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Social Search Using Aardvark

20 October 2009

Ben Keighran is finding that hearding Ardvarks onto the iPhone is a smart way to answer a lot of questions

More than a decade ago, traditional search engines opened up a large segment of the world’s knowledge to anyone with an Internet connection. While they still provide an excellent way to discover concrete facts, some of their limitations are becoming clear. For instance, search engines often lack personal context; and they have no way of conveying knowledge that isn’t already published somewhere on the web.

For the past few months I have been developing an iPhone application for a San Francisco web service called Aardvark. Aardvark was actually started back in 2007 by a couple of ex-Googlers, who saw an opportunity bring something new to search. While Aardvark's functionality is relatively simple, it is quite groundbreaking and surprisingly hard to categorize. However, it is probably best described as "social search" or "social Q&A".

Aardvark allows individuals to ask and answer questions via IM, email, Twitter, the web, and now on their iPhones. It figures out what each question is about and sends it to a few people in the user’s social network—friends, friends-of-friends, classmates and coworkers—who are online and may be able to answer (based on topics in their profiles). When someone responds, Aardvark sends the answer back to the user. Most people receive an answer in less than five minutes. I encourage you to try it out by joining my Aardvark network.

Aardvark has a few characteristics that I believe distinguish it and best demonstrate its potential:
• First of all, Aardvark is particularly useful for questions that require an opinion or an understanding of context. While traditional search engines are notoriously bad at handling subjective queries, Aardvark is perfect for these questions because it is actually retrieving live, personalized, human answers. Try asking Aardvark about budget French vacations and you'll get a response from your brother-in-law's friend who happens to be from Paris - and he'll understand when you say you want something in late spring that will be fun for your three kids (try googling that!).

• Second, Aardvark allows you to tap into the vast intellectual power of your social network without spending significant time or social capital. These days, most people have a sizable social network built up online through sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. However, the only way to access the expertise held there is by spamming whole lists of people, or by filtering through the lists hoping to find the right person to contact on a given issue. The first is annoying and not socially acceptable if done regularly, and the second is time-consuming and inefficient - not to mention that knowledge of your friends' expertise drops off pretty quickly when you extend beyond your immediate social circle. With Aardvark you can access the expertise of an extended network (often thousands of people) with minimal personal invasion, and Aardvark does all the work for you.

• Finally, Aardvark is a community built entirely on the goodwill of its users - and it works! Aardvark proves that if you give people a simple and convenient way to help out others, they will jump at the opportunity. It is hard to describe before you try it, but there is a definite feeling of satisfaction that comes from answering someone's question on Aardvark. Not only did you get to help someone connected to you, but you come out of it feeling like an expert!

Now, with the recent release of the iPhone app (Aardvark Mobile), people can get all the benefits of social search while they're on-the-go. My own personal involvement aside, a mobile application is really a perfect fit for Aardvark. Not only is traditional search particularly frustrating on mobile devices, but subjective search is even more common in mobile situations (e.g. looking for restaurant suggestions after the movie). Plus, passing a couple minutes answering interesting questions is a great way to spend that bus ride!

To be fair, all of these advantages could be shared by other social search services, but I do think Aardvark is doing this better than anyone else out there. If you'd like to try it out, I invite you to join my network and give it a test run. I hope you find Aardvark as interesting and gratifying as I do!

Ben Keighran is an Australian born internet entrepreneur based in San Francisco. In 2008, aged 26 years old internet entrepreneur he was listed by Business Review Weekly in Australia's Rich 200. He is now involved with a number of venture capital and early stage companies in Silicon Valley. He taught himself programming at the age of 10 and started an electronic bulletin board called The Zone at the age of 12. In 2006 Keighran moved to San Francisco and attracted $6 million in funding from venture capital firm VantagePoint, to start instant messaging firm Bluepulse. Keighran was nominated by Business Week in 2007 as one of America's top Entrepreneur's under the age of 25.

Written by: Ben Keighran

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