Social search. Theory. Practice. Aardvark.
A bit of theory about what social search is (NOT people’s search engines), what is actually being done and a review of the new Aardvark service.
So, in what ways can we filter information on the Internet using the users themselves?
* Based on materials http://blog.delver.com
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Naturally, any method of collecting information has its drawbacks, for example:
• browsing: spam links;
• indexing: wrong tags;
• request: the operator may not understand you;
• rank: hacking ranking system, etc.
In any case, the question of trust arises: how much can you trust the search results? As you know, we trust the opinion of our friends and relatives. Search based on algorithms can be unbiased, but there are ways to outwit any machine (as long as they exist). Social search in the form in which it exists now leaves much to be desired, is not very effective and has its own drawbacks.
Many of us ask questions through IM or Twitter to our friends. Messengers can not reach a large audience, and Twitter is not a panacea, because not always knowledgeable people online and see your question.
This week I received an invitation to the Aardvark service, which means African anteater ( http://vark.com ).
In short, this is a social network symbiosis like Twitter'a, focused on finding the right information .
After you have filled out the profile and noted the areas of knowledge in which you are well versed, you add to your IM a bot Aardvark, through which your communication with the service will pass.
Several times a day, the bot will contact you in order for you to help network users with their questions. Questions are relevant to the categories that you specified in your profile. You can answer the question, say that you are busy or advise someone who could help.
Also, the service has an email interface that repeats the functionality of the IM bot. If you were not online and you missed the question, you will receive a notification by mail, answering which you can send an answer.
Having tried to ask questions, I was surprised at the reaction rate of the project participants and the quality of the answers. When searching by Google, you would certainly find the information you are interested in, but Aardvark allows you to communicate with the user after answering, so you can ask additional questions.
The interface of the site itself is concise and contains only the necessary functionality.
Aardvark using the Facebook application integrates into the most popular social network and allows you to add friends from Facebook directly. Also, automatically, Aardvark adds information about you to LinkedIn.
Thus, we get a solution to many of the shortcomings of social search. The spam problem has been almost completely resolved (adding users only by invite); there is no information filtering mechanism that could be hacked; Questions are received only by a user who is knowledgeable in the relevant field.
The project is really interesting and new. We will wait for what it will develop.
A little theory.
Social search is a search method that determines the relevance of issuance results based on the interaction and user assistance contrary to common search methods that are based on algorithms.* Wikipedia
So, in what ways can we filter information on the Internet using the users themselves?
* Based on materials http://blog.delver.com
')
Naturally, any method of collecting information has its drawbacks, for example:
• browsing: spam links;
• indexing: wrong tags;
• request: the operator may not understand you;
• rank: hacking ranking system, etc.
A little practice.
In any case, the question of trust arises: how much can you trust the search results? As you know, we trust the opinion of our friends and relatives. Search based on algorithms can be unbiased, but there are ways to outwit any machine (as long as they exist). Social search in the form in which it exists now leaves much to be desired, is not very effective and has its own drawbacks.
Many of us ask questions through IM or Twitter to our friends. Messengers can not reach a large audience, and Twitter is not a panacea, because not always knowledgeable people online and see your question.
Aardvark.
This week I received an invitation to the Aardvark service, which means African anteater ( http://vark.com ).
In short, this is a social network symbiosis like Twitter'a, focused on finding the right information .
After you have filled out the profile and noted the areas of knowledge in which you are well versed, you add to your IM a bot Aardvark, through which your communication with the service will pass.
Several times a day, the bot will contact you in order for you to help network users with their questions. Questions are relevant to the categories that you specified in your profile. You can answer the question, say that you are busy or advise someone who could help.
Also, the service has an email interface that repeats the functionality of the IM bot. If you were not online and you missed the question, you will receive a notification by mail, answering which you can send an answer.
Having tried to ask questions, I was surprised at the reaction rate of the project participants and the quality of the answers. When searching by Google, you would certainly find the information you are interested in, but Aardvark allows you to communicate with the user after answering, so you can ask additional questions.
The interface of the site itself is concise and contains only the necessary functionality.
Aardvark using the Facebook application integrates into the most popular social network and allows you to add friends from Facebook directly. Also, automatically, Aardvark adds information about you to LinkedIn.
Thus, we get a solution to many of the shortcomings of social search. The spam problem has been almost completely resolved (adding users only by invite); there is no information filtering mechanism that could be hacked; Questions are received only by a user who is knowledgeable in the relevant field.
The project is really interesting and new. We will wait for what it will develop.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/54534/
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