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Ark Aims High In People Search

Because Google and Facebook refuse to share information with each other, neither can claim to offer anywhere near a complete database of people. That’s good news for Ark.com -- a people search engine that just entered private beta, and plans to become the best place on the Web to find, and gather information on, anyone. If successful, “Ark could pull searches away from Google and Facebook, disrupt dedicated sites like Classmates.com, and give us a better way to find people than broadcasting ‘Who do I know here that does this?’” TechCrunch reports.

The service boasts an array of layer-able filters so users can search through public profiles and the private data “friends” across Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and other networks. But, why would Google and Facebook let a company come in and dominate such a valuable service? Politics, says TechCrunch. “Neither are [sic] going to readily send traffic to each other or their various competitors,” it writes.

“Google’s Search Plus Your World showed its happy to favor Google+ listings, and Facebook doesn’t want to creep into helping you meet new people or over-complicate its service. Relevant people search results can come from any network, and by not surfacing them the tech giants have paved the way for a startup like Ark.”

 


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