I’m as excited about the potential of Facebook’s Graph Search as I’m sure most people are, so I’ve signed up and await my turn in the queue. And like most people, even with its blatant bias, I hoped Google’s Search plus your World would result in better overall search results. With focus being on developing and improving these platform dependent search tools, I find one of my most immediate search needs remains unmet; that to just search stuff that’s been shared with me, privately or not, across the all these fragmented internet and mobile networks.
What I want is much simpler than Graph Search or Search+ your World, or any other platform biased tool that Twitter, Yelp, and other such will or already do. I want something direct. My contacts and I spend our data on all these networks in public and private updates already and I just want to be able to search that data. Whether it’s sitting buried on a wall, in a mailbox, instant messaging chat, or other such.
Specifically, I want it to search my Email (Gmail), Social networks (Facebook, Google+, Twitter and maybe Tumblr), my IM (Facebook, Google talk, Skype, WhatsApp) and mobile text (SMS). I don’t to have to remember what tool I was using when I discussed something just so I can remember where to retrieve it later. I wouldn’t don’t mind giving this imaginary tool permission into all those message platforms. I think the easier route would be making the tool mobile phone based so it can pick up the SMS messages, and maybe also have a web version that uses the same data collected on mobile.
And when that tool has solved this kind of search, I imagine it will evolve into a much smarter Graph Search, or Search Plus your World. Coz the people that I’m really close to (and whose opinion & recommendations matter more) are those I message with privately everyday on these different platforms.
Or maybe such a tool already exists? Would love to be pointed to it if it does.
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For that to happen the concerned parties should be willing to work together. As it is, Google & Facebook long ended their love relationship…so you can count out G+ and FB integration…And for the rest, they have to feel the need for benefit of “opening up”. I doubt there is reason enough for them to work as a collective just for the user’s benefit.
In a utopic world where my privacy would be respected and there’s no risk of that central search being compromised, I would like it too. But I prefer the exitence of that seperation . My linkedin,twitter,facebook,G+,whatsapp. I like to separate my different worlds. From Whatsapp being the most personal to LinkedIn being more on the professional.
Ok, personally i wouldnt mind one that encompasses all platfoms, like LSM said here ” I don’t to have to remember what tool I was using when I discussed something ……” and i also think if the tool is an app that needs my approval to access certain of my accounts, it soesnt need ‘the concerned parties working together, its about me allowing it access.
thinks of nimbuzz, did Google and FB work yogether there?
Something like nimbuzz would work if the respective data owner opens up access to their service. AFAIK, for numbuzz(IM), both Gtalk and FB allows access to their respective chat platforms.
I cant say I know the specifics of the FB graph API, but if that is open & G+ is open, then the developer would authenticate, search and retrieve onto his/her application. As long as they are opened up. All things holding, seems quite possible. I havent heard of an official API for Whatsapp though. As for the others, it would be a matter of what they allow you to do
Theoretically Android could be a solution if:
1. You had apps installed for all the platforms
2. All the apps implement/declare a ‘Search Provider’ that searches online/offline messages
You’d be able to search from the search box on your home screen.
The app already exists and its called CloudMagic available on all platforms
checked out CloudMagic and it partly solves the problem which means I’ll be using it, thanks. The only components lacking right now, which are crucial to me, are SMS and WhatsApp search.
I guess in Zim it’s not possible for SMS search but my phone number is linked to my Google Voice and my Whatsapp is backed up to both SkyDrive and Google Drive so both SMS and WhatsApp are searchable with the app.