Web search has gotten amazingly powerful in its ability to surface nearly any kind of information within the billions of pages that comprise the web. However, as powerful and large as today’s web search engines are, they are still limited in their ability to deliver key services to their users including:

- Answering “opinion” queries such as the definition of the best plasma TV review site, or most useful source for information on skin cancer depends on a user’s tastes as well the opinions and recommendations of the friends and authorities they trust. Web search engines don’t have the ability to deliver the right answer because they don’t always capture the trusted and valued sources for that user.

- Personal results - The answer a web search engine delivers is what it believes is the correct answer for the majority of users - often referred to as “the tyranny of the majority”. For example, when you search for ‘apple’, the first result on most search engines is Apple Computer. But you may have been searching for information about the fruit or Apple Records.

- Serendipity - Today’s search engines can deliver great results, especially with very specific queries, but typically do a poor job of connecting you with new items that might be interesting, timely, and personally relevant. Your friends and people who share common interests with you are better sources for this information.

Introducing Social Search

To address these kinds of limits of today’s search experience, Yahoo! released an early beta version of My Web 2.0 for a limited number of users. It is a new kind of search engine - a social search engine - that complements web search by enabling users to search the knowledge and expertise of their friends and community in addition to the web.

Pages: 1 2