How real time are Twitter search API results

Question

I'm wondering how "real-time" are the results from http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q= can't find any clear indication on that from Twitter. I mean is there a guaranteed lag time?

Thanks

Answer 1

• @Al Pascual is correct. Results from the search API will be delayed.
• OTOH, Twitter's new Phoenix search is especially fast.
  • Please see here: http://webapps.stackexchange.com/q/21868/15489

Answer 2

I get hours of delays from recent tweets using the search API

Answer 3

I have one application which queries the public timeline given a GPS coordinate pair, and a radius in km or miles depending on where the user is from. The results I get back are often < 1 second for items just added (i.e., with a big radius so we get more fresh results). But there is no guarantee, they could be old as sin.