Social web search engine Topsy is launching "social modules" today, giving publishers the ability to add customizable widgets displaying real-time content to their websites
Unlike other Twitter widgets that simply stream tweets in a timeline, Topsy's new module let publishers display only the most relevant and brand-safe tweets. The content will be filtered - profanity-free and language-specific.
Last year, when we looked at the top real-time Web products of 2009, we predicted that in 2010 the real-time Web was "likely to become a standard expectation on sites all around the world". Indeed, as we look back on the last year we find that many of the big innovations in terms of the real-time Web come in the form of implementations by companies like Google and Facebook. At the same time, there are still smaller players in the realm that have changed how (and how fast) we expect information on the Web to move and people interact.
Just a year after companies like Facebook started offering a constantly updated stream of real-time content, we expect no less from nearly any site we visit and soon enough, calling something "real-time" will be like identifying something as "social". With that in mind, let's take a look at the top 10 products, innovations and developments in the world of the real-time Web in 2010.
The scientific publisher Springer has launched a free analytics tool that gives you a peek into how people are using the publisher's online content. The tool provides a number of visualizations based on real-time data aggregated from Springer's online offerings. Springer's publications include nearly 5 million documents from about 41,000 e-books, 1160 book series, and 2524 academic journals.
The interactive visualizations include a map showing where the downloads are coming from, a constantly updated keyword tag cloud, and a graphical and textual display of real-time downloads. There's also a search feature that shows you a chart of the downloads, as well as a "Top Five Most Downloaded" list for every journal and book.
Want to know instantly who's talking about you on Twitter? Well, now you can get real-time notifications on your phone, as Twitter has just announced push notifications for @mentions.
Up til now, push notifications for Twitter on the iPhone have been only available via other apps, such as Boxcar.
The default setting for notifications is for accounts that you follow, but you can adjust it for all mentions. Smartphone battery beware. But that distinction is important, as it gives users better control over their notifications.
Global Pulse, the UN agency devoted to monitoring "the impact of compound crises on vulnerable populations" is turning to real-time data and open-source development to stay on top of challenges.
At a recent briefing of the United Nations General Assembly, Global Pulse's director, Robert Kirkpatrick, outlined the turn his agency was making, away from static information gathering and toward dynamic, real-time streams.
In just over two weeks, Kik Messenger, the iPhone app that could quickly replace text messages, has registered more than 1 million users, and for good reason. If you're not usually a follower or a wagon-jumper, this is the time to become one, because Kik offers real-time communication, free, over a number of different platforms.
Not only is this app massively popular for a reason, but that same reason may be why you won't see it in the app store soon and time might be running out to grab a copy.
Sandvine's Fall 2010 report on global Internet trends gives a glimpse into Internet usage in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. In addition to examining geographic differences, the report also points out some of the differences between mobile and "fixed" usage, it also makes clear that, "To subscribers, the Internet is the Internet, whether it's accessed through a wire or over wireless spectrum."
Although there are certainly variations between regions, some of the trends the report finds are global: Real-time entertainment dominates data consumption on both mobile and fixed networks worldwide, constituting about 43% of total Internet traffic. And social networking services make up a significant and growing percentage of mobile Internet traffic, doubling in Latin America just over the last eight months.
It seems as though companies must be paying attention to that statistic we reported the other day: that Android is the number one mobile OS in the U.S., and the number two worldwide. Because it's not just Facebook showing some love to its Android app today.
Twitter has just announced some major and much-needed improvements to its Android app as well, available now via the Android Market (or via the QR code below).
Google has begun testing yet another new feature for its flagship search product, offering entire website previews when you mouseover search results. Before you know it, the enter key and the mouse button will go completely extinct and you'll simply have to visualize the information your in search of and Google will make it appear on your screen.
Evri, a semantic content discovery engine for real-time content, has decided to switch gears and change its focus. "Going forward, we consider ourselves a mobile company," said Evri CEO Will Hunsinger. To that end, the company is now launching a handful of new mobile applications that use Evri's core technology to enable the discovery of relevant news and media on the topics you care about.
Currently, the mobile lineup includes apps for tech, football, baseball, celebrity gossip and rock music, but dozens more are in the works. There's even an iPad app coming, which Evri describes as a "smarter Flipboard."
