Will the next generation of the web’s top search engines be human-created, social networks, like del.icio.us; mathematical algorithm-based, like Google, or a combination of both?<\/p>\n
This recent CNET News article discusses the search possibilities and the future of search engine results.<\/p>\n
From the article —<\/p>\n
In an acknowledgement that some questions may be better answered by a human than a search engine algorithm, Yahoo, Microsoft and others are embracing so-called social search.<\/p>\n
Social search generally refers to a Web site or service that relies on the participation of a community to come up with answers to specific questions or to provide links to Web sites or other resources of common interest.<\/p>\n
Don’t bet on social search usurping the algorithm, say experts. But it’s likely social-search answers will provide a strong second option to mathematical results.<\/p>\n
“Ultimately, it’s likely that a combination of algorithmic search and the various types of social-search systems will fuse into a hybrid that will work really well for satisfying a wide variety of information needs,” Search Engine Watch Executive Editor Chris Sherman concluded in a recent blog posting titled “What’s the Big Deal With Social Search?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n