Bing rolls out real-time Twitter feed

Bing is tapping further into Twitter to deliver the latest tweets on timely topics.

Microsoft's search engine is in the midst of adopting a new feature called Social Search, which will include tweets that are just minutes or even seconds old in regular search results. The goal is to provide more relevant tweets that appear in real time so that people can follow the latest trends and thoughts on subjects of interest, Microsoft's Bing blog announced Tuesday.

Microsoft initially struck a deal with Twitter last fall to include tweets in Bing search results--though on a separate beta page.

Bing will now see which topics are generating the most buzz on Twitter and add the up-to-the-minute tweets in general search results. The results could include breaking tweets about a natural disaster that just occurred or a product that recently hit the market. You'll also be able to see the most popular site links that people are currently sharing on Twitter.

For now, Microsoft said, it is testing Social Search with a small number of users and queries. So you may not yet see the latest tweets blending in with your regular search results. But the company said the feature will be available to all U.S. users "very soon."

In related news, Google also began its rollout on Tuesday of Twitter timeline search, which will begin showing up in general search results over the next several days. The timeline will allow searchers to see when Twitter activity spiked for their particular search query and then allow them to hone in on specific tweets.