Insights

Why Semanti Smart Search is Going to Rock Your Social Web Experience

While Bing has been making the news recently, new web browser add-on Semanti Smart Social Search looks set to take search to another level again.

Released to the public today, Semanti doesn’t seek to replace Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Instead, it aims to offer a truly semantic experience for anyone using these search engines to find information.

Not only that, but it offers interaction as well with your friends on Facebook using the Facebook Connect option. More on that in a bit.

So how does Semanti work and why should you be excited about using it? To get the full scoop, I chatted with Semanti CEO Bruce Johnson about some of the key features and future plans and tinkered with the beta version over the weekend.

Why Semanti?

Search engines have come a long way in the last year. Newcomers continue to try improve how we gather information, some more successful than others.

Yet a lot of the time, results can vary depending on what search engine you’re using and how well a website or web page has been optimized for search. The top results aren’t necessarily the best.

Currently available as a download for Firefox 3 or greater, where Semanti differs is how the information is both gathered and displayed.

“The problem with the current search engines is that there’s a lot of ambiguity,” says Bruce. “Which isn’t surprising – there are over 10 billion web pages on the web, and dissecting this noise can be tough, especially with different names or terms for the same thing.” Thanks to Semanti Suggest?, any ambiguity is soon dealt with.

Better Results with Semanti Suggest

An example is the word “apple” – type that into Google and it returns the Apple company, apple the fruit, images from Flickr and similar. With Semanti Suggest, however, a drop-down menu with a descriptive side box allows you to choose which definition you mean.

You can then edit labels regarding that result, so the next time you used search and you typed in “computer” or “Mac”, Apple the company would be the result.

Semanti Suggest also takes into account the difference between users internationally. An apartment in the U.S. may be a condo in Canada, which may be a flat in the U.K. Or, New York may be searched as NYC or the Big Apple as well. Thanks to Semanti’s ontology software, it will recognize that these mean the same thing and bring up the results you’re after.

“At the moment, Semanti has more than 8 million terms and 2.7 million unique concepts to grab this information and we will continue to add as new yet related phrases come to light,” explains Bruce. “We also plan to use our community to help keep us up-to-date by using a Wiki-like system further down the line.”

Semanti Suggest also gives you an option to preview the results. Just click the preview tab and you’ll be able to view the website in question via an in-line box opening up. Simple yet incredibly useful.

Making Search Results Personal

Another of the cool concepts behind the Semanti web browser is MyWeb. Similar to standard bookmarking options, MyWeb allows you to save a page you like to your favourites.

However, unlike standard bookmarking options, Semanti saves all the text and the search options for that page. Semanti then scans your saved pages as well as the search engines for your keywords. The results appear at the top of your search, making it far easier to find a previous page than having to dig through hundreds of bookmarks.

Also, the pages are saved on Semanti’s servers. All you need to do is log-in to your Semanti account and you’re good to go, regardless of whether you’re on the same computer you bookmarked the site with or not.

Because Semanti is looking to build community recommendations as well as that of personal friends, you do need an account to use the browser. This can either be via Semanti itself, or Facebook Connect. If you go with the latter choice, this is where the fun really begins.

Semanti, Facebook and Search Results You Can Trust

Since social networking is such a big part of our online experience, it’d make sense to use these connections when looking for something, no? Semanti agrees and, through its use of Facebook Connect, allows you to see recommendations from your Facebook friends.

By signing up using your Facebook account details, Semanti then lets you send invites to your Facebook friends to open a Semanti account. This then opens up a whole new level of interaction.

Because Semanti (understandably) believes that you and your friends share common interests, this will transfer itself to search engine queries. Video games, music, bars, clubs, cars, fashion, etc – everyday things that make you and your friends… well, friends.

Now, if that friend has the Semanti plug-in running, their search for shared interests will appear at the top of your own search. Not only that, but their edits and recommendations will appear too. If you hover over the little Facebook icon next to the result, it will show which of your friends recommended that result.

If you’re like me, you know which friends are better judges on certain topics, so you listen to them more. Semanti allows this word-of-mouth recommendation from a search engine point of view. Again, simple yet incredibly effective.

Future Plans

Although Semanti is new to the search engine table, it’s clear to see why it offers great potential. I know I’d rather trust the word of my friends and community over someone who knows how to game search engine optimization.

Additionally, I really like the idea of the Semanti Suggest option taking into account different terminology for the same product. This alone could make a huge difference to web users. But it’s just the beginning, according to Bruce.

“While we’re using Facebook Connect at the moment, we don’t rule out Twitter Connect, or LinkedIn, or blog plugins, etc. And there are the other browsers to include, like Safari and IE (Google Chrome doesn’t currently support plug-ins). We want to make search engines better and I think Semanti does that.”

From playing with it over the weekend and seeing it in action, I have to agree. It’s the natural evolution in web browsing and is true Web 3.0 in feel and approach. You can download the plug-in from the Semanti website, and follow them on Twitter or Facebook for the latest news.

How about you? Do you think you’ll be using Semanti and what features would you like to see that aren’t in the initial build?

My thanks to Bruce Johnson for chatting with me and answering my queries, and to Nicole Roseveare for arranging the chat.

Why Your Numbers Game is BS

I’m from an old-school marketing background. I got my marketing degree back in the early 90’s and it helped educate my views on how to market a message or product, and continues to help me shape strategies today.

But there’s one thing that stands out clearly from these early days – the numbers game is utter bullshit.

My educator and many of my fellow students subscribed to the theory that numbers are the linchpin of any marketing campaign. The more eyeballs your message reaches, the more potential for interest.

But there’s a key word in there that makes all the difference – potential.

