by News Editor
L. Sutherland
L. Sutherland
With recent changes in the searchiverse like the release of Microsoft's 'decision engine' Bing, the re-rebranding of Ask Jeeves and the launch of Hunch - a search engine that helps you find what you're looking for by asking a series of questions - you'd be forgiven for thinking that the search market is looking particularly flooded at the moment. And that's before we even mention Twitter's new search functions, Google's recent preoccupation with real-time search and Facebook's experimentation in the same vein.However, a busy playing field never stopped any business bent on success, and so new search service Aardvark has waded into the battleground. Last week, the company completed beta testing and the new service was opened to the public search sphere. So, how does Aardvark differ from the competition?
Aardvark utilises social networks to blend a wide range of knowledge and spheres of expertise, as well as social groups, to come up with its search results. When the user asks the engine a question, submitting it via IM or email, Aardvark determines what the question is about then searches through the user's social network to find the people available over the same mediums to find the correct match.
The site considers a number of factors, from related topics in other people's profiles to determining the people whose answers you trust most. At the moment, Aardvark is reliant on Facebook, but other social networks will be added in the future. Aardvark also does what so many search engines have faced privacy concerns over before - it uses the user's history to train itself to better answer questions. Cleverly, Aardvark also assumes that what may be the best answer for one person might not be the best answer or another - even if the question is the same.
One of the most innovative things about Aardvark is the way it makes use of instant messaging facilities - making the user feel as though they are being personally attended to. Available on Gmail Chat, Google Talk, AIM, MSN, Hotmail and soon the iPhone, Aardvark has been careful to cover as many bases as possible.Aardvark aims to find personal answers to questions without users exhausting the goodwill of their friends and family - and it might just work, especially as it's piggybacking on the popular Facebook.
With the introduction of the latest search service, both established services such as Yahoo! Answers and newbies like Hunch certainly have a new competitor on their hands - with the benefit of what feels like a personal touch, Aardvark could really become a favourite with users looking for a more individual search experience.
