Search Briefs: Social Search Engine Wink Launches Version 2.0; Norwegian Mobile Portal Powered by Fast Launches
ResourceShelf friend and proprietor of Wink, Michael Tanne, informs us that social search engine, Wink 2 has just launched. The original version of Wink launched last year. Then, Danny Sullivan called it a meta search tool for tagged content. We will take a closer look in the near future. In the meantime, here's what to expect from the new version. Via an email release:
Collections - Wink Collections are a cool way for you to gather and share the best links on any topic. A collection can be about anything - hilarious videos, your favorite band, the best restaurants in your area, or research on a new gadget - you name it. You create a collection and add links to it and it shows up in search results. Others can add links to the Collection - a great way for people to share what they know and improve search.
Friends - Wink is a social search engine. It's all about sharing great information with people. Connect with your friends, and people you meet on-line. Find someone who's expert in a topic you're passionate about or who's created an awesome collection - add them as a friend. Check out who finds the best links - and connect with people who have similar interests.
Bookmarks - We all need to keep track of sites we find so we can go back to them or share them with a friend. You can use the "Add to Wink" button or the Wink Toolbar (coming soon) to bookmark any site you come across, or bookmark right from the search result by clicking on the star. You can add tags or comments to help you find the site later. It will also help others find the site. Also, if you use del.icio.us, you can sync your bookmarks in both directions. And if you use Flock, you can choose Wink as your bookmark service by installing the Wink Flock plug-in.
Search - You can use Wink just like Google or Yahoo! The difference is Wink results include input from real people. When you like a result, click the thumbs up. When you don't, click the thumbs down. Even though the millions of votes so far are few compared to the indexes of the big search engines, think about it - each vote is someone saying "I like that!" If you see a result that just doesn't belong - whether it's spam or just irrelevant, click the 'remove' button and watch it disappear. Wink includes Google search results so you can always find just the right link if no one's bookmarked it yet.
Sesam (wap.sesam.no) leverages the Sesam Web search service (www.sesam.no) which combines online information from many different sources in one search result. The portal is based on FAST mobile search extensions to the FAST Enterprise Search Platform which powers the web search service. Through a mobile handset, users can access local and global web pages, local blogs, news archives, white and yellow pages, encyclopedia content from Wikipedia, images, weather forecast services and TV program overviews. Launched in June 2006, Sesam's traffic exceeded 450,000 searches performed by more than 30,000 unique users in July. "The most popular search categories are the image search and the mobile Internet pages or WAP pages," said Mikal Rohde, CEO of Schibsted Sok. "In collaboration with FAST, we have been successful in developing a highly relevant and extended search experience for the mobile Internet user. It is a thrilling experience to be the only company currently offering this service, and to have no real competitors."
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