This fortnight in Online Insights we look at web search from a new, topsy-turvy perspective, discover how towns can fake it during a recession, find out what you get when you cross bacon, bourbon and cupcake batter, and then we tip our hat to Easter with some of the creepiest Easter Bunny pictures ever. Enjoy!

Topsy

A new search engine has been unveiled that really espouses the general push towards “real time” search (I call it Twitter Fever) which has gripped Google and the other search engines. You see, since Twitter broke through to the mainstream, Facebook and Google and Yahoo have all wanted a piece of the “real time web”. But while those big three all scramble to match the transience of Twitter’s live stream, developers at Topsy have been honing their search engine to bring search results from Twitter, weighted by how fresh each Tweet is, how many times it has been reTweeted by other users, and the influential status of the person Tweeting the message in the first place.

At first glance, Topsy looks quite interesting as quirky glance into the mind of the geek-chattering class. It has its mixture of the completely inane, air-headed dribble from the twitterati (celebs who spew nonsense to satiate their fawning followers) and the intriguing mix of insights and links to what’s new in the world (especially the world of technology).For this latter seam of internet nuggets, Topsy is well worth including in your mix of search engines. Furthermore, there is also the quaint mix of novel things, for example, in running a search on “easter” on Saturday night, I got a link to the Muppet Easter clip (embedded on this page). I would never have known this clip existed (and I am not sure my life would have been impoverished had I missed it) were it not for Topsy. What I like about this service, and about Twitter, is this very serendipity – much like when you turn a page in a newspaper or listen in to talkback radio – you never know what you might learn next.

Some of the other discoveries on a simple easter search were:

• A collection of Easter wallpapers
• A piece on what the Easter Bunny has to do with Easter
• Colourful Easter Egg patterns
• And someone using Easter to rally people to buy Charity Water

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