Social Search Tools?
According to an article in today’s Online Media Daily (free sign-up)….
MSN IS DEVELOPING A “SOCIAL search” tool, which will allow users to send questions to their social networks, or to the Web at large, and receive answers in return, an MSN spokesman confirmed Monday.
Sounds a little like a survey to me, or kind of like in “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”, where you have the option to call a friend or family member or ask the audience to vote for the most likely answer to your “million dollar” question. Also kind of similar to ask.com (formerly know as askjeeves.com…which, might I add, looks kind of naked now without Jeeves, though I like that links now open in a new window and you aren’t stuck in an Ask frame. But, I digress).
As the article points out, MSN is hoping this will help it compete with similar beta tools that Google and Yahoo! are working on. But I don’t see how adding in your “social network” is that big a deal. If you have a good social network, wouldn’t you already be able to communicate with them on your own? Maybe I’m missing something here.
