Having recently read Jason Calacanis’ blog post about how to correctly place your lips on his butt, if you want him to link to you, I can’t help but think Valleywag’s speculation, that the former blogging mogul is building a search engine, is nothing but that.
While there’s no doubt that Calacanis is a smart guy and has all the connections needed to get the backing for a Google challenger, I just don’t see why he would take on such a tremendously futile project.
While you can point out that no one expected Google to become so powerful, when it launched, the search industry is littered with companies that launched with a fanfare, before being crushed by the Google juggernaut.
Anyway, if nothing else, Valleywag’s “informed speculation” is worth a quick look, but if you’re short on time, here’s the gist of it…
So what’s the idea? It’s a cross between Wikipedia and Google. Calacanis’ new site will create more digestible search results for popular queries such as the names of Hollywood stars, and tech products. The pages will be seeded, initially, with content gathered automatically from the web and other sources. But they will be open to contributions by readers. Sounds like Wikipedia? Yes: except Calacanis will employ paid editors to oversee the pages.
Actually, it sounds more like a cross between Ask.com and Citizendium – the former is content to be #4 in market share, and the latter hasn’t exactly set the world on fire since its launch.
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