I am going to coin a phrase. Social Search. I hope it's not already taken.

It's an idea that I have been baking for awhile as a way to help our clients' sites (many of which are search driven resource libraries) more effectively deliver the best resources to their key audiences. Why? Because despite the fact that users almost always turn to them first, search engines are notoriously poor at getting users what they want.

So what is Social Search then? It is inspired by the popular social software concepts of tagging, volunteer networks, and collaborative filtering. The basic idea is that your search box is a live request line. Every minute of every day people enter search terms and phrases into your search box. Every entry is a question asked directly of your organization. So answer them directly, let other site users answer them, and tag all your answers based on the questions they are asking.

Here's the primary tenets of the concept in practical terms:

• Display search terms that site visitors are entering in real time.
  
• Allow any user to suggest an appropriate resource in response to a search term/phase.
  
• Let any user rank the appropriateness of a suggested resource.
  
• Display 'collaboratively ranked' results alongside normal search engine results (like "sponsored links" on google)
  
• Display who made the suggestion.
  
• Let users see suggestions made by other users.
  
• Syndicate your search suggestion feeds to individuals, and this is where I think things have the potential to get exciting - to other sites who are using Social Search.
  

I think it would do a few very beneficial things:

• Turn your visitors into participants.
  
• Let you, as the provider of these great resources, learn what your users want, and what they find valuable.
  
• Create a value-cycle by harnessing the collective opinion of users who you know are into your stuff (you know, because they offered to participate)
  

I can already hear you asking - who is going to take the time to suggest responses to search queries? I could be way off on this one, but I believe that if given the opportunity to be seen as experts, people will participate. Even if I'm totally wrong on that account, your organization is probably paying someone right now whose job it is to answer feedback questions generated by your site. You staff would be great particpants - who knows your content better?

Another question you may have: How can we trust just anybody to make suggestions? I guess you dont have to, but read this first.

So what do you think? Would this fly?

UPDATE:
Katrin Verclas quickly pointed me to this article about Eurekster. Wow, nothing new under the sun I suppose. However, I do think there are distinctions. I'm envisioning a tool that would be integrated into your organization's site - not neccessarily a standalone service.