What Is a Swicki?
April 16, 2008
Maybe you've already heard of swickis before, or maybe you're thinking, "God, another new Internet term? When will it stop?" Well, it'll probably never stop. The Internet seems to have a knack for creating new things that need new names. However, a swicki actually isn't a new term. It's been around for a couple of years--about as long as Eurekster (that's us). A swicki is a custom search engine that allows communities to influence results. The idea is kinda like Digg, Mixx, and many others; that idea being that a group of people passionate about a topic will bring the good stuff to the top.
I'm sure plenty of you have had experiences with search where you didn't find what you wanted. With a swicki, you can vote down the results that you don't like or that are irrelevant. Conversely, if you find a hidden gem lurking at the bottom of the page, you can vote that up. If you find a really cool Web page elsewhere that's not in the results, you can add it to the swicki. A swicki merges the power of technology with the discerning power of people.
And I'm not saying that it's going to replace Google or any of that jazz.