Increases in the usage of microblogging services have increased interest in microblog searches. Word clouds could be added to microblog search results to produce measurable effects on the microblog search experience. Research was carried out to test whether word clouds improve the user satisfaction of using a microblog search engine when searching for microblogs focused on a particular topic. Research participants completed simulated search tasks in which half the participants were shown word clouds with their search results. Following the search simulations participants completed a survey focused on analyzing user satisfaction related to the exercises performed. The findings of the research were largely statistically insignificant but may indicate that participants felt neutral or slightly positive satisfaction with their search simulation tasks regardless of the presence of word clouds. The implications of this research suggest further study is required to understand the effects of including word clouds alongside microblog search results.
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