Google and Microsoft are escalating the search engine wars, said Jared Newman in PC World. Both companies announced real-time search deals with micro-blogging site Twitter, and Microsoft's Bing search tool also will index status updates from Facebook. This could change the way people use social networking and help users tap into real-time information, but Google and Bing will have to be careful to avoid information overload and privacy violations—"a single snafu could be catastrophic."

Google's entrance could buoy "the crowded market" of social search engines, said Clint Boulton in eWeek, simultaneously lifting the fortunes of dozens of players, "from the fresh Aardvark to more established players Mahalo, ChaCha, Scour, Wink, etc." That's one theory. But the giant Google might just "banish these startups to the hinterlands of obsolescence," using its huge user base to instantly wipe out the competition and limit everyone's options.

There's no question that Google and Bing are entering the game a little late, said BBC News. But their deals with Twitter "underscore the growing importance of real-time search." Tweets now will show up in these search engines almost as soon as they show up on Twitter. This new battleground can only "intensify the rivalry between Microsoft and Google."