Your message could potentially get these eyeballs. Your message could potentially land in 10,000 email inboxes. Your message could potentially make a new sale.

Your message could also potentially piss off the same customers you’re trying to convert.

Think about it. You have two options. You can either send out 10,000 mass emails in the hope that maybe 5% will reply to you or even bother to read it. Or, you can send out 1,000 targeted emails knowing that every single person will at least read your message.

It’s not rocket science. It’s called simple research and knowing your target.

It’s also why the race to amass thousands (millions, even) of followers on Twitter is more a vain ego stroke than a valid exercise. So you have 20,000 people following you on Twitter. Do you think every single one knows who you are and what you say at any given time?

How many are dead accounts, or bots, or people that have no interest in what you’re saying, you just seemed like a good fit at the time?

Numbers mean squat. Unless you’ve built up a core audience that you can message, or employ to share your words or sales pitch, numbers are simply a way to make you feel important.

They make a marketing director’s job a little easier when it comes to budget meetings with the CEO. They make advertiser’s look at you with salivating mouths (until they realize you’re not really as influential as 1,000 bots say you are).

If you really want to show off your numbers, show off the amount of sales you got from your last project. Show off the quality of your list as opposed to the quantity. Show off the numbers that make a real difference.

Otherwise you’re just throwing out empty facts. And no-one ever succeeded from emptiness. Did they?

photo credit: Thomas Hawk

Can You Have Too Much Disclosure?

If you’re speaking with a friend about something you like do you also say, “I use it myself – I can vouch for it”?

Probably.

But if you’re speaking to that same friend a few days later and you ask how he/she got on with that product, do you again say that you use it yourself? No. Because obviously they know that from your first recommendation.

So how much disclosure is needed when you recommend something online?

Last night Chris Brogan posted a link to his blog post about Hubspot’s new Twitter report. I half-jokingly asked him whether that tweet should mention disclosure, since Hubspot sponsors Chris’s Inbound Marketing Summit.

Chris, being the open guy he is, replied that it was a good question and so went and edited his blog post to mention the sponsorship. It also opened up a good little conversation on Twitter about how much disclosure is needed.

The fact that people joined in the conversation and offered their views on disclosure policies shows that it’s an important topic. People and companies obviously need to be transparent about their dealings, or else it could lead to a slippery slope later on.

Yet there is also the danger that we get sucked in to the whole “disclose, disclose, disclose!” mindset. Yes, we all need to be clear about who our partners or sponsors are. But we also need to temper that with common sense.

If it’s the first mention of a company or sponsor that you work with or have as a client then, yes, full disclosure is needed. But I don’t think you need to keep mentioning it in every single conversation you have from thereon in. You’ve already disclosed and you’re not hiding anything, so you’re good to go (as long as you’re not blatantly pitching something).

You could go one step further and have either a Disclosure page on your blog or website, or a Partners With page. This can then be updated with each new announcement or partnership and keeps everything in the open (thanks to Heather Allard for the hat tip).

The main thing is, disclosure is important and you need to make sure that you’ve covered yourself from any potential backlash. But I don’t think you need to mention relationships in every single thing you mention about that person or company.

How about you? Do you disclose every time, or just initially? Can there be too much disclosure or never enough?

photo credit: Thomas Hawk

Borders and Walls are Man-Made

This post was originally going to be something completely different.

It was either going to be a follow-up to my Twitter mobile app post, or a look at social media relationships and the connection to message and content. Both these will come – but for now, I want to talk about something that happened today.

I was on a call earlier with Lotay Yang, founder of Black Card Circle and Black Card Circle Foundation. Lotay is an incredibly inspiring individual who is using his vast reach and hugely successful network to effect social change.

The reason for the call was to discuss how Black Card Circle and 12for12k can work together toward social good, and when I came away from it I was buzzing. So many great things, so many great ideas, and all toward making the world a better place.

During the call, Lotay responded to something I said about the global community by saying, “Borders and walls are man-made.”

Think about that for a minute.

Borders and walls are man-made.

This really resonated in so many ways. Obviously we were discussing charity but think how that simple phrase can impact your personal and professional life.

You might be on the start of your social media journey at the minute, either personally or for your business. You might be about to start a new business, or have an existing one that you’re unsure of where to go next. You might even be thinking of something as simple as starting a blog and don’t know how to proceed and start writing.

Yet these examples and others like them are just walls and borders made by us.

Our fear is the cement mix for the bricks that build the walls. Our vision (or lack of) is what makes these borders either thick or transparent. Our minds and ambition are the tools that will either build the walls higher and make the borders wider, or tear them down altogether.

Borders and walls don’t need to last forever. Look at the Berlin Wall and how that came tumbling down in spectacular style, offering freedom to those that had felt trapped behind it. You can tear down your own Berlin Wall.

The social media journey you’re starting out on? Embrace it. Open up; listen; converse; learn; engage; did I say listen already? There are numerous people – good people – just ready to help. Let them.

The business you’re unsure of, both new and existing? Evaluate and re-evaluate. Speak to mentors; peers; advisors; listen to what they have to say and adapt to your needs.

The blog you want to start but don’t know where or how to? Take it little steps at a time. Join Posterous or Tumblr and write mini thoughts or tips or whatever’s going through your mind. You can even email posts in for the Posterous and Tumblr teams to publish for you if you don’t have time to do it yourself. Get comfortable writing regularly then when you’re ready, move up a gear.

We face obstacles every waking minute of our lives. We have to overcome cynicism. We have to overcome people trying to hold us back. We have to overcome natural and man-made disasters. We have to remember to breathe.

But obstacles are just borders and walls. And borders and walls are man-made.

So. What borders and walls do you have and are you ready to start pulling them down?

photo credit: Valentina Photography