Is Twitter Search the Next Google?

You may not have heard the buzz yet about Twitter, the microblogging site that is taking the internet by storm. But it's high time you paid attention.

At first glance it seems kind of goofy because the concept is that you post in 140 words or less what you are doing. You follow people to see what they are talking about and can have real time conversations back and forth. Sounds lame, huh?

Trust me, it's not. The real truth is it's all about social networking. And that Web 2.0 thing you keep hearing about. :-)

Rumor has it there are millions of tweets -- twitter messages -- sent every day. The company has had a bit of a problem with stability of late for that very reason. But they've recently secured some serious cash from VCs and I don't see them going away anytime soon.

There's lots of speculation about how Twitter will monetize with some folks recalling the old "dot bomb" days when money ran freely out the door and none was coming in. But I see Twitter positioning itself very well for the future. And it reminds me a lot of Google.

Here's why. Twitter bought summize.com recently -- a service that summarizes twitter conversations -- and they renamed it Twitter Search. Take a look at some search results for small business on Twitter Search. The result is a real time discussion about small business. See all the space available for paid search results? And just like Google, users create the content. Brilliant.

The paid search industry is huge. (Have you taken a look at Google's profits lately?) If I were Twitter, that's exactly how I would monetize my company. But, who knows for sure what they have in store? Maybe they don't even know yet.

What I do know for sure is that you need to be a part of it. Head on over there now and set up a Twitter account.

And don't forget to follow me www.twitter.com/deniseoberry or my team building alter ego www.twitter.com/askteamdoc once you get started. Happy tweeting!

What do you think? Got ideas for how Twitter could best monetize? Please leave a comment.