Using the New Wikia Search Engine

Is Wikia versus Google the new Coke versus Pepsi? It would seem so now that Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikia, today launched the alpha version of Wikia Search, the search engine with its eye on Google.

The focus of Wikia Search is a bit different that the traditional ways of Google or other search engines. It seems to put a large portion of control in the hands of the users -- meaning the community feedback is what shapes the results of any given search. In a way, I feel kind of special that my sole input can completely change results of millions upon millions of other search results.

The model for Wikia Search is based on four principles: Transparency, Community, Quality and Privacy. Transparency focuses on the openness of the system, how it works and the algorithms. Community is concept of allowing community members to contribute to Wikia Search in one way or another. Quality is about improving and making accurate the relevancy and accuracy of search results. And Privacy regards making sure all information searched for is completely private. Here's a search results page:

Because of the community-building nature of Wikia Search, the current alpha build is very rudimentary. Simple searched performed by me on broad topics like "NCAA" contained pages with mixed results -- specifically the top result being an e-mail form page from the NCAA.org Web site, with the NCAAsports.com official Web page being the fifth result, when it should be the first.

Because of the method for shaping results, a lot of the success of Wikia Search is going to be placed upon the shoulders of the early adopters. These early adopters will be the ones building Wikia Search in the beginning.

From the variety of features I played around with, it seems Wikia Search is trying to establish a long-lasting relationship with the users and if you think about it, it is on the right track.

I go to Google when I need a quick fix -- a quick answer, image, etc. Wikia Search's community aspects make it feel like less of a Google one-night-stand and more of a long-term relationship. Many of the alpha build features are ones that I could find myself wanting to revisit on a regular basis without needing to be inspired.

It always feels better when you build, or at least help in building something yourself, rather than letting invisible and private crawlers handle all of the mojo.

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