"Has the Time come for Human-Powered Search"-Part I

Human -Powered Search?? Yes you have read it right.Perhaps I also had the same reaction and lots of apprehensions and doubts when one of my friends told me about this beta developing idea until I myself tried it practically.

Before I actually come to this Particular Search Engine,let me put forth my understanding about what must have led to this idea.

Let's start by analyzing the world's best search engine-"Google"
Google has n numberof advantages and i can go on n on talking about it's advantages .However as the saying goes "nothing is perfect ",so is the case with google which perhaps was picked by Mr.Scott Jones(most people in core technical arena would be knowing about this guy..if not we can discuss about him later)

Suppose in Google I have to search for say a particular article in economic times which is not so famous.However u dont know the specific name of the article but u know some contents about it and what it is all about.Also u know the author of the article.

So how would a normal person(non-technical) would search for it in google "Econmic times + pranay Roy + it's all about the scale and the utilisation" and when you press enter google returns you tons and tons of search results.

To add to this,since your article is not that famous and you cant refine the search to specifics,the article you need would in all probability will not come on the first page.
However I can assure you that Google will definitely search for your article but on which page it will come depends upon your refinement of the search which unfortunately in your case you arent able to refine it further.

So is this a Flaw in google.Well in practical terms it is not!!!Because google has found your article but since it is not famous( as google follows the page rank accessed algo),you dont get it on the first page which becomes inconvenient for you as a user though Google is not to be blamed as you have not refined it properly.

Now this is where the Human-Powered Search begins where you can actually ask the online guides in normal English language what specifically you want from the search results you have got.

And this is where www.chacha.com begins!!!!!

Basically when you search in chacha,it combines all the search results of all popular search sites namely google,yahoo.msn.amazon and then provides you with the facility of an online guide which will help you to either refine or get to your particular search.

I m in the process of exploring this search and perhaps would also like you guys to post comments about your findings on this one.
I will keep posting about my findings in this particular post.

Disclaimer: I have no relation or association,whatsoever, with this particular site.Just thought about writing a post on it as i liked the concept.