Cliqset is the most feature-rich site aggregator on the planet, pulling in content from more than 80 separate Web services, going way beyond Twitter, Facebook and Google Buzz, and acting as an unsung pioneer of open standards, especially around data portability, identity and speed. The amount of data flowing into Cliqset has now reached a tipping point whereby creator Darren Bounds is opening up a searchable database that finds trends and information across the entire system, not just one service at a time. The idea? A broad social search that any brand or curator can tap into to see what is happening across the real-time Web.The new Cliqset Social Search is similar to that long offered by FriendFeed, which, once the deepest and most broad real-time search engine, has now atrophied since its acquisition by Facebook, not only not getting new features, but seeing sporadic uptime. But the service goes a step further in having a dedicated site focused on searching deep into content shared on these separate networks, rather than just burying it inside Cliqset itself. Now, should you choose, you can skip right on past Twitter Search and do so on Cliqset instead, seeing a true real-time flow of mentions, keywords, brands and whatever else is happening on the Web.
Searching for Google Maps on Cliqset Social Search
As with Twitter's well-known "trending topics", Cliqset Social Search displays "popular terms" that are trending in the different social networks. And you can search across any of the individual networks, or more than one, by choosing the checkboxes. This way, you can search just Facebook or Google Buzz, if you like, and skip Twitter altogether, should you be looking for more signal and less noise.
Searching for my6sense on Cliqset Social Search
If there are holes in the new Cliqset Social Search, I found that the recency of the item being discovered didn't always correspond to the time the item was shared. For example, a TechCrunch article posted in March came up as "2 minutes ago", presumably because that's when Cliqset found it. But it's better to find content than not find anything at all!
Searching for Cliqset on Cliqset Social Search
The opportunity for data mining social networks is obvious. That we haven't gotten a perfect solution for searching Facebook outside of the network, and Google Buzz hasn't made external searches easy is unfortunate. But we know the world online is much bigger than just Twitter, and Cliqset gives us a start to dive deep into these multiple content repositories to find just what people are saying everywhere.
Additionally, for Cliqset users, when logged in, you can interact with the content, including commenting, curation, replies and shares, said Darren. This is clearly another way to get more users into the site, which recently found itself hit with an invasion of signups from Turkey, and remains popular outside the United States - even if most people are having a hard time seeing beyond Twitter and Facebook, to try new social networks with interesting capability.
Of note, you don't have to search to find my account on Cliqset. I am here: http://cliqset.com/louisgray.