Wink – The Social Search Engine

Wink was started as a social search engine in 2005 but is steadily emerging as an all-embracing social networking tool which provides features for almost all your needs.

There is search, of course (a Firefox plugin is available). Though it is more than just basic Google powered search. Wink is incorporating results based on tags from various sources like Digg, Slashdot, del.icio.us and Furl. Those results are separated from the Google results and are displayed at the top. Users can rate results by clicking a thumbs up or thumbs down icon. There is even an icon to block spam, though spam is not really an concern at Wink.

Each website can be winked, either by clicking the icon on the left side of search results or directly on sites by using a bookmarklet. If you know Digg you know what winking a site means. Ratings and Winks of websites are considered in Wink’s search results, by the way. You can add a description, tags and add it to your favourites or a collection. Collections are lists of websites related to each other and can be shared, winked and subscribed to. A RSS feed is provided. You can even add items to other people’s collections if they allow. A very good feature.
I am sure there was a link to sync del.icio.us bookmarks with Wink when I signed up but I cannot find it right now. Provided I was not hallucinating during the sign up process it would be great to have syncing back because Wink could work as a backup service for all of my del.icio.us bookmarks.

Anyway, besides a search engine you’ll get a powerful social bookmarking service as well. But that is not all. There is also a nice social networking approach. Apart from shareable collections you can wink people and add them as friends. Just place the Wink Me button on your blog, MySpace profile,… and you can be added by other Wink users to their friends list if they stumble upon the button. A meaningful profile page contributes to the social networking character.

However the standout feature is People Search. You can search for people and Wink will crawl MySpace, LinkedIn and Bebo. You can even refine the search by selecting a specific network, age and gender. More social networks will be added soon. Currently users can suggest networks they want to be searched by Wink.

Considering the multitude of social networks a search engine that crawls the various networks is needed because I certainly don’t know to which networks friends, relatives and other people I am looking for are signed up. There might be some privacy issues and I don’t want to trivialise them. But I think amongst others signing up to a social network means that you want to connect to people and want to be found.

I think Wink has the potential to become a one-stop service for everything related to social networking and social search. The people behind Wink have the experience, most of them were working for companies like Yahoo and Inktomi in the past, to establish a powerful and interesting service. Though users have to accept and embrace the service. A significant number of users will be crucial Wink’s success.