Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, announced this week that the site is developing advanced search tools to track personalized searches and real-time Twitter trends. The Twitter Blog explains:

"If there's a search you want to do on a regular basis, you can 'save' the search. That will place the word or term permanently in your sidebar for easy access. So if you want to know what people are saying about the city you live in, the products you use, or just something weird, it becomes a link on your home page.

"Twitter Search is an engine for discovering what is happening right now but it doesn't always have to be a box and a button. Trends are words or phrases being referenced with more frequency suggesting that something interesting might be happening. When you click on a trend link, you can read the tweets and find out what's up. Trends is in beta -- but it has potential."

This is an interesting move that could make it easier for journalists to track beats, trends or issues. And it comes at a time when people are beginning to think about Twitter's ability to serve as a search engine.

For more information about the Twitter Search Engine: http://blog.twitter.com/2009/04/discovery-engine-is-coming.html