Google in talks to acquire Twitter cliams report

Google is in negotiations to acquire Twitter according to an online report, in a deal estimated to worth upwards of $250 million.

Twitter, the popular free social messaging and micro-blogging utility for staying connected in real-time, is seen as a rival to other popular sites such as Facebook, who tried and failed to buy Twitter last year.

According to TechCrunch, citing two unnamed sources, Google could be paying for the acquisition in cash and/or publicly valued stock, which is equivalent to cash.

Twitter, insists TechCrunch, offers the best real time database and search engine on the Internet and is potentially a great marketing tool for companies and brands to spread the word in real time with the ability to interact with a worldwide audience.

"We’ve been arguing for some time that Twitter’s real value is in search," said TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington. "It holds the keys to the best real time database and search engine on the Internet, and Google doesn’t even have a horse in the game."

"Google knows well how to treat new sources of information as signals that weigh into search results,” added Stephen Shankland, a technology reporter at Cent.

“The company has been gradually blending into its search results data sources such as blogs and news stories that reflect new information arriving on the web.”

This week Twitter began testing a new search feature within the home page, a special tab in the sidebar that gives users access to data such as current popular topics with celebrities, politicians and companies regularly posting news and updates.

TechCrunch suggests if Google does make a successful bid for Twitter, Microsoft could prove a loser in the search engine business.

Late yesterday TechCrunch updated the post suggesting the two companies are also considering working together on a Google real time search engine.

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(AP)