Posts Tagged ‘social search’

What’s The Best Discovery Engine?

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Until Bing called itself a “decision engine,” not many people had heard that term. And I’d wager to say the same thing about “discovery engine,” though I like that term. It’s what Erica DeWolf calls StumbleUpon.

Social bookmarking has become a very popular way for many people to find new websites. Because of that, it’s become a popular way for many marketers to present their websites for discovery. But StumbleUpon offers some unique ways of being found.

First, it’s a real simple “Like” or “Not Like” vote. Yes, StumbleUpon came upon this concept long before Facebook. It has worked for SU for about nine years now.

If you download the StumbleUpon toolbar, you can “Like” or “Not Like” in one click. But other things you can do is to search for new websites, and you can search in a number of ways. You can search by friends – that is, Stumble through the sites Liked by each friend on your friends list. Or, you can Stumble by interest. By that method, StumbleUpon will take you to new sites randomly based on interests you have already noted by the sites that you have liked in the past. It’s a whole new way of discovery.

Now, what is the best way to use StumbleUpon for your small business? Here are a few tips:

  • Write a new blog post
  • Stumble your post and Like it
  • Using the StumbleUpon toolbar, send your post to a few friends and ask them for a Stumble

You have to be careful with Step #3. Make sure your friends are open to you asking for their help. Not all Stumblers enjoy getting those requests. It is most helpful if you pick a handful of your friends who are willing to help you with Stumbles and that you are also willing to help out in return. You can exchange Stumbles and help each other promote your content.

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Posted in Social Media | 8 Comments »

Is Social Search Just Getting Its Diapers?

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

I said right here that social search was just around the corner and that it would likely go well beyond what any of us could imagine. Evidently that’s not good enough.

John Battelle, who needs no kudos from me, isn’t impressed with the new Google Social Search. The problem, he says, is that it doesn’t leverage Facebook. And he asks a good question: Why not?

I agree. You can’t build a social search engine without getting in deep with Facebook. I think Google may have rolled this one out too soon. Do you? Or is there another reason they decided to introduce social search without the largest social media company in the world? Any ideas?

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Posted in search engines | 1 Comment »

When Will Social Search Go Local?

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

We’ve talked before about social search. But we’ve never talked about local social search. Why not?

Well, frankly, social search is still a dream. I think it’s a cool dream and I think that someday soon someone will introduce a truly social search platform. But will it be local? Or will we have to wait for that?

I think the social search and local angle could be simultaneous. One thing that is likable about both Twitter and Facebook is that you can network with local and global friends and colleagues without changing any settings, switching from one screen to another or jumping through weird hoops. So it is possible to integrate the local angle into your social application. Not so much for search.

The search engines still have different tracks for local search and global search. Type “garden tools” and you are likely to get a wide range of global services and web pages. Narrow your search to a specific geographic area and you could localize your search.

Social media seems to be developing faster than search technology right now. I think when someone does finally integrate social media and search into a single application that we can all agree is valuable, local will be a significant feature.

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Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

How Social Media And Search Are Connected

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

So you say that your clients are all “older” and aren’t on Facebook all day? Well, did you know the fastest growing group on Facebook is 45 plus? But let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that you are right and your customers are not on social media sites. Do they use Google?

Using social media sites helps your search engine rankings in a variety of ways, particularly when you do it strategically, including adding your keywords into your social conversations. You’ll be creating links to your website and your blog, which helps your rankings, you have the opportunity to show up in the search engines for many more results due to the variety of sites you can participate in, and your customers help you with your search engine optimization when they leave comments on your blog and post about you on their social media profiles.

In fact, 25% of the search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to content posted by their customers and fans – otherwise known as user generated content (or UGC for short).

While your prospects and customers may not be hanging out on social media sites (yet), they most certainly are using the search engines to find what they need online – and social media is one of the best ways you can help improve your rankings and get in front of them when they are looking!

Here’s a great interview with Facebook’s Brian Boland that illustrates the importance of social media on search a bit more clearly.

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Posted in Social Media | 1 Comment »

Is StumbleUpon Social Search (Or Not)?

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Is StumbleUpon trying to compete with Google and Twitter in social search? While they may have been trying to move into that area earlier this month, now they appear to be moving in the opposite direction. Maybe they’re afraid of Google?

Whatever it is StumbleUpon has going on, I still consider it a unique and fun site. I wouldn’t spend all my time there, but it does seem to have a unique social appeal. For business, it has its uses, but social media can be a huge time drain if you don’t have a plan going in and stick to your plan. StumbleUpon is one of those sites that can easily lead to distractions.

Nevertheless, whatever they’re trying to be, it might be a good idea to examine the site and see if you can make it fit into your social media plans.

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Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Google’s Big Social Media Announcement

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

A couple of days ago I mentioned that Bing has started to included Twitter in its real-time search feature. Well, it seems that Google has made a similar agreement itself. Just watch this video and hear how Google will integrate Twitter into its universal search.

So the war is on. I told you that social media was going to be the next big battlefield in search and Twitter will be at the center of that. So will Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, PhotoBucket, and a million other social media websites. Are you ready?

The second announcement in the video above is Google’s soon-to-launch social search. This will kick off the biggest online media war in the history of the Web, proving that humans are nothing more than social animals. By giving users a way to search social media through their own personal networks, Google is effectively seeking to own the content of the web – or at least control it. The question now is, How will Bing respond?

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Posted in search engines | 1 Comment »