Delving into a New Approach to Search - Possible Issues
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Delver takes an interesting approach to making information in one’s online social network more accessible and relevant. I’m looking forward to seeing how that translates into action. But it seems unlikely to work as a primary search engine. What if your friends don’t have the kind of knowledge you’re looking for?
Tac Leung made some insightful observations in a comment on TechCrunch’s coverage of Delver. Leung noted that Eurekster and Friendster partnered about four years ago on web search. “We created a unique search engine for each user, and the results were influenced by the activity of your 1st degree friends, and to a lesser degree by your 2nd and 3rd degree network.” They found that friends rarely search for exactly the same terms, but that broadening the network didn’t necessarily make the search results more relevant.
They also found that relevance was easier to achieve by focusing unique search engines on groups within Friendster that had similar interests rather than a person’s specific social network. There was no need to log in to make this work; one only needed to search on the engine geared to a particular community’s interest.
Unless Delver’s approach is particularly compelling, it risks getting lost in the shuffle. There are other web sites already trying to tackle at least one of the two problems that Delver is trying to conquer. For example, Google and all of the other major search engines offer some form of personalized search, often based on search history but sometimes taking other factors into consideration. This addresses, at least in part, the issue of search engines not knowing who you are. And Searchles, among others, gives you the option of limiting your search to links posted by your friends, or by your friends’ friends.
As one last possible issue worth noting, it seems as if new Web 2.0-based companies are running out of original ideas in the area of logos. I can’t claim the credit for spotting this originally, but Delver’s logo looks a lot like Cozi.com’s logo.
Cozi’s concept is a bit different; they’re building something more along the lines of an “Internet fridge” to keep everyone connected. Still, the logo resemblance is a little discomfiting, and could lead to confusion.
Next: Long-Term Prospects >>
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