Microsoft is ramping up its search efforts on several fronts, having recently launched Windows Live Search Beta, a customized search system, a new academic search feature, as well as a whole new
search advertising system for advertisers. Its latest search add-on, according to a
Business Week report, is a question-and-answer tool that lets users direct questions to a specific group,
such as a group of friends, rather than receive an automated list of results from a search engine. So-called social search is a method whose time has come, says one MSN exec. Companies like Google,
MSN and Yahoo are trying to set themselves apart with such added search features, as upwards of 50 percent of Web search queries can't be answered, according to Microsoft internal research. No names
were released, nor were any real details in the
Business Week article, but rumor has it MSN may be interested in two-year old social search startup Eurekster. Eurekster combines generic Yahoo
search results with the searching behavior of users' friends or other predefined groups in social networks like Friendster. Eurekster said it is in talks with several portals and media companies but
declined to comment on the speculation. Analysts and industry execs agree that the next level for search will be integrating social behavior into results, which means Eurekster and others will likely
be scooped up by a larger Internet firm.
Read the whole story at Business Week »
