As online searching evolves many industry experts are speculating that algorithmic search is beginning to see the end of its days. The new web (Web 2.0) is founded on user interaction and involvement in not only receiving information on the web but in helping to create that content. This has been done in video, “print“, and various other forms of online media. Why can’t it be done in search? Well, it can - and TWERQ is on the front lines.

It is safe to say that algorithmic search results (ie. results generated by an automated system) will never go away. The web will always be too large for every site to be indexed and graded for relevancy by people, there simply isn’t enough manpower for that. That does not mean, however, that human involvement in search results is impossible.

The secret of social search is to combine algorithmic search with human-edited results - and that is exactly what TWERQ is doing.

Introducing Hive

TWERQ Hive is the ultimate combination of manpower and algorithm working together to create the most relevant results on the web.

The TWERQ Hive is people working together in real-time to find and share relevant results. Users collaborate relevant information they find to what is called a “Hive List”. This Hive List is a collection of various forms of information such as web results, images, rss feeds, stories and videos. This allows everyone to collectively find what they are looking for faster. It also helps people who search for the same information in the future.

Ranking of Hived results is determined based on hive activity and user feedback, both assisted by a unique scoring algorithm. Participation features of the hive are opt-in only. If you do not wish to collaborate anything you can take on more of a spectator role an watch relevant information appears before you eyes as it is collaborated.

Get Involved with Hive

The cornerstone of social search is user involvement. The next time you do a search on TWERQ, take a second to participate in Hive. Tag relevant or irrelevant results and help other searchers find the best information fast and efficiently. It’s easy to learn and takes very little time and work on your part.

By supporting Hive you’re not only helping TWERQ grow, but you’re a part of the ongoing evolution of search technology - specifically social searching.

Matt Coddington

Bookmark to:

Search engines need to be fast at helping people find information, not create more searching. When people talk about the speed of search or how long it takes for them to find information, more often then not they are talking about how long it takes for results to display from the time you click search. Other times the conversation is likely to become about result relevancy and ranking. While both are extremely important there is another factor to consider. Collectively the amount of time that is spent entering, re-entering, refining and paging through literally millions of results on any given search, is counter productive with the shear volume of information available. Both novice and savvy users are frustrated with this.

The problem is user interface and the interaction of re-entering keywords or refining one search at a time. While this was less of a problem in the earlier days of the internet, today there is simply too much information for one person to search through using conventional means. Many times finding the best keyword or search term to use is in itself a search. This entire process is often combined with misleading results that essentially send users on a wild goose chase which of course adds to the time it takes to actually find the information. What starts of at 0.4 seconds can quickly turn into minutes, hours and in some cases days, even for the savviest user.

People have high expectations. Time is valuable and they want to find information fast. The perception of speed when using any search engine is that if results can be displayed in 0.4 seconds, you can find what you are looking for faster. This may have been true at one point however, is no longer the case.

TWERQ offers a unique and practical solution to this problem. Users can enter and search multiple keywords and phrases simultaneously rather the one at a time. For example, to conduct three searches takes on average 25-30 seconds, depending how fast you type using any conventional search interface. The same three searches can be entered and searched once using TWERQ in 10-15 seconds or less, again depending on how fast you can type. This difference becomes even more apparent when conducting more then three simple searches.

TWERQ is designed to save you time by…
- Searching multiple keywords and phrases simultaneously.
- Reducing the amount of typing required.
- Reducing the need to navigate to new browser windows or tabs.
- Making it easy to identify the best keywords and phases.
- Displaying clean organic results and only one advertisement.
- Collapsing descriptions to quickly skim through just page titles.
- Saving your search to continue later without starting over again
- Shortlisting results so you don’t have to search for them again.
- Collaborating with others to search for the same information.
- Easily access your information anywhere at any time.

For more information visit http://www.twerq.com

Wesley Long

Technorati Tags: Wesley Long, twerq, twerq search, search engine, twerq blog, blog

Bookmark to:

The new TWERQ On-Site Widget is a great way to share information. The best way to describe it however is to talk about something else then demonstrate how it can be used.

