Is “Googling” Social Networks The Next Big Thing?
Note: Yeah, It’s the wrong use of Google, but you get the point.
If you ever thought sites like Technorati were cool, then Web 2.0 fans may enjoy a new site called Wink, that allows users to search for people’s profiles across several social networks.
(Emedia Wire) Wink provides a unique way to find new friends that share your interests online. By searching across multiple social networks, for the first time people have one place to find new friends, discover new interests and stay connected across many social networks. More than just a name search, Wink People Search also provides several ways to search for people by their interests, affiliations, general location (no addresses), musical tastes, age and occupation.
Wink is a cross between a search engine, Digg, and a general social network all rolled into one. Users can not only create profiles and locate locate friends, but also rate how relevant their search was via stars (good) or clicking the “block this” link (bad).
Currently users are only able to search across several social networks such as MySpace, Bebo and LinkedIn, but it would not be surprising if more social networks were added in the future.
Wink user base has already surpassed 100 million users and it looks like they are charting a new course for Web 2.0.
It’s cute, but it’s not particularly functional. It doesn’t have analytics behind it that would tell you if the Wink member named Darnell Clayton is the same as the MySpace member or Linked in member of the same name. It doesn’t show relationships between people you know and your common interests. And like search on the rest of the site, it’s limited. You can build a huge “collection” and you can’t even search it.