Whether a daily social media user or someone just getting acquainted with social media, you’re no doubt familiar with the concept of real-time search. If not, the definition is simply the ability to view information as soon as it’s composed, with virtually no delay between publication and viewing. Twitter is the best example of real-time search and the first real-time application to gain widespread acceptance. Once a tweet is posted, it’s instantly available for all to view.

If you see an area on Google automatically scrolling, don’t be alarmed. Google is now offering real-time search results as part of its services, not to mention the infamous Google Wave application which is still in invitation-only beta. Microsoft’s Bing has also jumped on the real-time search bandwagon. Facebook purchased real-time search provider FriendFeed last year in their effort to update Facebook’s instant search capabilities.

As real-time search has evolved, application providers have written code for Twitter that capitalizes on the site’s popular photo-sharing capabilities and provides images in real-time.  Simply, it’s a steady stream of images gleaned from every single tweet that publishes an image. Read the rest of this entry »