Vince's Corner

We know all the major players–Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Bing—but hundreds of other search engines and services are springing up on the real-time Internet. They all put their own spin on the social web. Here are some that are worth watching—and perhaps utilizing and getting our businesses actively participating in—either from an advertising perspective or just to get a more targeted and refined search for your particular industry.

OneRiot

OneRiot has created its own page-rank algorithm that rates the “social energy” of a piece of content higher than at its time of creation. OneRiot gets its content from such sites as Facebook, Twitter and Digg, as well as its own panel of users. The company is unique among other real-time start-ups, due in large part to its advertising platform, which it calls “Google’s AdSense for the real-time web.”

Scoopler

Scoopler is a real-time search engine that pulls its results from Twitter, Digg, Delicious, Flickr and others. Scoopler organizes its search results into two categories called “Live” and “Popular” to help distinguish between the latest content and that which is most heavily trafficked. They have tried to give users a place where they can create their own streams and enjoy all the different kinds of content in one location.

Collecta

Collecta also aggregates content from such sites as Twitter and YouTube, as well as blog posts, video, comments and news feeds from all over the web. Users can filter their searches to narrow down the field and even eliminate Twitter from the stream entirely. The company prides itself on providing results in actual real-time.

Who knows what the next Twitter will be. One of these may be it. But any help in identifying the latest and most important trends in your industry, cultivating professional relationships and interacting more effectively could be a benefit to your business.