With so much growth in mobility we have already started developing mobility features. The new iPhone of course makes me curious about how TWERQ will function on this and future devices like it. We have already be thinking about how the multi-touch interface can be taken advantage of. I was happy to hear that AJAX and Javascript both are supported in what apparently is the same Safari browser as for Mac, Windows and now the iPhone. If this is in fact the case, theoretically TWERQ should work perfectly on your new iPhone when you get it.

There is no lack of information about the iPhone. I have not even scratched the surface but as you can see with the TWERQ On-Site Widget below I have included some of the “relevant” material I have found on the iPhone if you would like to learn more.

You can tell whether a result is a website, feed, story, image or video by hovering over the listing with your mouse. This will display a icon indicating the type of information it is. A tool tip will also display with the full result title.

This is just one way to use the TWERQ Hive & On-Site Widget. You can also use it to create and distribute a LIVE list of your favorite websites, feeds, stories, images and videos. Results can be pulled from one or more hives and sorted by relevancy or date.

Learn more about TWERQ On-Site or the TWERQ Hive

Wesley Long

Technorati Tags: TWERQ Beta RC4 Hive Edition, twerq, twerq search, search engine, twerq blog, blog, Wesley Long

Bookmark to:

Today was Patrick McFarland’s LuckyDay@TWERQ. Patrick is the lucky winner of the TWERQ’s first $1000 grand prize. He has been a TWERQ user since Beta RC1 and enjoys using tabs to search.

When asked to comment he replied “My reaction was, it was impossible that the grand prize was found only 6 hours into the day. My work at night and sleep during the day ethic has finally paid off.�

Not impossible, just Lucky! Congratulations Patrick!

This program is designed to make searching a fun experience and help everyday people benefit from the financial success of the internet. Patrick is the first of many big winners to come. 30% of the revenue generated by TWERQ SpotLight Advertising is given back to our users through the LuckyDay@TWERQ Program. The more advertising we sell, the more we give away!

Give TWERQ a try the next time you need to search the web, it could be your LuckyDay@TWERQ next!

Wesley Long

Technorati Tags: TWERQ Beta RC4 Hive Edition, LuckyDay@TWERQ, twerq, twerq search, search engine, twerq blog, blog, Wesley Long

Bookmark to:

We are extremely happy to announce, today we have officially launched our most recent version of TWERQ, Beta RC4 Hive Edition. We have made many improvements to the over all functionality of the system. Over 70 new features and enhancements have been made. The most notable new feature is of course the TWERQ Hive. It allows users to collaborate while searching, marking useful results collaborating them to what is called a Hive List, so that other users conducting the same search can find these useful results quickly. Relevant sites, feeds, stories, images, and video results are added to each Hive list. Users can see these related searches, results added to the list in real-time. Another key feature we have added is Video Search powered by the blinkx.com API. For more information about the features of TWERQ visit http://www.twerq.com/help

TWERQ Partners with Picsearch to Power Image Search.
We are excited to now be working with Picsearch, a widely known and respected industry leader in image search and family filtering technology. Effective immediately all image searches will now display Picsearch image results. This partnership demonstrates TWERQ’s commitment to providing a relevant and family friendly image search.

Wesley Long, TWERQ Founder said “We want to offer users the best image search results. It is great to now be working with Picsearch. Their expertise and experience in image search technology is invaluable. They offer by far the best image search results and when combined with the unique functionality of TWERQ ultimately benefits our users.â€Â?

Robert Risberg, Picsearch’s CEO said “Picsearch provides multimedia search to many of the largest websites in the world. But we also work with newly founded innovative companies like Twerq. Twerq has some very interesting features in their user interface which are truly unique. Working with pioneering companies is inspiring.â€Â?

Approximately 11 percent of all searches on the Internet are image searches (Hitwise November 2006). Picsearch is the second largest image search provider in the world and has over 1.7 billion searchable images. Every month, several million new images are added to the service. Picsearch has, since its inception, strived for relevancy and family friendliness. High relevancy helps the user to find the image they are looking for. Family friendliness allows children to surf in safety as offensive material is filtered out by advanced filtering systems. For more information please visit www.picsearch.com.

$1000 Grand Prize to be found on TWERQ today!
There is $2000.00 US cash, ready to be found through out your searches. One thousand dollars is divided up into smaller prizes while one lucky searcher will find the grand prize of $1000.00. The name of our grand prize winner will be announced June 21st, 2007 on both our official blog and announcement section. Start searching now. Today could be your LuckDay@TWERQ!

