Natural language search engine Hakia has added a social networking feature called "Meet Others." After users initiate a search, the option to "Meet Others who asked the same query" appears above the
results. If interested, users enter a room (or post a question to the room) with others searching for the same information.
There's no need to create an in-depth profile or register
to use "Meet Others," users just need to verify their email address. Hakia offers the option to have questions answered via a (masked) email address or IM. Richard MacManus notes that the feature
"kind of resembles Yahoo Answers, in that you are basically answering a question and then getting feedback from other users."
According to Compete, traffic to New York-based Hakia
has grown from a low of about 10,000 users in June to nearly 30,000 in September - but the question is whether this "social networking meets search" feature will get more users engaged (and for a
longer period of time).
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