Microsoft Corp and Google Inc secured separate agreements to access real-time content from Web phenomenon Twitter,intensifying their battle for a search market that Google dominates. Google,and Microsoft's 5-month-old Bing,each announced deals to access Twitter's store of public data in real time on Wednesday,in the latest sign of escalating competition between the two search engines. The long-expected deals are expected to ramp up the efficacy and lure of search results,by allowing users to scan real-time Tweets: 140-character stream-of-consciousness messages that Twitter hosts on its popular website. The back-to-back announcements underscored how real-time data in search results is shaping up to be a pivotal battleground in the search arena. Microsoft unveiled its deal with Twitter and provided an on-stage demonstration of the newly-launched product at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco Wednesday morning. Hours later,Google announced on its company blog its own agreement,promising that Twitter messages,or Tweets,would be incorporated into search results "in the coming months." Both companies would not disclose financial terms. Microsoft also announced a deal to include content from social network Facebook on Wednesday. Asked about the timing of twin announcements,Google Vice President of Search Products Marissa Mayer said deals between fast-growing companies like Google and Twitter take a long 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 as fast as we're seeing with Twitter,it's really about making sure that we have the content so we can search for it and find it for our users." Twitter,the 3-year-old Web start-up that has become an Internet sensation popularized by celebrities and government,attracts tens of millions of visitors every month. In September,it received a $100 million round of financing that valued the company at $1 billion,according to people familiar with the matter. Twitter has yet to generate significant revenue from its free service,though it has mentioned advertising and premium features as potential ways to make money.
