The newest type of search engine on the web today comes in the form of real time search engines. Many internet users wonder why they should use this new method of searching. It turns out that these types of search engines can offer many benefits for certain types of searches.

By guest writer Evan Britton.

What is real time search?

Any internet user can use a real time search engine – even if the user isn’t a member of Twitter, Facebook, or any of the other hundreds of social networks that exist on the web.

Real time search isn’t something that is going to replace your traditional searches. Many of the searches you perform to shop, research, or navigate the internet will continue to be best performed at the likes of Google, Yahoo, or Bing. However, real time search opens an entirely new set of information for you to scour.

Real time search engines are able to search the millions of comments, links, and updates that users post each day. So, this data, effectively, allows you to see what people think about any given topic. So, if you are a big sports fan, and your team just lost a big game, a real time search will allow you to see what other fans are saying about your favorite team. Or, this past February, the night of the Oscar’s, when Avatar didn’t win best picture, a real time search would let you see how the public felt about the decision, at that given moment. This raw data has a variety of uses and importance for a variety of searches. And, these types of searches are an entirely new way to search, so as you navigate the real time web, you will probably find a variety of ways how it can benefit you.

Real time search with Sency

Sency.com is a real time search engine which allows you to easily navigate the real time web. Sency* displays its search results via two tabs. The first tab is called what’s being said and it shows you the latest comments for the particular keyword that you searched for. This tab removes links from the results and just shows you content based on time. The second tab, titled Today’s Most Popular links – shows you the most shared links today on social networks for the keyword that you searched for. So, if you search for Yankees, the what’s being said tab will show you what people are saying about the Yankees right now.

When searching the real time web, it is often beneficial to search for two subject matters at once. For example, if you want to see how the iPad compares with the Kindle – you can search for iPad Kindle. This will show you individual comments from people that include both keywords.

As more and more social networks allow users to post status updates, and as more and more users take advantage of existing social networks such as Twitter – there is going to be even more data on the web each day. And, this data can give you an unfiltered look into the public thoughts. For these reasons, real time search is here to stay and the quicker you use real time engines, the quicker you will learn ways in which they can help you.

New! Location based real time search

This week, Sency launched Sency for Cities. Here, you can find out what people are saying right now in 13 major US cities. At the moment, these are the cities included: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC.

You can search for what’s being said in an actual city for a given keyword. Sency for Cities will also show the 10 most talked about topics right now in a given city.

Here are some ideas for how to use Sency for Cities:

• If you are a sports fan, you can see, in real time, what people in your city (or rival cities) are saying about your favorite team or player.
• When a new movie, commercial, or product launches; businesses can now see how the sentiment from the public differs in each of the major cities.
• When there is an important event or breaking news inside a major city – anyone can see how people inside the city, whom are directly affected, are reacting. This can be compared with what outsiders are saying from cities not directly involved with the breaking news or event.
• The current hot topics for a given city can show what is happening and being most talked about in a city right now. This can introduce new events to users while highlighting the topics that a city is buzzing about right now.

* Article written by Evan Britton, founder of Sency.

photo credit: thelastminute