Social search
Encyclopedia
Social search or a social search engine is a type of web search that takes into account the Social Graph
of the person initiating the search query. When applied to web search this Social-Graph approach to relevance is in contrast to established algorithmic or machine-based approaches where relevance is determined by analyzing the text of each document or the link structure of the documents. Search results produced by social search engine give more visibility to content created or touched by users in the Social Graph.
Social search takes many forms, ranging from simple shared bookmarks
or tagging
of content with descriptive labels to more sophisticated approaches that combine human intelligence with computer algorithm
s.
The search experience takes into account varying sources of metadata, such as collaborative discovery of web pages, tags, social ranking, commenting on bookmarks, news, images, videos, knowledge sharing, podcasts and other web pages. Example forms of user input include social bookmarking or direct interaction with the search results such as promoting or demoting results the user feels are more or less relevant to their query.
algorithm, which assigns importance to web pages based on analysis of the link structure of the web, because PageRank is relying on the collective judgment of webmasters linking to other content on the web. Links, in essence, are positive votes by the webmaster community for their favorite sites.
In 2008, there were a few startup companies that focused on ranking search results according to one's social graph
on social networks. Companies in the social search space include folkd
, Slangwho
, Sproose
, Mahalo
, Jumper 2.0
, Qitera
, Scour, Wink
, Eurekster
, Baynote
, Delver, OneRiot, and SideStripe
. Former efforts include Wikia Search
. In 2008, a story on TechCrunch
showed Google
potentially adding in a voting mechanism to search results similar to Digg
's methodology. This suggests growing interest in how social groups can influence and potentially enhance the ability of algorithms to find meaningful data for end users. There are also other services like Sentimnt that turn search personal by searching within the users' social circles.
The term Lazyweb has been used to describe the act of out-sourcing your questions to your friends, usually by broadcasting them on Twitter
or Facebook
(as opposed to posting them on Q&A websites such as Yahoo Answers). The company Aardvark
, acquired by Google in February 2010, has created a more targeted version of this, which directs your questions to people in your social networks, based on relating the content of the question to the content of their social network pages. Aardvark
users primarily use the Aardvark IM buddy, also integrated into Google Gmail, to ask and answer their questions. The company Cofacio released a beta platform in August 2009 in the UK which marks a return to the open, broadcast method of social search for the Twitter
/Facebook
generation.
In May 2011 Google
rolled out its social search engine that was in beta
since 2009.
Social graph
The social graph is a term coined by scientists working in the social areas of graph theory. It has been described as "the global mapping of everybody and how they're related"...
of the person initiating the search query. When applied to web search this Social-Graph approach to relevance is in contrast to established algorithmic or machine-based approaches where relevance is determined by analyzing the text of each document or the link structure of the documents. Search results produced by social search engine give more visibility to content created or touched by users in the Social Graph.
Social search takes many forms, ranging from simple shared bookmarks
Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them....
or tagging
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...
of content with descriptive labels to more sophisticated approaches that combine human intelligence with computer algorithm
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
s.
The search experience takes into account varying sources of metadata, such as collaborative discovery of web pages, tags, social ranking, commenting on bookmarks, news, images, videos, knowledge sharing, podcasts and other web pages. Example forms of user input include social bookmarking or direct interaction with the search results such as promoting or demoting results the user feels are more or less relevant to their query.
History
The term social search began to emerge between 2004 and 2005. The concept of social ranking can be considered to derive from Google's PageRankPageRank
PageRank is a link analysis algorithm, named after Larry Page and used by the Google Internet search engine, that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of "measuring" its relative importance within the set...
algorithm, which assigns importance to web pages based on analysis of the link structure of the web, because PageRank is relying on the collective judgment of webmasters linking to other content on the web. Links, in essence, are positive votes by the webmaster community for their favorite sites.
In 2008, there were a few startup companies that focused on ranking search results according to one's social graph
Social graph
The social graph is a term coined by scientists working in the social areas of graph theory. It has been described as "the global mapping of everybody and how they're related"...
on social networks. Companies in the social search space include folkd
Folkd
folkd.com is a social bookmarking and social news website that has been founded in 2006 by Bastian Karweg out of Germany. The website has grown into one of biggest services of its kind and currently lists over 8 million public bookmarks by more than 500.000 users...
, Slangwho
Slangwho
Slangwho is a social search engine that is operated and privately owned by Slangwho, Inc.- History :Slangwho, Inc. was founded by John S. Shriber, Roman Zaks, and Sasha A. Tcherevkoff on September 1, 2009...
, Sproose
Sproose
Sproose is a consumer search engine launched in August 2007 by founder Bob Pack. Sproose provides web search results from partners including MSN, Yahoo! and Ask.com...
, Mahalo
Mahalo.com
Mahalo.com is a web directory and Internet-based knowledge exchange launched in alpha test in May 2007 by Jason Calacanis...
, Jumper 2.0
Jumper 2.0
Jumper 2.0, is an open source web application script for collaborative search and knowledge management powered by a shared enterprise bookmarking engine that is a fork of KnowledgebasePublisher[]. It was publicly announced on 29 September 2008,...
, Qitera
Qitera
Qitera is a transatlantic technology company developing semantic and social search solutions for enterprises and consumers. The company was founded in 2007 by serial entrepreneurs Joerg Lamprecht, Rene Seeber and Carlo Velten...
