ISM Signpost #26

*** Don’t Ask ***

*** Opening Doors ***

*** Searching for Knowledge ***

*** Lessons from South Korea ***

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+++ Don’t Ask +++

Ask.com erases user’s history

Ask.com, the fourth largest search engine formerly known as Ask Jeeves, has launched AskEraser, which it says will throw away what you’ve searched for. As concerns over user privacy and the rich data assembled by search engines on consumer’s surfing patterns rumbles on, Ask is hoping that privacy will differentiate it from stiff competition.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN keep track of search terms and link them to a computer’s Internet address and sometimes to the user, but when AskEraser is turned on, it will discard all this information. Unlike other privacy controls which can be tricky to locate on a search engine, Ask’s new service is purposefully easy to find on the home page and can be turned on with a single click.

However, AskEraser cannot guarantee complete anonymity of its users. Ask.com relies on Google to serve the ads next to its search results, which means its user’s digital footprints are passed onto the larger search engine. However, Google is constrained in what it can do with the information.

The search engines are working hard to reassure consumers that they respect their privacy. They insist that they need to keep records of searches to improve the quality of results. However, following increased pressure from privacy groups they now limit the time they retain user data. Google and Microsoft make search logs anonymous or discard them after 18 months and Yahoo does the same after 13 months.

Ask.com currently has a much smaller share of search compared to competition, just 4.7% in the US compared to Google’s 58.5%. Will AskEraser’s promise of privacy become a compelling selling point for internet users?

+++ Opening Doors +++

Yahoo backs open standard

Yahoo has pledged support for OpenID, a new web standard that enables users to consolidate their web identities and use one common log-in across websites. It means that anyone can use an existing Yahoo log-in and password to access other websites that have signed up with OpenID, reducing the number of username and passwords they need to remember.

Yahoo’s endorsement of OpenID is a significant boost for the new standard and has tripled the number of OpenID’s accounts to 368m. OpenID needed a big name like Yahoo to drive awareness and usage.

Yahoo raced to seize the initiative from Microsoft and Google as the search engine rails to improve its performance and declining market share in a competitive market. In other markets, Google has led open-standard initiatives such as OpenSocial for social networking and the Open Handset Alliance for mobiles.

The notion of data portability is growing in momentum. An open approach could change the very economics of the web itself as companies rush to build new services for the free flow of social information.

The DataPortability Workgroup has formed in the hope of persuading the internet industry to support a common scheme for importing and exporting personal information traditionally confined to individual websites. This month, Google and Facebook have both assigned representatives to join the workgroup.

Some analysts believe data portability will be the key trend of 2008. However, it’s difficult to say how meaningful change will be, as many websites, such as Facebook, will be reluctant to set their vast banks of social information free.

+++ Searching for knowledge +++

Wikipedia and Google step on each other’s toes

The lines between Wikipedia and Google are blurring, as both dabble with each other’s business models. As Wikipedia launches the alpha version of its search engine, Wikia Search; Google reveals plans to launch its own online encyclopaedia, Googlepedia.

Wikia Search is a social search engine that uses humans to help order its search results in an attempt to challenge Google’s dominance in search. Although other search engines like Chacha.com and Mahalo.com also use humans to compile search results, Wikia Search’s debut has been the most hyped.

Meanwhile, the details surrounding Googlepedia are still quite sketchy. Google intends to let people write a ‘knol’ , a ‘unit of knowledge’, even on the same subject as others, and take part in a Darwinian struggle to see theirs made the most popular. The Google blog says that knowing the author of an article will help users make better use of web content.

In contrast, Wikipedia’s model sees people contribute anonymously. Wikipedia also draws on expert content from anywhere online. This means that if good knols appear on Google, Wikipedia may feed off them, which will mean it will remain dominant. Has Google met its match?

+++ Lessons from South Korea +++

Korean search engine is world’s fifth-largest portal

Naver, the Korean search engine is so popular in its home market that it has become the world’s fifth largest portal, according to comScore, the US internet researcher. South Korea may be one of the most wired countries on earth, but it only has a nation of 48 million.

Naver, based on the English word ‘navigator’ has around 16m unique users a day and a total of 1bn page views. This means it dominates 77% of internet search in Korea, compared to Yahoo’s 4% and Google’s 2%, according to KoreanClick, a research company.

Knowledge in was launched out of necessity. In 1999, when Naver launched there was little, if any, Korean content on the web to make a search engine viable. Instead, Naver was forced to draw on the content from its users and put it online. Naver retains ownership of all the content and does not allow other search engines to access it.

Meanwhile, Naver is looking at expanding abroad. It will enter the Japanese search market in the first quarter of 2008, hoping to apply its winning formula there. Watch this space.

SIGNPOST is published monthly by Internet Search Management Ltd.

The opinions expressed are those of the Editor and not necessarily those of Internet Search Management Ltd.

All material Copyright 2008 Internet Search Management Ltd. All rights reserved.

ENDS

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