StumbleUpon Unveils SearchReviews: Good Or Bad?

Today, StumbleUpon, the company whose claim to fame is a nifty shuffle-like technology that provides Web browsers (people, not software programs) with the option to discover new facets (a.k.a.: sites) of the Internet quickly and easily, announced an addendum to its product/service. The new addition will allow for it to venture out of the toolbar and into webpages themselves.

Well, those of search engines, at least. StumbleUpon has unveiled SearchReviews, a feature that, aside the ranking of links on engines like Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft Live, etc. (which all operate according to various algorithmic parameters), provides users with the option to view what Stumblers think about the links’ corresponding pages via a one-to-five-star rating system overlaid within the search results. The ability to vote on whether one agrees or doesn’t agree with the consensus is also possible, and is done via the thumb buttons, also overlaid on the search results page.

At first impression, this new development could be seen (by regular users of StumbleUpon) as something of an enhancement to one’s searches. If one enjoys using StumbleUpon and appreciates the somewhat social atmosphere the technology provides, one would presumably enjoy getting more connected, more often. But I’m awfully skeptical that SearchReviews is going to get “off the ground,” and becoming anything near a duplicate success of StumbleUpon, despite it being the kin of a quite popular parent. Because SearchReviews seems, to put it rather bluntly, pointless.

When one performs a search via one’s choice of engine today – whether through the engine’s frontpage or a window within one’s browser itself – one is led to a results page, which basically contains 10 links (and perhaps some addition sub-links) with brief descriptions about the sites/pages residing at the other end of the click. Perhaps some ads are shown in an adjacent column, and, if one were utilizing a multifaceted engine like Ask.com, one would now get anything from pictures, music clips, search suggestions, brief weather reports, and other miscellaneous information. But all in all, the core of the page is the main bloc of results.

Which is what users of such engines expect to see. So why would one want to see ratings stars and voting buttons and the like on top of what one already observes throughout one’s “search life.” I mean, wouldn’t such an overlay of search reviews seem a little redundant, unnecessary, and maybe even useless? Do not the standard search engine constructs alone operate via such a vote-driven processes, only on much larger scales with a great deal of variables to compensate for the countless uniquities of the World Wide Web?

My take on StumbleUpon’s new SearchReviews system – which, I should state, goes hand in hand with StumbleUpon’s operation as a whole, and thus begins its existence on the Web with a very large set of data (so it might just have a shot at success, if it has any) – is that it’s entirely impractical, and seems to be a development that is a simple attempt by StumbleUpon to expand its reach and gain a more significant presence in Web search without having to fight Google and others with a traditional search engine of its own.

The problem I have with such a drive is that StumbleUpon in its most basic form is quite a unique character, so why try to regular-ize it? Hmm, might eBay be pressing the company to give it a kicker of a return on its investment?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to profy RSS feed!