A predictive 'auto-complete' function, similar to that used by Google's search engine, is among a raft of changes which Twitter has announced to its search facility.
This was just one of a series of changes which the microblogging site has introduced. Others include letting users search only tweets posted by people they follow, and search for people using both their real and Twitter usernames.
Another change which brings the facility more in line with that offered by Google is an automatic spelling correction function, which attempts to show results for the correct spelling of any names or words searched for.
Josh Constine of Techcrunch.com believed the most exciting of these developments was the ability to narrow down searches on Twitter to only people who the user follows.
As a result, it would be easier to find content you wanted, without having to scan through several pages of possible results.
“The ambition of the changes should be commended,” he said, but added that the changes only brought Twitter into line with what other search engines had been doing for some years.
However, he concluded: “With time and data monitoring, Twitter is sure to improve the features, and unlock the potential [for] exploring the world's real-time consciousness”.
