Google chief Eric Schmidt hints at partnership with Twitter

Google chief Eric Schmidt hints at partnership with Twitter
Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, hinted that a partnership with Twitter could be close, although he dampened speculation that he is planning to buy the microblogging phenomenon.

By Amanda Andrews and Emma Barnett
Last Updated: 12:12PM BST 20 May 2009

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has hinted that partnership with Twitter could be on the cards
Speaking to reporters following the annual Google Zeitgeist conference, Mr Schmidt said the internet giant “can work” with Twitter without having to buy the social network, hinting that Twitter feeds could be indexed on Google.

Mr Schmidt suggested he had held conversations with the Twitter founders about a strategic partnership and said: “We do not have to buy everyone to work with them."

Despite ongoing speculation that Google could be close to buying the group, Mr Schmidt said it would be wrong to speculate that an acquisition is being planned. Mr Schmidt spoke of his admiration for Twitter and the world’s increasing appetite for real-time social networks,

Larry Page, Google’s co-founder, separately admitted Google needs to learn from Twitter and make its search engine operate at real-time speed.

Speaking at the Zeitgeist event during in a "fireside chat", hosted by Mr Schmidt, Mr Page admitted Google had so far “done a relatively poor job of creating things that work on a per second basis”.

“People really want to do stuff in real-time and they [Twitter] have done a great job about it... We will do a good job of things now we have these examples,” said Mr Page.

He promised Google would improve at implementing real-time search moving forward, especially now it had examples like microblogging phenomenon Twitter to compare itself to.

Talking on a panel alongside Sir Richard Branson, chairman and chief executive of Virgin Media Group, Mr Page quipped that he had been telling Google engineers for some time that the search engine needed to operate on a per second basis, but only now had they finally got the message.


My question is: Is it worth it? Is Twitter a passing fad or is it here for good? Would having Twitter feeds on google make it more worthwhile?

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