, Scour, Wink
Wink Technologies
Wink Technologies is the operator of Wink, a community-based social search engine. It provides people search across social networks, and Web search based on user input...
, Eurekster
Eurekster
Eurekster is a company founded in Christchurch, New Zealand, with an office located in San Francisco, California, that builds social search engines for use on websites, the search engines are called swickis ....
, Baynote
Baynote
Baynote is a Cupertino, California-based software company offering web search recommendation software as a service products. It is based on the concept of the wisdom of the crowd , in which search results are ranked based on analysis of the links and pages visited by users in the past....
, Delver, OneRiot, and SideStripe
SideStripe
SideStripe is a social network search engine that provides answers from the only source of information that people can really trust: their friends. The company was featured in a TechCrunch article titled in December of 2008....
. Former efforts include Wikia Search
Wikia Search
Wikia Search was a short-lived free and open-source Web search engine launched by Wikia, a for-profit wiki-hosting company founded in late 2004 by Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley....
. In 2008, a story on TechCrunch
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
showed Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
potentially adding in a voting mechanism to search results similar to Digg
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
's methodology. This suggests growing interest in how social groups can influence and potentially enhance the ability of algorithms to find meaningful data for end users. There are also other services like Sentimnt that turn search personal by searching within the users' social circles.
The term Lazyweb has been used to describe the act of out-sourcing your questions to your friends, usually by broadcasting them on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
or Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
(as opposed to posting them on Q&A websites such as Yahoo Answers). The company Aardvark
Aardvark (search engine)
Aardvark was a social search service that connected users live with friends or friends-of-friends who were able to answer their questions, also known as a knowledge market...
, acquired by Google in February 2010, has created a more targeted version of this, which directs your questions to people in your social networks, based on relating the content of the question to the content of their social network pages. Aardvark
Aardvark (search engine)
Aardvark was a social search service that connected users live with friends or friends-of-friends who were able to answer their questions, also known as a knowledge market...
users primarily use the Aardvark IM buddy, also integrated into Google Gmail, to ask and answer their questions. The company Cofacio released a beta platform in August 2009 in the UK which marks a return to the open, broadcast method of social search for the Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
generation.
In May 2011 Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
rolled out its social search engine that was in beta
Beta
Beta is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. Beta or BETA may also refer to:-Biology:*Beta , a genus of flowering plants, mostly referred to as beets*Beta, a rank in a community of social animals...
since 2009.
Benefits
To date social search engines have not demonstrated measurably improved search results over algorithmic search engines. However, there are potential benefits deriving from the human input qualities of social search.- Reduced impact of link spamSpamdexingIn computing, spamdexing is the deliberate manipulation of search engine indexes...
by relying less on link structure of web pages. - Increased relevance because each result has been selected by users.
- Leverage a network of trusted individuals by providing an indication of whether they thought a particular result was good or bad.
- The introduction of 'human judgement' suggests that each web page has been viewed and endorsed by one or more people, and they have concluded it is relevant and worthy of being shared with others using human techniques that go beyond the computer's current ability to analyze a web page.
- Web pages are considered to be relevant from the reader's perspective, rather than the author who desires their content to be viewed, or the web master as they create links.
- More current results. Because a social search engine is constantly getting feedback it is potentially able to display results that are more current or in context with changing information.
Concerns
- Risk of spam. Because users can directly add results to a social search engine there is a risk that some users could insert search spam directly into the search engine. Elimination or prevention of this spam would require the ability to detect the validity of a user's' contribution, such as whether it agrees with other trusted users.
- "The Long TailThe Long TailThe Long Tail or long tail refers to the statistical property that a larger share of population rests within the tail of a probability distribution than observed under a 'normal' or Gaussian distribution...
" of search is a concept that there are so many unique searches conducted that most searches, while valid, are performed very infrequently. A search engine that relied on users filling in all the searches would be at a disadvantage to one that used machines to crawl and index the entire web.
See also
- Collaborative filteringCollaborative filteringCollaborative filtering is the process of filtering for information or patterns using techniques involving collaboration among multiple agents, viewpoints, data sources, etc. Applications of collaborative filtering typically involve very large data sets...
- Enterprise bookmarkingEnterprise bookmarkingEnterprise bookmarking is a method for Enterprise 2.0 users to tag, organize, store, and search bookmarks of both web pages on the Internet and data resources stored in a distributed database or fileserver...
- Human search engineHuman Search EngineA human search engine is a search engine that uses human participation to filter the search results and assist users in clarifying their search request...
- Relevance feedbackRelevance feedbackRelevance feedback is a feature of some information retrieval systems. The idea behind relevance feedback is to take the results that are initially returned from a given query and to use information about whether or not those results are relevant to perform a new query...
- Social engineSocial engineA social engine is a hybrid between a Social Network and a Search Engine.The term social engine is the shortened version of the term social networking engine which provides a software development framework for developing social applications and a platform for hosting them...
- Social softwareSocial softwareSocial software applications include communication tools and interactive tools. Communication tools typically handle the capturing, storing and presentation of communication, usually written but increasingly including audio and video as well. Interactive tools handle mediated interactions between a...