From the monthly archives:
Jay Bhatti, co-founder of Spock.com in Redwood City, Calif., was recently interviewed by Ziff Davis Enterprise Senior Technology Editor Wayne Rash. The topic was vertical search engines—a specialized means of searching that focuses on one topic as opposed to a general search engine such as Google that focuses on everything.
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Remember the days before Google existed? How hard was to find information on the web about something you wanted to look-up? I remember when search was considered a dead category. Pundits said there was no way to make money from search, so why invest in it. Internet executives said search was something that drove people to other websites, so why even build a search engine. That is why Yahoo, Excite, MSN and other popular portals of the 1990’s placed search bars at the bottom of the page — to keep users on their property.
The sad truth was that since people did not know what they were missing, as no one could deliver the entire web to them, they didn’t complain. It was like living in a cave, ignorant of not only what was outside, but even that there was an outside.
When Google came along in 1999, they placed a high emphasis on technology, delivered a great user experience, and intelligently indexed the entire web. Move ahead to 2008, and many people don’t remember what search was like before Google and how people were able to discover information in the “dark ages”.
In early 2007, people search was in the same position as search was in 1997. Not many companies or sites placing an emphasis on deep technology, a great user experience, or indexing everyone in the world. Much of people search today is fragmented, closed, and in silos; just like search was in 1997. Even more, much of people search exists in the dark. Not many people know all the great information that exists in the world about people, and how we are all connected.
Spock came along in 2007 with a mission to create a search result of everyone in the world and make it freely accessible. With our emphasis on user experience, using great technology along with great community contribution, and our focus on people search, hopefully, someday in the future, when people think about learning more about someone else, they will think of Spock first.
Just like there was with search, there are critics of people search who question its utility. You could stay in the cave, but I’d encourage you to try and imagine the possibilities that the future of people search holds. A great people search engine can enrich your knowledge of people in your life – and your own life as well.
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Top 10 Startups Worth Watching in 2008 by Julie Sloane | December 24, 2007 | PDF of Article |
Everyone loves being ahead of the times, whether you were the first of your friends to wear Hammer Pants, rock a mullet, or invest a few dollars in some obscure company called Microsoft. As a Spock user you can be confident that you are apart of something unique as Spock was recently named one of Wired Magazines “Top 10 Startups Worth Watching in 2008“. Make all of your friends jealous that you discovered Spock first by inviting them to sign up. While you’re at it, check out our press page to see what other fine publications have said about us.
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Spock: The People Search Wiki by David Berkowitz | January 8, 2008 | PDF of Article |
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Mitch Wagner of Information Week takes a look at Spock.com:
I’ve been getting dozens of e-mail invitations recently from people on a new social networking service called Spock. Then I started getting another batch of e-mails asking, “What the heck is Spock?” So I called the Spock team to find out.
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