last year and pulls data from a variety of sources. It struck a deal with Twitter, giving it full access to the entire data 'firehose' just before introducing real-time search. It recently added MySpace status updates as well, again with full access to the stream, but it also taps into some of its own proprieties like Google News or Jaiku for the data.