Humans and Machines in the Search Equation
Where do humans and machines fit in the search equation? Can humans keep pace with machines? If so, will human-crafted search results ever supplant an algorithm-heavy approach favored by Google?
On June 24, 2007, Randall Stross writes in the New York Times article "The Human Touch (...)" about a handful of social search startups each working "on a hybrid system that puts humans back into the search equation."
Matt Cutts responds in his blog post "The role of humans in Google search," and points to several instances where Google has already integrated human-power into their processes (for example, Google News and the "report spam to Google" feature).
Now might be an appropriate time for me to mention that Top Ten Global has developed our own hybrid approach to social search that we call "community-powered vertical search."
Our solution is robust and scalable. Instead of quixotically trying to hand-craft hundreds of thousands of search-result pages, we leverage the collective intelligence of humans to continually optimize and fine-tune the algorithm. We remove spam from the index and teach the algorithm what humans consider to be relevant. Our approach blends the best of humans and machines.
When you search at a Top Ten Global brand web magazine you do not need to guess if we already have a page created for your query. That would be silly. Instead, you immediately get the full power of Google search coupled with the cumulative efforts of the editorial community.
We're looking for feedback. Please visit one of our web magazines and let us know what you think about community-powered vertical search. Thank you.
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