Real-time search is a hot topic right now and many claim that this is proof that social media is for real and here to stay. I agree with it adding additional validation that social media is going mainstream, but I have my doubts that real-time search will last, or at least become modified.
It won’t take long before spammers figure out how to exploit this new feature. For example, real-time search shows what is being said right now about whatever search phrase you entered. Since everything moves so fast (hence, “real-time”) it is hard for the serps to filter out the junk. Essentially a spammer could write tweets about trending topics with a shortened link to their website that would have nothing to do with the tweet. Like, “wow, check out the technology behind #Avatar – bit.lyAvatar.
It probably won’t be long before they put tons of tweets like this on auto-pilot, blasting their trending topic messages with shortened links to their sites all day long.
It won’t just stop at spam either, this could potentially spread malware as well. Same approach as what I mentioned above, only the links take you to harmful sites as opposed to the information you think you are going to see.
Google puts so much importance on relevancy, as well they should, and if spammers show up in the thousands, if not millions auto blasting messages about all the latest trending topics with disguised links, then it would throw the real-time relevancy right out the window.
However, the folks at Google, Yahoo! etc. are extremely smart. I could see them pulling the feature temporarily until they can find a way to validate which real-time results they serve.
What do you think?
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December 30, 2009 at 6:57 am
Yikes! Thanks Zack, for forcing me to consider all of the potential spam options of “real-time” search. I hope you’re right and the search engines take this into consideration and develop ways to keep this from happening.
Sharon Mostyn´s last blog ..Happy Holidays, Season’s Greetings, or Merry Christmas?
December 30, 2009 at 7:38 am
That is an interesting viewpoint about real time search and your perspective has merit. I suppose that at this point of time, millions of tweets sent out could fool the search engines. But at the rate at which these intelligence are learning, I would not be surprised that they would easily find a way around this.
Paramjit Sidhu´s last blog ..Correct Weight for Height
December 30, 2009 at 7:40 am
I think you are right…Google will pull the plug until they work it out….their spam system is second to none as well…in fact they pride their selves on it
Mick Rogers´s last blog ..Islam and the West
December 30, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Zack
I am shocked that spammers have not already jumped on this and figured it out. When I first saw the live search in action I immediately thought of how spammers could take over the space.
I am not sure how they will combat this problem and that will be a wait and see once it gets to become a big problem.
On the flip side, there are some businesses that are new to SM and seeing that they would have a presence on Google from the SM sites does push them to take action and engage.
Guess we will all have to wait and see how this unfolds.
December 31, 2009 at 10:06 pm
I agree with your concerns. I feel, too, that Google has made a big blunder. There are better ways though but for that you need to invest in building some rather sophisticated technology first. I prefer to use TipTop http://FeelTipTop.com to get high-quality results from searches within social media. This search engine goes the extra step of actually reading and understanding the messages. It is not just keyword match.
January 2, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Yep, time will tell, but seems like a potential recipe for spam. Thanks for everyone’s comments!