Twitter as a search engine

June 3, 2008

This is the first in a series of posts that will examine unconventional uses for Twitter. Check back later in the week for the next installment.

Twitter has held the attention of the web like I haven’t seen a product do in a long time. While the premise is simple — briefly answer the question, “What are you doing?” — the benefits are as individual as its users. Some share little details of their day. Others promote projects they’re working on, while others connect with far-flung friends, seek help to puzzling questions or simply “eavesdrop” on the informal thoughts of bloggers or business owners they admire.

You may use Twitter for any or all of these purposes, or even something different entirely. Today, I’ll talk about using Twitter as a search engine, and its advantages over Google.



Woah, Dave. You’re insane. Google is a search engine, through and through. Twitter is, well … Twitter. It’s ridiculous to make such a comparison.

Google is the 300lb (or maybe even 3,000 lb) gorilla in the world of internet search. But, it’s not the definitive answer to finding things on the web. I’ll give you an example.

Recently, I was working on a WordPress project and couldn’t figure out how to pull off a certain trick. So, I opened a new browser window, navigated to google.com, entered the best keywords I could think of and executed the search.

Instantly, I was presented with thousands of results. The first four or five were helpful, but didn’t offer the answer I was looking for. Those results suggested others, and soon enough fifteen minutes passed and I wasn’t much closer to finishing my project. In fact, it had been sitting idle that whole time.

So, I posed the question to my Twitter followers; “How do I do this in WordPress?” Then it happened — I was offered exactly the answer I was looking for in less than sixty seconds. In that case, Twitter beat Google hands down. Here are what I’ve discovered to be the advantages of Twitter over Google.

1. It doesn’t interrupt my workflow

When I execute a search on Google — and weed through the results — I do so at the cost of productivity on my project. I must stop what I’m doing, open a new window and start digging. Often I find what I want in a minute or two. Sometimes I don’t. However, I’ve stopped progress on my project in both situations. Even time spent on brief searches adds up.

When I “execute a search” via Twitter, there’s almost no interruption in my workflow. The time it takes me to bring Twitterrific to the foreground, type my question (more on that later) and hit the return key is about ten seconds. After that, I can return to my project and continue working.

2. High quality results

Meanwhile, the “Twitter Elves” (my followers) read my query and those who have the answer reply. The “weeding through” that is such a time-consuming part of using Google takes care of itself. Not EVERYONE replies, nor do those who think they kind-of, maybe have an idea. No, only those who are absolutely confident in their answer click that reply button. I get the right answer (or darn close to it) only.

3. I can pose a question in real English

The old joke about using the Yellow Pages was, “First I’ve got to guess what they’ve decided to call this.” Will I find the number for a house painter under “Painter,” “House,” “Contractors,” “General Contractors” or what?

Setting up a Google search is the same sort of guessing game. The first step is to imagine what the right magical words will be that will produce the results you’re after. Often it takes several attempts.

Twitter eliminates this bit of sorcery. Instead of typing, “WordPress, pages, hidden, menu bar, side bar” and crossing my fingers, I simply ask, “Does anyone know an easy way to hide certain pages from a WordPress sidebar?” That’s plain old English, folks, and it elicited exactly the result I was after.

4. Results based on knowledge, not SEO skills

One’s ability to optimize a web page for search engines has nothing to do with his or her ability to put useful content on that page. Anyone can tag, keyword and otherwise tweak a page so that a search engine will notice it readily. The content on that page may be crap, but Google sees it!

Twitter-generated results come from the knowledge and experience of the hundreds of people who follow me. I can tap into their minds in real time, which is a benefit over the static pages that Google serves.

The folks at Mahalo kind of get this. Human beings generate their search result pages, but even then I’m viewing what the author of that page thought should appear. I can’t speak to him directly and get an answer as quickly as he can type.

Before you flame me, know that I understand the difference between Google and Twitter. Then try it. You’ll be surprised with what happens.

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Posted by Dave | Filed Under Blog 

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