I am one of the fortunate subsets that has the new Twitter Discovery Search on my web-based Twitter profile to test out, and I am elated that Twitter has done this on their own homepage!

Is that real-time search THAT important? You Bet.

In a tweet this morning from someone I respect in the world of investment, especially in Internet companies, Howard Lindzon said,”Twitter is fun and all but it’s all about the search when it comes to money .” And he is right.

At my web development company, data and search is huge in everything we build. Think of how Google works and what makes Google the best in the business. But now think of it as not a bunch of indexed lines waiting for the next bot search as Google does it, but more like having a constant real-time search on phrases and words from the Twitterverse.

Having search right on the Twitter home page is extremely important without having to leave the home page to find it. You can even save your searches. I also really enjoy the trending topics right below the search. The big thing is that you can search for something, and the tweets will contain the word or phrase you’re interested in immediately on your real-time search. As tweets are being tweeted, they just jump into the stream so the search you did 5 minutes ago may include lines of new search results.

Say you want to find out what people are saying about you or your company; protecting your brand we’ll say. The old way was through a separate component of Twitter Search to find it. Now you can basiclaly type in a term, such as your company and find out what everyone is saying about you. It’s always good to know what is being said, whether good or bad, about your brand. So use the search to find what they are saying about you, correct any bad things by @reply , and follow those who say nice things about you and find out why. Just because you are not aware of anything being said, does not mean there is nothing being said. Be proactive and find the scuttlebutt or kudos; you’ll be glad you did.

But truth be told, I was too busy using TweetDeck on my own personal account which already has the search function on it and was not aware I had the capability until I went to delete some spam followers. You see, Tweetdeck and other third-party API users like TweetDeck and others have that capability, so for some, the entire “search” thing is not huge to many of us. We use other platforms because they built that in already.

So is Twitter itself just late to the game? I don’t think they really care even if they are. Twitter is going to develop what they think is best for Twitter and those who use their home page. They are working on their plans, and at the same time, let others use their API to do their own thang. It’s a brilliant strategy and real-time search upfront and visible on any application is a HUGE improvement. The Search and Trends are part of the Twitter API, so developers will continue to get the updates and continue creating more awesome Twitter applications.

As Twitter becomes more and more involved in our Internet businesses and lifestyel patterns and more people join, search will keep growing and there is even talk where Twitter search will compete with Google search. It’s a long way away, even if it is true but the important concept of search is that Search = Money. Whether from a standpoint from your own business, the Twitter API model and even from Twitter itself.

Nice move, Twitter.