Tweets Now in Google Desktop Search Results

Next time you perform a Google search on your desktop, keep a look out for something new: tweets. Google quietly updated search via desktop on Friday to include relevant tweets in search results about whatever you’re searching.

Searching for Taylor Swift, for example, now summons a virtual carousel of tweets from the pop star, tucked underneath news links towards the top of web site results.

Likewise, a search for corgis — you know, the beloved stubby-legged canine breed — reveals a few choice tweets with adorable images toward the top of related search results.

Today’s change follows a similar move earlier this year, when Google began integrating tweets into mobile results, and comes roughly six months after Twitter announced a deal with the tech giant.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Twitter and Google paired off. The two companies signed a deal in 2009 under which tweets also appeared in search results, but the deal expired just two years later, reportedly because then-Twitter COO Ali Rowghani wanted more control over user content.

This time, however, the partnership could be more instrumental to Twitter’s future. With 316 million monthly active users, Twitter’s user base continues to grow, but at a much slower pace than in years past. Indeed, the social network has come under fire in recent months for issues around user growth, user retention and disappointing results from its direct-response advertising business.

Twitter is banking on newer deals like its agreement with Google to effectively extend its reach. It hopes the tweets non-Twitter users see in search results will compel them to sign up for accounts with the social media platform.

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