The World According to Twitter
How distorted is Twitter's view of the world? That question is neatly answered by Topsy, a new search engine that's like Google, except sorted by the attention-deficit-disorder sufferers who live on Twitter.
Topsy launched last night. Its trick — ranking Web pages based on their popularity within Twitter — works awfully well for searches related to technology and breaking news. But it also effectively illustrates just what is important to Twitter's young and overcaffeinated users.
Some examples:
Who is Barack Obama? Why, he's that guy who recorded an audiobook with lots of funny swear words!
Chile is a mall in the Southern Hemisphere, recently blessed by the Jonas Brothers with an awesome concert.
Afghanistan is known primarily for a pig flu outbreak.
John McCain is an old guy whose speech was interrupted by a music video.
Topsy is useful enough that it's starting to look like maybe a big deal. Good for it! But here's to hoping it never replaces Google.com.