Google's real-time Search: Future of Search or Useless Information Overload? Part 1

No matter how you look at it, Google's real-time search is exciting. With information on newsworthy and not-so-newsworthy topics updating in a matter of seconds and coming from social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, the way we search the Internet may be changed forever. Look for the Latest results on Google's results page to see the real-time feed.

Real-time search opens up a world of useful implications, but the ability to spread time-wasting fluff or real-time misinformation can cause a lot of problems.

The Tiger Woods Test
To ascertain what kind of information is being delivered through Google's Real-Time Search, I decided to search for “Tiger Woods.”

Under the Latest results for Tiger Woods,* some of the headlines I found included:

“Tiger Woods Mistress Jaimee Grubbs Slept with George Clooney”—TransWorldNews

“Tiger Woods and President Obama...Two Reputations, Two Reputation management Challenges”— socialmediatoday

“How to Dress Like Tiger Woods | Fibers.com”

These three headlines and the corresponding articles all or illustrate a problem that I see with the real-time Web.

Sensational Headlines and Potential Misinformation
The first headline is something you would read on a tabloid as you are waiting to checkout at the grocery store. And the only source TransWorldNews, the website the first headlined linked to, cites to support its headline was “sources say...” Now, I am not saying that this article was not reporting the truth, it is possible that it was, but how many people may blindly accept it as truth without really looking at where it is coming from and who is saying it? Any unnamed source should raise red flags among readers.

The problem with the credibility of information on the Internet has always been an issue, however now it is being brought to you even faster and from potentially even more unreliable sources. Inexperienced and younger Internet users may have a difficult time knowing what is reliable information and what is misinformation.

One aspect of Google's regular search algorithm includes the amount of links to a websites content coming from other websites. This is an attempt by Google to place more importance to a particular piece of information, or at least show that several other trusted websites see this information as valid. By providing real-time streams of information before it has had a chance to be validated by the Internet community, the line between good information and bad information becomes less defined.

* Not all topics will have a Latest Results on Google since relevancy is based upon how much others are talking about the topic. However, as more people start to use various social media outlets, more topics will have a real-time stream.