David Berkowitz, SearchInsider and Inside the Marketers Studio blog

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Social search should be defined as the process by which a site's community of users influences the algorithmic search results displayed for any one of those users. A classic example from several years ago was when Eurekster powered Friendster as of 2004. Back then, you could see the most popular searches from your friends, and search results viewed by your friends appeared at the top of your results page. It was a model for social search, until it was discontinued.

Over the years, Eurekster has kept up its focus on social search while taking it in new directions. It has been focusing on its Swicki product, which is essentially a custom search engine using social search. A Swicki's creator, generally a blogger, defines the sites to include or exclude and other parameters, and then searchers can vote on the results. Eurekster also shares the most popular searches for that community's engine. On Read/Write Web, the hot searches are "mobile," "next generation," and (woefully) "web 2.0," while on TechCrunch the hot searches are for "$5 million funding," "aideRSS," and "grockit." All the while, the Swicki learns from searchers' behavior.

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