Google and Twitter, two proverbial tech powerhouses, are teaming up once again.
The search engine tech giant announced plans to team up with Twitter and show parts of its feed in its search results. The deal comes two years after Google and Twitter parted ways in a similar deal.
Searches from Google will now come with an option to choose between immediacy and more long-term search results. The deal will provide users with access to tweets relevant to their search, according to Google.
The deal would be a major victory for Google. The search feature will reportedly request access to a user’s Twitter account, providing Google with an even greater data overview of a user’s online experience.
The deal is also a major victory for Twitter Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo, who has spent much of his time trying to make Twitter a more viable company. The company already has deals in place with Microsoft’s Bing search service and Yahoo! Inc. The latest deal will more or less make Twitter one of the most visible companies online. According to Twitter, the deal does not include an advertising agreement, although the site will receive a data-licensing agreement, possibly worth tens of millions of dollars per year.
The deal could also solve one of Twitter’s biggest problems: lack of new users. The deal with Google will put the 140-character platform in front of millions of non-Twitter users, at least of some of whom will try out its services.
According to Google, engineers at both Google and Twitter are already working on merging the two platforms. It remains unclear when the feature will launch, although many industry experts say it will likely appear later this year.
Whether the addition of Twitter will improve Google’s search results remains to be seen. Twitter, in a press release, notes nearly 500 million tweets are sent out each day. Twitter could eventually provide users with a better source of reviews for Google’s eCommerce platform, which has failed to gain traction since launching three years ago.
Shares of Twitter rose 1.3 percent to $41.26 following the announcement. Google moved up less than 1 percent.
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