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Bill Gross (of Idealab) brought back SNAP, the old NBCi search engine name.
There are a few interesting concepts behind SNAP:
- User Control / Sorting: "get to change the order of search results, refine search results instantly, and hone in on exactly what you’re looking for" ex: digital cameras
- User Feedback: Track click-streams of a million web users from their site and others. Also uses this data to make custom results pages layouts. ex: MP3
- Transparency: They publish their search volumes and revenues stating that transparency will help prevent people from gaming the system.
SNAP Advertising Programs:
SNAP allows you to advertise using the following options:
- Pay per click
- Pay amount per completed transaction
- Pay amount per new customer
- Pay percentage of transaction
- Pay per impression
More on SNAP:
SNAP also has an obligitory blog, a partner list, and a brief about us page. You can sumbit your site to SNAP here.
On the Transparency Concept:
Likely one of the hardest parts with search today is the branding. Part of what makes Google so powerful is the concept that they branded PageRank to equate to democracy...which it really doesn't. They did a damn good job of branding the concept though. The transparency of SNAP is perhaps another step in that democratically branded direction.
Many searchers probably still do not think of the business models of the search engines (I know a few years ago I did not). I am wondering if in making revenues totally transparent SNAP will make people question the legitimacy of the results and help people realize just how open search engines are to manipulation. How much partnering will SNAP need to do with charities to show the good the technology causes or do they expect searchers to think it is cool to see the profits they make that company in real time?
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