While the big boys of search look to capitalize on the real-time search craze, smaller players continue to build out alternatives. The latest is TwitVid, which on Monday released a real-time search feature for finding the most current and popular videos on Twitter.
TwitVid said its proprietary “real-time ranking algorithm” ranks videos based on relevancy to a search term as well as popularity and “buzz” on Twitter. The newest, most relevant videos are ranked highest.
TwitVid, which offers a popular tool for adding video to Twitter, aggregates all TwitVid and YouTube video links being shared on Twitter.
Search rivals Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) have all recently rolled out additions and integration of real-time
content into their search results as part of an effort to offer more information from social networks like Twitter and Facebook. But TwitVid said it’s not afraid of the much bigger competitors.
“We’re in a niche for video,” TwitVid co-founder Adil Lalani told InternetNews.com. “While all those other guys are competing in search, it’s going to be up to us develop the best search for real-time video, and I’m pretty sure over time we can do it.”
TwitVid also offers what it said is a unique video analytics tool that lets members track their tweeted videos online by the day, week, month or total number of times viewed.
“You can even see the totals hour-by-hour of how many views and from where — Yahoo, Twitter, or elsewhere,” said Lalani. The analytics shows the global location of clicks and who the top people linking others to their videos are.
Lalani said his company’s analysis of two weeks of recent data from the Twitterstream showed TwitVid to be the most-used video-sharing site on Twitter with about a 50 percent share, followed by YouTube and yfrog.
TwitVid claims it allowed users to upload, view and share videos in both HD and SD (standard definition) sooner than any other app. It has attracted a number of celebrity users to its mobile video tweeting service, including Britney Spears, Demi Lovato and The Jonas Brothers, Dane Cook, Demi Moore and Coldplay.
TwitVid also said the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA and the PGA use its service.