By bryblum (1227551560|%a, %b %e at %I:%M%p)
I like to think that I have pretty good top-of-mind awareness regarding web tools for certain functions, especially after completing the most part of BIT330.
Let's play a little word association.
- Best search engine? Google.
- Best online encyclopedia? Wikipedia.
- Best social networking site? Facebook or MySpace.
- Best place to search RSS feeds? Well, that's debatable, but I would say Bloglines.
Pretty accurate, I think. But when it comes to the next two questions, I may not be as good as I think.
- Best place to search and watch videos? This one is easy, YouTube.
- Best place to search and listen to music? Without paying? Ummm. Well, you can't really search on Pandora. YouTube again? I'm not really sure.
Like probably 99% of the world (totally guessed on that stat, but I imagine it's true), YouTube was my top-of-mind preference for performing a video search. However, after further investigation during the Videos and Music Search Class, I was shocked to discover that YouTube is not the highest performing video search site. As it turns out, a video search website called Truveo provides more relevant search results. Who knew?! I had never even heard of the site.
How was it determined that Truveo was "better"? Well, it wasn't the most scientific study, but of 11 students who rated YouTube, Truveo, and Blinkx on a scale of 1-5 based on search result relevancy, Truveo got the highest score! Here are the results:
Site | Student rating | Average Score |
---|---|---|
Truveo | 4,5,5,4,2,4,5,4,3,4,4 | 4.00 |
YouTube | 5,3,4,4,2,2,5,2,4,3,2 | 3.27 |
Blinkx | 4,4,2,3,2,4,2,2,3,4,3 | 3.00 |
Why is the AOL-owned Truveo better than YouTube? Well, I rated it higher. Here are a few reasons why:
- Better design The Truveo homepage is cleaner-cut, better-organized, and less cluttered than the YouTube site. This allows for more efficient searching.
- Better searching Truveo is equipped to search for more for professional videos than for amateur viral videos. This is perfectly aligned with the recent trend of users searching more for professional videos.
- Better strategy Instead of jumping into the pool of YouTube wannabes, Truveo has focused on helping users find videos, not "broadcast themselves," as YouTube promotes.
Well, this marks a first in BIT330 for me. I will officially be switching from a go-to website for the first time.