Yahoo unveils Shortcut news tool

Yahoo News Shortcut offers related Twitter posts, photos and videos

Yahoo has added a new feature to its search service, which it hopes will improve the coverage of breaking news.

The company said that the News Shortcut component will display articles on breaking items, and offer related Twitter posts, photos and video files. Integration with Twitter was a special point of emphasis for Yahoo.

"This is our first integration of fresh social content such as Twitter into web search, and we are planning to continue further along these lines," wrote engineers Ivan Davtchev and Nitzan Achsaf in a blog post.

"In the future we will enhance this experience with more real-time and exciting content so you can find all the information you need about a news event in one place."

Yahoo has made overhauling its search service a top priority in its ongoing rebuilding efforts under chief executive Carol Bartz. In addition to the high-profile deal with Microsoft, the company has added social networking components and revamped its mobile platform.