Social networking to replace search

I’ve read a fair bit about how social networking is going to replace search but I’ve been pretty sceptical about this so far. You have to meet my friends to understand this - we’d have trouble at a pub quiz (I’m joking guys honestly)!

Of course in actual fact it’s not the more closed social systems that this is referring to and therefore it wouldn’t just be a small group that would be suggesting how to perform open heart surgery if that’s what takes your fancy.

I can see that social networking could benefit search side by side almost acting as a checking algorithm against adverse manipulation. This already happens to a certain extent and I can only see this spread increasing. It’s is all well and good for apps like digg and del.icio.us but this has more far reaching consequences when it comes to Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. Privacy issues have been highlighted a lot in the media at the moment so the data within these walls should remain private and therefore unavailable to tap into.

However imagine the power of all this hidden information if a way of anonymizing the data could take place.

I’m still interested to see the next Google and social media might well spawn it so keeps those eyes pealed maybe it might be The Mechanical Zoo which when it launches claims to be a “social search”?

In any case there are still issues here with fact, fiction and opinion. Rumours spread like wildfire on the Internet so theoretically relying on the even less formal conversations within social media sites might actually end with less accurate information returned?

Tags: bebo, birminghamuk, del.icio.us, digg, facebook, google, myspace, privacy, Search engines, Social media, social networking, social search, the mechanical zoo, upyerbrum
Posted in Internet, Search engines, Social media |