14 DAY TRIAL // The real-time web has been getting a lot of hype in the past months and, as with any nascent technology, especially online, it has its great supporters and its detractors. The truth may be somewhere in the middle, as real time is not the be all and end all of online information, but, once it gets a little more fleshed out, instant relevant information does have its definite appeal. Currently real time means Twitter but there's no debate that its search engine is still lacking. A number of third-party search engines have popped up to fill in the need with varying degrees of success and now Searchtastic is giving it a shot hoping to stand out with a couple of new features.
The Twitter search engine is entering a rather crowded market vying for what is still a niche segment but its most touted feature may be enough to get people's attention, at least initially, as Searchtastic “searches historical tweets. This is significant because Twitter's own search functionality is limited to tweets from the last seven days.” It may be a little more than seven days but the point stands; right now Twitter search is severely limited. Of course, the appeal of a real-time source of information is what is happening at the moment but there is still a need to have access to the older tweets.
The second biggest new feature is the possibility to limit the search to tweets coming from just one user, which could prove very useful in certain circumstances. There are also some interesting interface tricks like the ease with which you add and remove search terms. It is a good first step but Searchtastic has to keep adding functionality if it wants to survive. And there is plenty to do, something the search engine readily admits.
“Note that Searchtastic should provide better search results than Twitter when you specify a user name since we include historical tweets. However, if a user name is not specified, you may receive fewer results than Twitter. We cannot index all tweets because Twitter limits access to its data. Having said this, we are expanding our coverage daily and search results should continue to improve going forward.”