Google searching like Digg?
I just stumbled upon some buzz on a few blogs about an experiment Google is running. They are testing out using a new Digg-like social search that would let users edit search results, allowing them to bump results up and down, comment, and suggest better websites for they keywords they searched. This could be huge news, if they ever end up implementing it. I heard that they have done experiments like this in the past, but I still haven’t seen anything like it popping up in my browser.
But, this popularity-contest-type searching could bring about the same problems that Digg faces, where a small group of people monopolize the most Digged postings, and it’s hard for others to break into this group. This issue has led to articles like “Cheats for Hitting the Front Page of Digg”.
Google posted some FAQ about the experiment: Experiment FAQ
I’m not sure I like the idea, but we’ll see how the experiment goes. I also don’t like the idea of everyone not seeing the same search results. Apparently, if you have gmail open while you search something, this can affect the search results, Jason told me. He said, Google figured out he liked a site he was going to a lot, and bumped it up for him, but someone else didn’t see it on the first page. I think everyone should get the same results!