4 posts tagged “engine”
There
are several ways in which to expound on our existing semantics
regarding search. When it comes to online discovery of information,
some of us can get flustered. Many companies have found tiny tweaks
that offer better ways of reaching an end goal. the personal, human
touch is what all search models have strove for, from day one. These
two companies have taken the want for the human touch quite literally.
uClue
Founded
by members of the original Google Answers team, uClue will simply find
the information for you. Set your price, leave your request, and
you'll get the information you need from research professionals
stationed around the globe. These pros are good at what they do. They
come from highly regarded academic backgrounds and they know what
they're doing. They choose what questions to answer, so you know
you're getting the quality you deserve.
...
Don't
feel like waiting around for an answer? Search uClue to see if someone
has requested information that's similar to what you need. Most
queries are made public once they've been answered by uClue, and are
readily turned into discussion threads for added perspectives.
ChaCha
Based
in Indianapolis, this search company will start a chat with you online
and actually find the results you need. The concept is interesting,
but the execution is in need of improvement. Anyone that tires of
waiting for the search results to be populated for them could easily
click on a related sponsored link, or trade Google's PageRank relevance
system for their impatience. Or you could simply find something else
to do while ChaCha does the searching for you.
Eurekster has raised $5.5 million in a round of venture capital funding, suprising many since they've recently lost their biggest client, Friendster, to Google. The search engine that has dedicated its services to searching communities and social networks has provided value to many, nonetheless, and has become an easy solution for bloggers and niche communities across the board. When it comes to niche search engines, Eurekster has proven to have staying power.
Their swiki feature has proven rather popular and useful to those wanting to add a customized search tag cloud to their website or blog. In terms of the service they provide to communities, it's unique in that they study user behavior in order to provide better search results. This can be monetized, but not as much as a deal with Google, apparantly.
Eurekster's round of venture capital funding was provided by Technology Venture Partners of Australia and Transcosmos Investments of Japan, as well as additional private investors. If their loss of Friendster as a client has hindered them in any way, particularly in closing a deal with another larger company, I'm sure their latest round of funding will help them to further their development and put them in a better position in the long run.
WikiSeek is a byproduct of the Wikipedia phenomonon, and the purpose of WikiSeek is to better search none other than Wikipedia itself. This has confused several people, especially since it appears to be much like the other company that is a much talked about offspring of Wikipedia--Wikia. Wikipedia search results that show for a WikiSeek query can be edited; hence the wiki nature of the service. But WikiSeek suffers from the same perils that many search engine start-ups are facing, and that's the fact that they have very few search results.
Though backed by Sequoia, many are wondering what WikiSeek's true purpose would be, and how they will go about incentivising someone to use WikiSeek and use the edit tool for Wikipedia articles. It would be different if you could edit the search results. Perhaps that would provide more value than simply offering a way to search for entries on Wikipedia. While they do display results that are not from Wikipedia, these cannot be modified in any manner.
WikiSeek does have a few good features though, including a tag cloud that is displayed with each search query, and a search plug-in for you to add to your own website. Otherwise, I can't imagine many other than Wikipedia fans utilizing WikiSeek's service.
Krillion is a company dedicated to local search in a very specific way. With years of experience running backend development for Yahoo search, it's no wonder that Krillion co-founder Joel Toledano created such an effective product. The purpose of Krillion is to find the local search results that are most useful to you, and more importantly, they are presented to you in the most useful way. Krillion not only gives you the retailer locations at which you can find your item, but they also provide manufacturer information, maps and contact information, prices and details on the specific item you're researching, and even a click-to-call button that will put you in contact with the right department--not just the retailer's overarching customer service number.
This is what Krillion's founders call Actionable Local Search; it's location-specific as well as procut-specific. And it gives you a very comprehensive way of not only finding what you're looking for, but rearranging your search results as needed. List the results by price, proximity, retailer, or a number of other fine details. Create tear-off sheets that can be printed and touted to the nearest Home Depot. So what Krillion has done is helped the consumer with the search online, and helped the retailer with the sale offline.
"We've got our finger on the
pulse of the Internet"
It all sounds basic enough, but there is so much that was involved with the creation of Krillion, including over a year of backend development. There was a lot of local information to incorporate with the emergence of Krillion. And when we think about search, we often take an optimistic approach, regardless of how many times we've been disappointed in the past, spending far too long looking for specific information online.
When I met for a web conference with the creators of Krillion, they were kind enough to do a Google local Chicago search with me for a refridgerator. And I gotta tell ya--the fact that none of the local Home Deopt locations, or even the Sears (which is a mere 6 blocks away) location turned up in our search results was disheartening. To make matters worse, the nearest location was in a west suburb, and some of the results included a store that sells satellite dishes.
The same search on Krillion provides a slew of locations that are displayed in a relevant manner, and presents all the information I need in one place. I don't have to toggle between my Home Depot and Lowes browser windows, and write notes on a separate sheet of paper. And since they will be integrated with the indexes we use everyday for our favorite search engines such as Google, the information will be easy to find. We won't have to remember another URL destination (though that's one easy way to find Krillion's search information) in order to start our search. What Krillion provides is a truly specialized local search.
This is key to Krillion's business model, in the sense that they've found a nice way to monetize their search. It isn't by selling text ads, but by providing dedicated and detailed visual space to the consumer, as well as a directive to get them into the store. Through Krillion's search results, they are also able to map out consumer trends that are invaluable to retailers and manufacturers alike. In this way, Krillion makes it that much easier for bix box retailers to become more visible online, extending their online presence directly to the people that matter.
Krillion's value to advertisers extends further than this: they will also be able to offer market research data that will lend to better analysis of the relationship between the Internet and their stores, as well as having additional points of comparison for their other marketing campaigns, such as newspaper ads, that are designed to generate in-store traffic.
Krillion is still in beta, and is currently only searching appliances. But as they grow, they will offer more things to search for, such as home electronics.
See idea for Krillion mash-up here.
