UPDATE 4-Microsoft, Google seal Twitter search deals
* Microsoft inks search pacts with Facebook, Twitter
* Google says its search to add Twitter messages soon
* Real-time data the next battleground in search (Adds comments from Google, Facebook executives, background)
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O)and Google Inc (GOOG.O) secured separate agreements to accessreal-time content from Web phenomenon Twitter, intensifyingtheir battle for a search market that Google dominates.
Google, and Microsoft's 5-month-old Bing, each announceddeals to access Twitter's store of public data in real time onWednesday, in the latest sign of escalating competition betweenthe two search engines.
The long-expected deals are expected to ramp up theefficacy and lure of search results, by allowing users to scanreal-time Tweets: 140-character stream-of-consciousnessmessages that Twitter hosts on its popular website.
The back-to-back announcements underscored how real-timedata in search results is shaping up to be a pivotalbattleground in the search arena.
Microsoft unveiled its deal with Twitter and provided anon-stage demonstration of the newly-launched product at the Web2.0 conference in San Francisco Wednesday morning.
Hours later, Google announced on its company blog its ownagreement, promising that Twitter messages, or Tweets, would beincorporated into search results "in the coming months."
Both companies would not disclose financial terms.Microsoft also announced a deal to include content from socialnetwork Facebook on Wednesday.
Asked about the timing of twin announcements, Google VicePresident of Search Products Marissa Mayer told Reuters dealsbetween fast-growing companies like Google and Twitter take along time to come together.
"This is not something that happens on the scale of hours,it's something that happens on the scale of months," she said.Google's addition of Twitter data will fill a "critical gap."
"Whenever there's new data that's emerging, and growing asfast as we're seeing with Twitter, it's really about makingsure that we have the content so we can search for it and findit for our users."
Twitter, the 3-year-old Web start-up that has become anInternet sensation popularized by celebrities and government,attracts tens of millions of visitors every month.
In September, it received a $100 million round of financingthat valued the company at $1 billion, according to peoplefamiliar with the matter. Twitter has yet to generatesignificant revenue from its free service, though it hasmentioned advertising and premium features as potential ways tomake money. [ID:nN25512246]
AN INTERNET PHENOMENON
Qi Lu, president of online services at Microsoft, said datafrom Twitter could provide "signals" about which content on theWeb is most popular and most relevant to search queries.
"You can use those to augment today's search experience,"Lu told a San Francisco Internet conference.
From Wednesday, Twitter search results will be accessibleon a special section of Bing as a beta, or test product.Microsoft plans to present the most popular Tweets of themoment, while allowing Web surfers to view Twitter messagesthat contain links to other Web content. Microsoft will filterout spam and other extraneous data.
Microsoft said data from Facebook would be available inBing at an unspecified later date. The Facebook dealencompasses only messages that its 300 million-plus users haveflagged as viewable to the public, a practice that isrelatively new and not as widespread on the social network,where users typically send messages to groups of friends.
Facebook Chief Operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said nomoney changed hands in the deal between Facebook and Microsoft,during a separate presentation at the conference.
"As searchers are looking for more and more real-time Webresults, we think this partnership will help Bing to improveits user experience," said JP Morgan analyst Imran Khan in anote to investors.
Microsoft also inked a deal this year to entwine its searchefforts with Yahoo's (YHOO.O).
Yahoo's chief technology officer, Ari Balogh, toldreporters that, generally speaking, any data Microsoft's searchengine has access to also would be accessible to Yahoo underthe terms of their partnership.
Yahoo has been testing the limited inclusion of Twittermessages within search results to certain users, he added.
"All content on the Web is relevant to search," Baloghsaid. He thought people would not want to go to three or foursites to access different types of data. (Writing by Edwin Chan; Editing by Richard Chang and CarolBishopric)
Source: Reuters
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