• BoomTown et al., Thursday, October 8, 2009 1:41 PM

Playing one giant against the other, it looks like Twitter's in "advanced" talks with both Microsoft and Google to license its full feed, which could then be integrated into either companies' own search results. Anyone who's grasped the power of real-time search and content-sharing should appreciate the magnitude of these "nonexclusive" talks. The real questions are whether Twitter would be wise to give up its own search ambitions, and if its potential partners should develop their own micro-blogging platforms rather than help Twitter further secure its leadership position.

Yes and no, says BoomTown's Kara Swisher (who broke the news). "Doing these kinds of data deals with big search players does make a lot of sense, since it would be hard for Twitter to turbocharge its own search engine without running into the big cash-laden guns at both Google and Microsoft," she says. Meanwhile, "Both Google and Microsoft execs have contemplated the idea of buying Twitter in the past ... If they both strike data deals with Twitter, they will get the next best thing -- an ability to offer all the information disseminated on Twitter in search results."

Writes Softpedia, "The most obvious advantage would be the revenue Twitter would start getting, which, despite the microblogging site sitting on more than $125 million in cash in investor money, would be a nice change for it ... But a licensing deal would also sit well with Twitter's philosophy as it tries to position itself as more of service provider, a utility company and nothing more."

"Heady stuff indeed considering that there is always speculation that Google itself is working to overtake the real time search bonanza on some level in some mysterious way that only Google could," writes Marketing Pilgrim -- implying that Twitter could be dodging a silver bullet with such a deal.

"Even the possibility of deals like this should have been obvious from the get-go to everyone on the no-revenue bandwagon," says the Paris Lemon blog. "This data deal seems like an easy win-win for all sides if the price is right ... What this means for Twitter Search, and their own plans for link mining is another matter."

Belittling the scoop as still more rumors and hearsay, Fast Company admits: "There's clearly gold in them there data hills, which is absolutely what Google and Microsoft think about Twitter ... but anyone who licenses Twitter data had better do so carefully and delicately, since some users are getting touchy about how companies treat their public info."

Read the whole story at BoomTown et al. »