Searching High and Low For a Good Social Search Engine? It's time For You To Scour

I'll admit I was a dash credulous about social search, as indeed i was about social bookmarking until I started using Delicious. But when I visited Scour I was impressed and thought I'd alert you to it.

Scour has a comprehensive approach to searching socially, including the following features:

Customizable search profiles
Thumbs up thumbs down voting for good (or bad) search results.
Ways to comment on searches and individual search entries
Easy ways to compare a search across different platforms including Google, Yahoo, MSN.
A powerful rewards program that allows you to earn points for searches, votes, and comments (1 point for each, for your first 100 searches, or 300 total points per day.

Check out this screen:



You redeem those points for Visa gift cards according to the following redemption values:

6,500 Rewards Points may be redeemed for a $25.00
12,500 Rewards Points may be redeemed for a $50.00
25,000 Rewards Points may be redeemed for a $100.00

So 6,500 points sounds like a lot? Well, yes and no. I do about 300 searches a day. If I got the requisite three points for my first hundred searches (again, that's the cap) then in 22 days I could earn $25! Also, you get 25% of the points earned by friends you refer, so the money really can add up.

They offer these points obviously to garner share, but it's also a good investment in that they earn money for each sponsored search result clicked, just like any other search affiliate.

But enough about the points. Even without the points this offering has a great deal going for it. I learned that social functionality can really make search results better.

It took a few minutes to get used to, but once you get it the additional info and functionality can be a real aid to finding exactly what you want.

Here's their Tech Crunch pitch, for those who like their info more videoey than the balance of this post.



Click on over and see wot ya think. I liked it a lot. And go to their spot on TC, and give their pitch a thumbs up.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.