ChaCha Search Engine Introduces Human Filters

Indianapolis-based ChaCha has revealed via a press release the launching of the homonym search engine designed to integrate human interaction in the search process. As yet in Alpha stage, the ChaCha search engine aims to increase search relevance via services provided by human search guides. The initiative aims to introduce human filters to increase relevance in the overload of results returned to queries via first-generation search engines.

"We wanted to solve the problem search engine users are experiencing with existing services - that is, the massive volume of search results they must sift through online," said Scott A. Jones, co-founder, Chairman and CEO of ChaCha. "We've addressed the problem with a comfortable and familiar search experience that improves upon the shortcomings of first-generation search engines. Connecting experienced guides with those searching for information in real-time is a powerful thing and brings a whole new dimension to Internet searching."

In addition to search guides paid as much as 10$ per hour, ChaCha also delivers traditional search services, but has failed to return a single result to the query "Paris", while Google delivered 955,000,000 result almost instantaneously. This aspect will undoubtedly improve, as ChaCha will evolve into the Beta stages and in the final version, but its creators insist that the search engine's edge resides in the human element it adds to the search equation. Moreover, the service will built a database indexing the results returned to users by guides.

"Adding to the unique value of the search experience, ChaCha guides can access information that traditional search engines cannot, like searchable databases that dynamically generate Web pages "on demand" based on the needs of a specific user and Web sites that don't make their entire database of content available to computer-based search engines that traditionally use spidering, indexing and page-ranking techniques. Until now, millions of online resources that may contain the best information and the answers people are searching for have not always been readily accessible through search engines," stated the press release.