Google’s Realtime search service goes live

The Google Realtime page can be tailored to users' needs

Google has gone live with its Realtime search feature, which is designed to provide users with up-to-the-minute social updates, news articles and blog posts.

Realtime pulls together information from a variety of short-form message applications, such as Twitter, and returns it in its search results, providing "relevance to the freshest information on the web".

The service was first revealed last December, but now has its own dedicated page.

“Today we’re making our most significant enhancements to date, giving real-time information its own home and more powerful tools to help you find what you need,” blogged product manager Dylan Casey.

The page is being rolled out gradually, according to Casey, and can either be accessed through its URL or by clicking the ‘updates’ tab on the left-hand panel of search results.

The Realtime page is customisable, letting users set their location to further refine the relevance of results, and offers a "conversations view", which groups together Tweets and retweets on the same subject.

Google Alerts can also be set up using Realtime, and Casey said that anyone that selected this option would be sent an email "the moment your topic appears on Twitter or other short-form services".