Tuesday, November 25th, 2008...5:30 am
Google’s Search Wiki and Social Action’s add-on – interactive searching is looking better and better for non-profits
Everyone was all a-flutter earlier this week when Google introduced a new feature that allows you to vote search results up or down based on their accuracy and track it on a search wiki. The implication is that from now on the web will be a giant popularity contest where, if you haven’t been voted for, you’re a nobody! For non-profits, this is sure to be a refreshing change from the current state of Google search, where you’re nobody unless you’ve been clicked on and linked to.
Well, plus ca change, plus c’est le meme chose.
We are very excited over the much-more-clear-cut Marnie Webb’s Social Actions command that lets you find ways to take actions on any issue you happen to find on the web. Social Actions is a website that tries to make it easier for people to make a difference on the web by taking 30+ North American non-profits and collecting ways to get involved with them – then, they put the opportunities into a search engine so that you can find them easily. They also encourage third-party development of platforms encouraging social change – and this is where your Mozilla web browser comes in.
Marnie Webb has developed a tool that works with Ubiquity (a Mozilla add-on that lets you control your browsing) to take terms you highlight on any website, and then return a search of actions you can take on this term. Obviously, it’s limited right now to the organisations working with Social Actions. But we’re betting it won’t be that way for long.
2 Comments
November 25th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Thanks so much for highlighting Marnie Webb’s Social Actions/Ubiquity tool — we’re excited about it, too!
Wanted to share with you that Social Actions is already pulling in actions from beyond North America’s borders and the number and scope of participating sites continues to grow. Amazee from Switzerland, Betterplace from Germany, and NABUUR from the Netherlands are already adding their actions to Social Actions dataset. And we’re looking forward to bringing GiveIndia and NGO Post (also from India), GreaterGood South Africa, and Conexion Columbia on board soon — with more sites from around the world soon to follow.
You might also be glad to know there’s a contest launching soon to spark the development of even more tools like Marnie’s. Check out Joe Solomon’s Change the Web 2009 — details on the Social Actions site and a Q&A conference call scheduled for next week:
Change the Web 2009 slideshow:
http://www.socialactions.com/changetheweb
Change the Web 2009 conversation 12/3:
http://blog.socialactions.com/events/event/show?id=2062983%3AEvent%3A10053
Thanks again for highlighting Social Actions and for championing Marnie’s exciting work!
Christine Egger
Social Actions
christine@socialactions.com
November 25th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I guess it all rests with how behavior will change in the way that people seek out or encounter information. Will they continue to google to start their journey or will the rely on having their friends filter information? Obviously, there is a change in the way that people use the web and it is generational in nature. We’re in a transition, so it is a good idea to keep a foot in different ponds.
There are also implications for the digital divide – I just noticed this coming back from doing trainings in Eastern Europe.
Bottom line: There is an either/or or one way that is the right way. There is disintegration and it makes it all the more important to know your audience, their preferences, and make decisions accordingly.
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