Real-time Web search could be Facebook's future

By Tim Conneally | Published August 11, 2009, 10:55 AM

After Facebook announced that it would be acquiring social sharing service Friendfeed, Facebook engineering manager Akhil Wable announced that Facebook was in the midst of improving its in-site Search features as well.

Users can enter the term they want to find in the search field, then results can be filtered to include posts by friends, fan groups, or pages viewable to all users, as well as events, applications, and the Web as a whole.

"I used Facebook Search to get the latest about our recent acquisition of FriendFeed, an innovative service for sharing online," Wable wrote. "When I enter 'FriendFeed' in the 'Search' field in the upper-right hand corner of any page on Facebook, I get the most recent status updates, reactions and news from my friends who work in technology and people who have chosen to make their content available to everyone. I also can find the official FriendFeed Page on Facebook and user groups related to FriendFeed."

Because Friendfeed's executive staff is comprised of former Google employees, and it concentrates on keeping track of real-time Web updates, some take yesterday's announcements as a clear sign that Facebook is moving toward becoming a search site.

Blogger Robert Scoble said, "This is Facebook firing a shot at Google...Facebook knows the real money in real time is in search. FriendFeed has real time search. Google does not (although it's bootstrapping there very fast, some of my FriendFeed items are showing up in Google within seconds now)...Google has Wave coming, along with some other things this fall and that forced a shotgun marriage between FriendFeed and Facebook."

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

If you want to search or compare the major real-time engines with a single click: I've picked the top 10 players (FriendFeed, Google 24h, Twitter, One Riot, TweetMeme, Social Mention, etc.) and made it available in a favtab page:

http://favtabs.com/realtime

Score: 0

|

Real time search is definitely an incredibly functional tool. A good website in this space is www.gethighnote.com, which has search as well as track and share. It's results are pretty useful and the track has helped me find some pretty cool information that might otherwise get lost.

Score: 0

|

Google Buzz: Another attempt to harness the content firehose

Similar to how Google successfully remolded RSS into a Google tool, the company now wants to remold Gmail into one big Google party

Success: Google's Nexus One shipping support line takes tech support questions

UPDATED Though the support line had been set up for shipping, it now appears Google personnel are happy to hear technical concerns.

Goodnight, moon: What I learned from a space shuttle

Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: Can the tech sector learn a few lessons from the space program? Certainly, if you believe in learning from someone else's mistakes.

Netflix to FCC: NBCU + Comcast could bypass net neutrality

Weaning itself from the post office as its main means of video transfer, Netflix would like someone to ensure the Internet remains just as unencumbered.

Rhapsody to become an independent company

RealNetworks and Viacom subsidiary MTV Networks have begun the process of spinning off music service Rhapsody into an independent company.

Nvidia debuts new dynamically-switched graphics card technology

Today, Nvidia announced that its Optimus technology for GPU switching will soon be available in a handful of Asus notebooks.

Google lowers 'unusually high' early termination fee on Nexus One

Google has lowered the Nexus One's early termination fees which were twice as high as the norm.

Netgear and Ericsson introduce a mobile broadband hotspot with a twist

It's a mobile broadband hotspot, but it's for use in the home.

Report: Streaming video drove 72% global increase in mobile data consumption

A new study says streaming video is "the single most influential factor driving the need for increased mobile network capacity."

Stymied by continuing Nexus One 3G issues, Google blames the environment

If you're still afflicted with the 3G flip-flop trouble, then you might consider moving. That appears to be the only suggestion Google can give for now.

Wolfram|Alpha makes a strong argument for virtual keyboards

"Answer engine" Wolfram|Alpha has updated its iPhone/iPod Touch app, harnessing the strength of the virtual keyboard.