Del.icio.us search
February 7th, 2006
Rachel Cunliffe, the designer of this site, has a provocative post about using del.icio.us as a search engine.
She (and her commenters) notice that you can get far more relevant results from del.icio.us than you can from Google. For instance, although del.icio.us finds only 14,099 results for “fonts”, they were better for finding the font she wanted than Google’s 59,600,000.
She goes on to compare links to bookmarks.
A bookmark, however, implies more value than a link. I’ve already visited it once and it’s something I want to go back to in the future.
I think social bookmarking could be a central part of future algorithms of successful search engines.
I think that’s true too, but if search engines want to reflect the world outside of del.icio.us users, they had better be careful about how they use it. Social bookmarking says a lot about the society that’s doing it.
Search engines are essentially popularity contests for web content. Del.icio.us is too, but its smaller size and its self-chosen users limit its utility — it’s great for finding techie things like fonts, because its users, as early adopters of technology, are likely to know about fonts. But what about the (shudder) bricks-and-mortar world?
How useful is it, say for finding an auto dealer in Manhasset? Not very. Zero results. Google has 21,500 relevant results.
Not fair? Something shorter?
How about something as mundane as a lawn mower? Del.icio.us has 159 results for Lawn Mower, compared with 3,033,000 for Google. Each source has its own distinctive trend:
Del.icio.us results for “lawn mower” — techie, leftie
- The Man Who Said No to Wal-mart
- Convert a lawn mower into a generator
- Cheap Mower Parts Online…
- RCLM2006S [a remote control for a lawn mower]
- Convert a lawn mower into a generator [again]
- Brill Reed Mowers: cordless electric lawn mower
- Hybrid Remote Control Lawn mower
- Organic Lawn Care for the Cheap and Lazy
Google results for “lawn mower” — commercial, informational
- US Lawn Mower Racing Association
- American Lawn Mower Corporation
- How to Choose a Lawn Mower - eHow.com
- British Lawn Mower Museum
- Toro Home Page
- Lawn Mower Repair and Maintenance Help
- Lawn Mower Reviews: Product Reviews Comparison Reports
- Automatic Lawn Mowers by Friendly Robotics
I’m going to use del.icio.us to find out how to set up color management on my printer; I’m going to use Menu Pages to find out what’s for dinner in New York; I’m going to use Craigslist to find a used air conditioner (delivered), and I’m going to use Google when I want to find out about lawn mowers.
There is no fool-proof search method or an omniscient search engine. There are many different sources depending on what’s needed, and that’s not going to change soon. De gustibus non disputandum est.
Some nice counter examples
You’re right, no one search method will suit all searches although I am finding that I’m expanding out my search methods. I once would almost always just use Google. Now I’m using Google, Technorati, del.icio.us, Flickr, and so on.
Although delicious is currently used by a mainly tech-oriented userbase, there’s nothing stopping it (or similar services) being spread to other areas. Imagine a service where people bookmarked companies they use, tagged and rated them. Or a service where people bookmarked products they think are worthwhile/useful. It’s happening on many Web 2.0 sites and soon enough they’ll be useful repositories of search information too I believe.
Rachel | February 7th, 2006 at 4:16 am
Tony,
Here is the article I mentioned to you the other day about the politics of search engines and the notion of the “Ideal Web.”
When I first started the article, I was skeptical, figuring that the big search engines are just there like the weather and probably doing a fine job. After reading it, I came to believe that the current system gives too much power to companies who are under no obligation to disclose their internal deliberations and priorities. The Web is too important to be run this way.
I don’t agree with the authors who advocate forcing the search engines to disclose their proprietary alghorhythms (totally unrealistic and even unfair). But there isn’t any reason why some sort of international body can’t come up with a more rational directory system somewhat like the phone book with cross-referencing and so forth. Then the big search engines can still offer their unique products but the entire system would offer a more level playing field for the little guy–which of course includes poor people and businesses from poorer countries around the world.
Anyway, read it and see what you think.
Ariel
Ariel Zeitlin Cooke | February 12th, 2006 at 11:02 am
P.S. Here is the link to the article: http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/papers/searchengines.pdf
Ariel Zeitlin Cooke | February 12th, 2006 at 11:04 am
Anyone have any tips on how to best use del.icio.us to help promote one's websites? I have recently signed up, added a few friends, and am trying to
add interesting, useful sites before I add my own (which I'll do when I'm finished with my first set of tutorials). My sense is that it may be wise to
make some of the more “popular” del.icio.us members my friends, but for now I've stuck solely to people who are related to my industry. What do other
people think? Any good tips out there?
All the best,
Damon | December 21st, 2006 at 3:41 pm