I love social media, but I’m not sure I trust the wisdom of the crowd when it comes to search. As Pops said, when I’m searching, I’m looking for accurate information, not popular information (although, these 2 things are not necessarily mutually exclusive).

Some great questions there. Sproose may be able to generate some value for specifc types of searches and from specific groups.

I dont see the bigger play, mostly because I think rankings will be wildly different between types of users. Microsoft tried something similar several years ago on MSN, where ‘popularity’ influenced ranking – might have been Alexa driven. You will notice that they are not doing that anymore, though I found it valuable on a few searches.

But even a small percentage in the search engine world can be huge. If I was Spoose, I would target a specifc demographic to get the most effective value creation and market penetration.

I’m testing the accuracy during this month long test. So far, because it relies on several engines, it seems to be doing an ok job with accuracy. Voting only enhances that, imo, but I can see where you might disagree.

So, all in all, I see your points, and they are certainly valid ones. Just not sure I agree with them, but I’ll know more after the month is over. 🙂

Sorry to disagree but I HATE this idea.

1. My biggest concern would be having my pages “buried” because they don’t conform to the biases of other users (a MAJOR problem at Digg). It helps that Sproose doesn’t currently allow “buries” (that I can see) but “buries” also perform a useful function as a counter to users gaming the system. So not allowing them is “one step forward – one step back.”

2. Second, I’m usually searching for accurate information, not popular information.

3. I don’t want my search results tailored to fit me. That just reinforces my own biases.

4. When I click on a link in Sproose the new page is framed within a Sproose page (ala Google Image Search). That’s just poor form in my opinion.