Twitter is gradually rolling out "universal search" results on Twitter.com, making the company's web search experience more consistent with the existing mobile one.
The concept of "universal search" was introduced by Google in 2007, allowing for the integration of photos, videos, news, local business information, and more within traditional search results.
There are three main changes to the primary search results panel on Twitter.com:
1. Users or "people" are now integrated into the search results.
2. Photos can also appear as part of the search results.
3. In addition to the "Results" and "People" tabs, a new "Photos" tab has been added on the left side.
For example, when searching for "Google Glass," the main interface of the search results page will first display "People" results at the top, followed by three key tweets, then related photos at the bottom, and subsequently more tweets. The sidebar on the left lists the tabs for Results, People, and Photos.
In addition, when clicking on the search box, the drop-down menu now includes both "Recent searches" and "Saved searches." "Recent searches" is a new feature, while "Saved searches" existed previously but was less prominent.
As users type their search queries, Twitter will also recommend relevant accounts and indicate below whether the user is already following those accounts.
These new features have already been rolled out to some users and will soon be expanded to all users.