The Quest and The Never Ending Search
In my wildest imagination I would have never thought that I would do so much searching. My quest began nine years ago and to this day it has only gotten more desperate. This tireless quest apparently has no end as each day I wake up my search begins anew. You would think my heart would grow weary and with broken spirit I would just give up. But…not me! It seems I have an insatiable desire to seek. Even MORE amazing is the fact that millions upon millions more people wake up everyday with the same insatiable desire. They long for information, answers, advice, media, solutions, companionship, the meaning of life…you name it.
Of course the search I and millions of users initiate everyday involves Google (what did you think I was talking about, the Holy Grail?) No man! I am talking about the act of entering a key word or string into that little text box affectionately known as Google.
Here Cellie digresses just a little
Yup no doubt about it we all want relevant results. We don’t REALLY love searching do we? What we love is FINDING! The search part is really just foreplay and like most men, I can do without it! I want to get right down to the nitty gritty, no distractions and no bunny trails.
(Note to self: Million Dollar brainstorm #73996 design a “find” engine)
I have been using Google exclusively since mid 1999. I chose it because I was looking for the most relevant results without the paid advertising. Yeah sure Google serves up ads too but at least they do it in a non distracting way and they display the “organic” results I am looking for based on the relevancy of the content. Kudos to you Google! We bow before your relevant results delivering prowess!
Okay let be clear here. This is NOT another “Google is God” article.
I believe there is an even MORE relevant way to search, one that listens and understands your likes and dislikes. A “find” engine that is unbiased. It gives you exactly what you want with no irrelevant results whatsoever. Yes folks it exists today, and Google has nothing to do with it!
Swicki
Ladies and Gentlemen, Girls and Boys, bring your attention to the center ring and behold the wonder of (timpani’s roll) SWICKI! http://swickihome.eurekster.com/
Swicki in my humble opinion is a find engine by the people and for the people. So let me plagiarize the facts right from their very own FAQ page and bust your melon with some good reasons why Google is in for a run for their money.
What is a swicki?
A swicki is new kind of search engine that allows anyone to create deep, focused searches on topics you care about. Unlike other search engines, you and your community have total control over the results and it uses the wisdom of crowds to improve search results. This search engine, or Swicki, can be published on your site. Your Swicki presents search results that you’re interested in, pulls in new relevant information as it is indexed, and organizes everything for you in a neat little customizable widget you can put on your web site or blog, complete with its very own buzz cloud that constantly updates to show you what are hot search terms in your community.
How does my swicki work?
Swickis are a new kind of search engine or search results aggregator. Swickis allow you to build specific searches tailored to your interests and that of your community and get constantly updated results from your web or blog page. Swickis scan all the data indexed in Yahoo Search, plus all additional sources you specify, and present the results in a dynamically updated, easy to use format that you can publish on your site - or use at swicki.com. We also collect and organize information about all public Swickis in our Directory. Whether you have built a Swicki or not, you can come to the Swicki directory and find Swicki search engines that interest you.
What’s cool about this?
Sometimes, looking for specific information has that needle in a haystack feeling. Not only can you get 6,000+ results from a simple query, the most relevant data for you can be buried way down the list. Swickis let you slice and dice and customize your search engine query so that you can specify the most relevant sources, then get further refinement of the results once like-minded users start engaging with the results. Every click refines the Swicki’s search strings, creating a responsive, dynamic result that’s both customized and highly relevant.
The web is full of content and the main way people access it is by searching. Rather than having just one view of the web there can be lots of different focused views of the web - focused search engines or Swickis. The best people to create these search engines are the people who are passionate about a topic - so we have created a tool to allow anyone to publish a search engine. It is a natural extension of creating a web page or blog or pod cast to create a search engine around a topic you and your community care about.
There are over 32,000 unique user created Swickis already covering every imaginable subject. Swicki has published a directory here
It’s my opinion that as the world embraces social networking and more users opt to publish their own blog Swickis will become a major part of the blogisphere. Let’s face it user created content and social networking is here to stay. The vote has been cast, users want to be in control and Swicki lets YOU decide what is relevant. No complex algorithms here just it “the wisdom of the crowds”.
There is also a revenue model that allows you to make money in a Google Ads type fashion. I won’t go into details here but I think it is worth your time to look closer at Swicki. Yahoo and Google both have initiated a similar approach which adds to the validity of this type of model.
To learn more about Swicki, use Google and perhaps you will find what you are looking for. (Pun intended)
Enjoy!
Tom Cellie
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