Ready for your Feedback!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you the users for taking the time to use our product. We value your feedback and want to here your comments and suggestions or answer any questions about this new release. If you would like to offer a comment, suggestion or have a question please contact us.

Wesley Long

Technorati Tags: TWERQ Beta RC4 Hive Edition, twerq, twerq search, search engine, twerq blog, blog, Wesley Long

Bookmark to:

Today we reached a search milestone. More than 188,000 searches have now been conducted on TWERQ since our initial launch 9 months ago. Over 100,000 of those searches have been conducted in just the last 3 months since the launch of TWERQ TurboCharged Beta RC3. Over 900 new users have signed up for a total of almost 1200 members.

TWERQ Beta RC4 Hive Edition - Launch Update*
The newest version of TWERQ, Beta RC4 Hive Edition is extremely close to being ready for launch. So close in fact you can expect to see it within the next few days. Some of you may have noticed TWERQ was unavailable for the better part June 2nd while we conducted a transfer to load balanced dedicated servers hosted by industry leader RackSpace. This was done to ensure maximum performance and reliability of the site under high volumes of use in preparation for the launch. I am also excited to tell you that when Beta RC4 launches there will be $2000.00 in the LuckyDay@TWERQ prize pot to be given away to people using TWERQ. One extra lucky person will find the grand prize of $1000.00, so stay tuned!

Top 100 Alternative Search Engines
Read/Write Web recently added a new blog to it’s growing network, dedicated to it’s highly successful Alternative Search Engines list. This list fully demonstrates the endless innovation happening when it comes to search. The top 100 is picked from more then 1000 search engines and that number grows every day. TWERQ was first included on the Top 100 ASE in February of 2007 and was included again this June for the fifth consecutive month. Visit AltSearchEngines.com

Searchnomics Search Engine Awards 2007
WebGuild’s Searchnomics is hosting Search Engine Awards 2007 which takes place June 27 in Sunnyvale California. There are 78 engines listed at this point including major engines Google, Windows Live, Yahoo and Ask. TWERQ is currently placed 20th according to their online voting system with 61 votes scoring a rank of 4.5 out of 5. Vote for TWERQ

Wesley Long

Technorati Tags: Wesley Long, twerq, twerq search, search engine, twerq blog, blog

Bookmark to:

One of the biggest challenges we face is how to convey the power and convenience of TWERQ, as well as how it can help both novice or savvy users. It offers much more functionality then people are used to when it comes to searching the web and some of the advanced features may seem confusing on the surface.

I like to use the analogy driving down the highway. When it comes time to pass another car, it is nice to have a car that has the extra power to quickly overtake the vehicle and be on your way. If you think of how people search the information highway there are many similarities. Everyone searches at there own speed and there are always times you wish you could do more to find what you are looking for faster.

There are 3 key benefits at the core of TWERQ’s unique technology which I feel will help us to overcome this challenge.

The same but different.
People are use to the way they search. Our goal with TWERQ has been to make it a seamless transition to a new more effective way of searching. The easiest way to start searching with TWERQ is to simply start using it as you would any other search product. By default, each time you conduct a standard search, rather then replacing results that are displayed, results internally open a new tab on the webpage and not the browser. This allows to you instantly flip through previous searches and quickly identify which search term has the most relevant results. When you select a tab your search term is selected so you can easily type in another keyword or refine the current one and do another search.

More power when you need it.
TWERQ’s advanced features are mostly under the hood and can be used on demand very easily. It starts with what are called Q-Triggers which are a special set of commands. These commands allow you do all your refining in one search string, then conduct multiple searches from various sources of information simultaneously. Other key features allow you save, open, share and collaborate with others the information you find.

Where ever and when ever you need it.
Each and every feature of TWERQ has been developed to make searching easier, more convenient and portable. Your information and what you find is in your control and you can access it from anywhere in the world at any time.

We have also been working on simple and easy to understand tips, help documentation and presentations. Ultimately it will be user questions, comments and suggestions which will help us to improve this so keep the feedback coming. We truly appreciate it!

For more information about TWERQ’s features please visit http://www.twerq.com

Wesley Long

Technorati Tags: Wesley Long, twerq, twerq search, search engine, twerq blog, blog