What is Social Search?
Social search is a type of web search method that determines the relevance of search results by considering the interactions or contributions of users. When applied to web search this user-based 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. Wikipedia.
So instead of relying on Google’s algorithm to look at text and tell us where we’ll most likely find what we’re looking for, in social search you rely on the knowledge and interaction of others. Fits right in with the finding that the most trusted source of data is from someone ‘just like me.’
Professional often search for events and conferences about their industry. LinkedIn just launched an event finder feature that offers not just event search, but recommendations based on the contents of your profile, sophisticated information about attendees and updates about the events in your LinkedIn update feed. That’s a great example of social search in action.
Eight thousand events are already listed and, if you have an event coming up, you can add it to the list.
“The recommendations are key here. Recommendation is like the search you didn’t even know you wanted to do – it’s a great way to surface value from noise.” ReadWriteWeb
Google’s Marissa Mayer, VP of Search, says social search is the future. She said it’s wrong to look at search as all human vs. all algorithm. “Expertise” may be more valuable than “trust.” Just because you know someone well doesn’t mean they’ll provide the best answers. Read Marissa’s explanation of social search here.
In November 2006 Hitwise reported that one in twenty Internet visits goes to a social site. In the past two years that traffic has increased: Facebook traffic is up 50 percent year over year, YouTube 32 percent and visits to question and answer sites are up 118 percent.
Is social search in your 2009 social media strategy?
