It appears that Google will be adding some social search functionality to their toolbox. Currently in development in the Google Labs, we’re told it should be coming publicly available soon.

The idea is that when you search, there will be results offered from those in your social networks as well. So, if you’re searching for images, you can bet that your friends images on flickr will come up in the results if they fit your search terms.

Looking for something on a hot topic floating around the web? If your friends are talking about it on twitter, then those tweets will show-up in the results as well.

The hooks into your social networks will come from those networks you’ve tied to your own Google Profile. I guess the downside of that, or upside depending on your viewpoint, is that you’ll now have to setup a Google Profile for yourself as well.

All in all a pretty powerful feature to have at your finger tips if you’ve built up a strong and connected social network of friends. I truly believe that taking advantage of the networks we’ve built with each other, trusted friendships and tight integration between our various online presences will become the key to the future of search.

Post from: EveryJoe

Google Releasing Social Search Functionality

I was recently contacted by Aardvark’s CEO, Max Ventilla, who let me know that they would be redesigning their website to highlight and promote the functionality of social search.

Following in the footsteps of ChaCha and the KGB, Aardvark takes the power of people to supply the energy and momentum behind their search. One of the differences that I really like about Aardvark is that it’s just available in the areas I’m already active. For me enjoying helping other people with questions, the fact that Aardvark simply instant messages me via Google Talk and shares the question that’s being asked.

If you’re on their new website and ask a question, keywords are pulled from the question and sent to the appropriate Aardvark user based on their identified expertise. Within a few seconds, an answer is provided and everyone’s happy.

Aardvark’s integration with existing systems and networks that can be used by anyone from anywhere can’t get much better. As long as they continue to revise and improve what they’re doing, I’m sure anyone who uses the service will be pleased with their experience.

Go visit the new Aardvark website and see what answers you can come up with. You never know, maybe I’ll be the one answering your question.

Post from: EveryJoe

Aardvark Redesigns Website to Highlight Social Search

I received an email earlier today from Aardvark’s CEO, Max Ventilla, letting me know that they are now equipped to work with and take advantage of the power of twitter. I never knew aardvarks and birds could have produced such a symbiotic relationship as this.

The formatting of how to use Aardvark with twitter is very straight forward. All you need to do is the following three items:

1. ask a question
2. make sure you have a question mark "?" in your tweet
3. include @vark in your tweet

That’s it! Couldn’t be much simpler.

When you ask your question just sit back and relax. The folks at Aardvark will send your question to the right people and then direct message you back with their answer.

Great stuff. I’ve been trying to participate answering questions as much as possible when I can. Even when I can’t the interface and functionality of letting things go by or "passing" on them has been well thought out for the user base.

Before you get started, you do need to register with using Aardvark on your twitter account.

Post from: EveryJoe

Aardvark Now Working with Twitter

What happens is that you register for the site and as part of completing your profile you provide areas in which you consider yourself having some expertise. Someone then asks a question via IM with Aardvark (you can integrate it with a variety of IM clients) and if the question has keywords related to your areas of expertise you’re sent an IM with the question. There’s also opportunities to answer "extra" questions that may not fit your exact expertise.

Here’s a sample conversation of mine with Aardvark via IM:

aardvark:
Hi Jason, I have an Extra Question that’s not related to your profile…
I have a question about *SEO* – can you help?
(Type ’sure’, ‘pass’, or ‘busy’.)

Sorry I missed you.

Type ’sure’ to see if you can answer the question, or type ‘help’ to learn more about Aardvark.
(Tip: try asking about a *gift recommendation* for the holidays, or get a *travel tip*…)

There’s a variety of other menu’s you can access via IM to find out what other people are searching for or what talents certain people have that are currently online and available for questions.

I love this service, but I can see how it could get interrupting to you during your day with messages automatically coming into your IM client regularly. I’m going to keep playing with it though because I really like the idea of it. It reminds me of how I enjoy using twitter to bounce questions off of my followers and see the results I get.

Give Aardvark a try yourself and sign-up, maybe you’ve got an answer out there for someone, I’m fairly certain you’ve probably got a question you’d like answered in the meantime.

Post from: EveryJoe

Aardvark – Delivering a Bit More in Social Search

The social search technology in Me.dium is the latest partner in the IE8 search strategy. Joining with other partners like eBay, Facebook, and Yahoo! the IE8 software is coming closer and closer to the final product that we’ll be seeing hitting the market.

Me.dium’s Social Search has a unique ability to harness the activity of the crowds to let users find information that has relevance based on what people are actually looking at right now. This enhances Microsoft’s IE8 promises to deliver the best browser for what people do every day, making that experience faster, easier and safer than ever. Searching is the most commonly performed task on the web. By featuring Me.dium’s innovative search experience, IE8 now provides the user with an entirely new level of crowd-powered information on top of traditional search, and helps users to keep up with what’s hot, and see recommendations ranked by what people are actually looking at; reflecting the changing interests of the online community.

I like this type of integration into the browser, it’s just not quite the execution and functionality I’m really looking for yet. I understand that power of the “wisdom of crowds”, but for the most part it goes completely against what we were always told by our parents as kids right? "If everyone else was jumping off a cliff, would you join them?"

No.

That’s what I’m looking for things to change slightly. It’s not the wisdom of the "crowd" I’m really interested in, it’s the wisdom of "my crowd" of people. Who am I already trusting and who all is already a part of my extended social network.

I want to harness what the people in my address book are searching for and think is important. I want to hear from my twitter followers what they’ve found that’s interesting. To a degree I’m interested in what my friends on MySpace and Facebook say, but to a lesser degree. I trust the people I’m interacting with regularly. Not just the general Internet crowd.

Source: PR Newswire Me.dium Joins eBay, Facebook, and Yahoo! in Microsoft’s Windows(R) Internet Explorer(R) 8

Post from: EveryJoe

Me.dium Joins IE8 Launch, but Maybe Not the Crowd I’m Looking For