Twitter just signed a deal with Google that will position live Twitter posts to appear within Google search results. Currently, the posts will be limited to appearing in searches performed within the mobile version of Google and as well as the Google App. The move will position Twitter to better grow its user-base and increase its relevancy within the Facebook dominated world of Social Media.
Twitter announced the news today in a blog posts. To provide some context as to how these search results may pop, here is an example provided directly from Twitter:
For example, if you’re interested in hearing more from Taylor Swift, a quick search on Google will pull up her most recent Tweets. Or, if you’re a TV buff, a search for#MadMen will bring up the most relevant news and Tweets about Sunday’s series finale.
Once users find a Tweet they’re interested in, they can click on the Tweet to view it in Twitter, share it with their friends, and even Tweet back at the Tweeter. (That’s officially a real thing as of…now)
The move is one of a number of aggressive actions taken by Twitter to bring back their relevancy in the social media world. Today, Facebook has 1.44 billion active users each month, with over 936 million users visiting Facebook every day. This is in stark contrast to Twitters 302 million active users as reported for quarter 1 of this year.
However, Twitter users are on the rise. As you can see in the graph from Statista above, Twitter has gained an impressive 50 million users over the past year. Facebook still dwarfs such growth having gained nearly 200 million new users over the same time period. (Racing with a giant can be rough stuff.)
Despite their growth in users, the company is still struggling from a revenue perspective. Earlier this year, Twitter re-adjusted their financial forecast and caused their stock prices to plummet. They attributed the losses to the recent change to their advertising model which paid on outcome as opposed to traditional clicks. It’s clear that Twitter is in need of a number of drastic changes to stay relevant and to keep stockholders happy. Hopefully this new traffic source will bring new users and enable more revenue opportunity for Twitter.
What are your thoughts on Twitter’s new deal with Google? Will it convince you to get a Twitter account. (You should probably just do it before Mark Zuckerburg takes over the world. Just a thought.) Let us know in the comments below.