Semantic search engine Hakia has added a social component to its meaning-based search engine called Meet Others. The idea behind Meet Others is to connect users through the queries they used during a search activity in Hakia.
So, when you are searching for “search engine optimization”, the Hakia search search results page will include a link to the Meet Others or Query Room. The Query Room lists down users who previously used the search term. If you were the first user who used the search term, obviously the Query Room will be empty. From there you can start a thread much like you do in a usual online forum and start posting messages related to the search query. If this does not appeal to you, you can go directly to meet.hakia.com and start searching for similar queries.
If you decide to create your own room, or another user created a Query Room, you can be contacted by other Hakia users through an anonymous email or through instant messaging such as MSN or Skype.
This new feature of Hakia would seem pretty neat although for a search engine, it would seem off the mark. Perhaps, the Hakia people should have answered the question of whether the “social component” is necessary for a semantic search engine such as Hakia, before they decided to come up with this feature.
What really is the point of adding a social networking component to a search engine that proposes a meaning-based search? Would it contribute to Hakia’s success towards becoming the best alternative to web search engines that have been dominating the web search ecosystem?
Honestly now, would there be anyone using Hakia’s Meet Others feature for social networking purposes?
