Google’s SearchWiki experiment expired. It’s two-day public life was cut short, but then it rose again. This experimental baby’s tombstone should have read:
Google SearchWiki
Nov. 20, 2008 – Nov 22, 2008
Tested. Lived. Died. Resurrected.
But, just as I was finishing this blog post, Google SearchWiki came back to life on the evening of Nov 22 (or morning of the 23 for some)!
Wiki, by definition, is a platform for universal editing. So Google’s SearchWiki is a way for you to edit or “mark up” your personal search results yet enable other Google users to see what you have done, to see what you added, promoted and demoted for specific keyword phrases.
Is this Search by influence?
Today, we don’t know the full reason for its rise and fall and coming back to life so mysteriously.
SearchWiki – Tested
Google started testing SearchWiki on October 30, 2008 – an experiment. Was this social search coming to pass before our eyes? Many users didn’t know and couldn’t see or modify their SERPs. Only those randomly chosen had ability to customize results.
I discovered that one of my Gmail accounts was part of the experiment on Nov. 14, 2008. Why was a specific Gmail account chosen? Who knows!
I spent that Friday night researching Google’s Promote / Demote feature. I played around a lot with it, took screenshots, etc. It felt like being in a sandbox, playing and playing. Screenshot below shows Promote / Demote icons:
The Promote / Demote icons are initially gray. The icons turned green once you “customize” your results, as shown above.
