Tag Archives: search

On why people ask questions on social networks

24 Apr 2010 – 19:05

Social search behavior is now generally agreed to be common enough that companies like Google are buying up companies like Aardvark, and academic researchers are asking good questions about the value of networks for question-answering (Q-A). I have done a bit of research in this area myself, and so I was quite pleased to read [...]

By brynn | Posted in research, social search, sxd | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Rethinking Social Relevancy Rank: What’s Missing?

28 Jul 2009 – 11:33

Although I’m working from San Francisco on independent projects this summer, the social search issue remains at the forefront of my mind. I read an insightful essay by Alex Iskold at ReadWriteWeb a few weeks back describing how searches could be filtered by social groups to provide more relevant results listings. I agreed with his [...]

By brynn | Posted in social search | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Why social search won’t topple Google (anytime soon)

30 Jan 2009 – 0:22

In this discussion, I will argue that there is a place for socially-augmented search, but it will be as a supplement to, not a replacement for, Google.

By brynn | Posted in research, social, social search | Also tagged , , | Comments (15)

User Needs during Social Search

15 Oct 2008 – 14:38

(This was also posted on the ASC blog.) There has been a lot of buzz around social search in the online tech community, but I am largely disappointed by the new tools and services I’ve encountered. It’s not that these sites are unusable, but that they each seem to take on a different conception of [...]

By brynn | Posted in research, social, social search | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (1)

What is social?

24 Sep 2008 – 12:39

This question has been in the back of my mind for some time: What does being social mean, and what does it mean to be not social? Is there such a thing as a little bit of social? Earlier this summer, I posed this question on Twitter & Friendfeed, specifically trying to come up with [...]

By brynn | Posted in research | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (4)