Microsoft and Google woo Twitter

SEARCH RIVALS Microsoft and Google are looking to integrate real-time Twitter feeds into their results, according to reports.

A post on news blog All Things Digital citing sources familiar with the situation claims that Twitter is in separate "advanced talks" with both firms.

If the talks are successful, Microsoft and Google will be able to supply real-time information provided by Twitter's 54 million monthly users. The micro-blogging site is likely to get a share of the revenue generated from the search results.

Twitter was recently valued at $1bn (£614m), after a new round of funding to the tune of $50m (£30m), despite still having no revenue model. The company is said to have raised $55m (£33m) to date, and to have around $30m (£18m) in cash.

Twitter said in February that it would start creating more revenue-generating products, and it has recently started rolling out a beta of Account Verification which will involve a charge.

A deal with Microsoft and Google would give Twitter an even bigger web presence and generate obvious cash benefits for the firm.

Rumours that Microsoft or Google will attempt to buy Twitter have arisen in recent months, but nothing concrete has emerged. Twitter is now targeting both companies when it is their priority to give users more access to real-time data.

Google last week added its Hot Trends to search in an effort to give its US users real-time information on the most popular web topics.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has trialled the integration of a limited amount of Twitter data into its search results.

Twitter, Microsoft and Google all failed to respond to a request for comment at the time of writing. µ