Twingly launches world's first federated microblog search

Swedish blog search engine Twingly is today launching Twingly Microblog Search. It is the first search engine federating a variety of microblog services, such as Twitter and Jaiku, in a single search interface. It can also generate RSS and email alerts on keywords, usernames or tags mentioned in microblogs. The search engine is available at www.twingly.com/microblogsearch.

Previously it has been possible to search through millions of personal and corporate blogs worldwide on Twingly.com. Now another dimension is added in covering  emerging social media on the Internet: microblogs, which attracts more and more users.

"Until now the tools available have only been able to search one microblog service at a time, which has made this growing arena of the internet hard to penetrate for new users", said Martin Källström, CEO at Twingly. "At the same time, we have seen how this kind of service is becoming increasingly important. The latest example was the direct reporting from the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November when Twitter became an important news source, or during the presidential elections in the U.S. where Barack Obama gained over 100 000 supporters in the same service."

A microblog is designed to encourage conversation on subjects and current events, even on a global level.

"The conversation between people is central to all types of social media, but on microblogs the discussions are the core," said Martin Källström. "The microblog can be described as a blog for short messages where users comment on and discuss more than they would on a traditional blog. The topics can range from everyday concerns to the discussion of social issues and current world events."

In addition to the search engine, Twingly Microblog Search also makes it possible to create alerts for keywords among micro-blogs. The alert is delivered either in RSS format or via e-mail which makes it possible to monitor all the major microblog services from one interface. Creating search engine alerts for brands, products and names of key employees is the most accessible way for companies to monitor social media.

"With Twingly Microblog Search, we hope that more people will start reading and writing microblogs," said Martin Källström. "Although microblogging had a break-through in 2008 their development is still in its infancy. It will be exciting to see what will happen in 2009. "

To start off with Twingly Microblog Search will cover six microblog services but new ones will be added continuously:

Twitter.com
Jaiku.com
Identi.ca
Bleeper.de
Bloggy.se
Pownce.com

Pownce.com went offline in December 2008, but the archive of posts remains searchable in Twingly Microblog Search.

Facts about microblogs

A microblog is a blog for short messages between 140 to 200 characters, that is as many characters as a regular SMS. Most microblogs can be updated both on the Internet, via SMS or via software on your computer. The most common use of microblogging is to tell "what do I do right now."

There are several microblog services where you register and have your own micro-blog. The various micro-blog services, such as Twitter, Jaiku, etc. differ in some respects of their respective functions. What all services have in common is the size limit of each post and that it is easy to follow and comment on others' micro-blog posts.

The primary use of a microblog search is, in addition to regular searching, to search for user names (eg @twingly) or tags (eg #macworld). 

The first and most popular microblog service, Twitter.com, was launched in 2006. Well known persons and companies using Twitter includes Britney Spears, Hillary Clinton, Stephen Fry, General Motors, The Salvation Army, among others. 

For more information, please contact:
Martin Källström, CEO of Twingly: +46 733 62 86 54, martin.kallstrom@twingly.com, http://twitter.com/martinkallstrom

About Twingly
Twingly is an Internet startup with offices in Linköping, Sweden. The company was founded in 2006 and develops the innovative blog search engine Twingly.com. The company delivers a blog service to 50 large newspapers and e-commerce websites around Europe. For more information,  www.twingly.com.

Follow Twingly on Twitter at http://twitter.com/twingly and the Twingly blog at http://blog.twingly.com