Is Search Going Social?

Finding true relevance in search results is becoming the new focus of users who are looking to the web for their information needs. For years, the algorithm has been the standard method that search engines have employed to determine relevance and deliver comprehensive results. Social search, however, could represent a change in search philosophy.

Even though Google prides itself with impressive algorithms and the latest in anti-spam technology, are search engines like Google truly succeeding at delivering results that are relevant to search terms?

Arnaud Fischer highlights these statistics in a piece at benefits of social search technology:

Social search offers a new discovery paradigm. Internet search is for getting stuff done; it's an in-and-out navigational tool. Search is also very much about discovery browsing and community-driven recommendation engines. Discovery browsing is entering a whole new navigation paradigm exemplified by companies like StumbleUpon.

The traditional linear directory navigation model is broken. Most emerging social discovery engines are adopting tag clouds as navigation tools that complement the search box.