Qihoo Adds “Like” to Search Offensive 360推“拇指计划” 继续向搜索业务发力
Security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is continuing its Internet search offensive by adding a new ratings feature to its product, leading me once again to applaud its innovative approach for this new initiative despite my broader doubts about this company. Media are reporting that Qihoo has added the equivalent of a “like” function to its search results similar to the one now on Facebook, which lets web surfers rate whether or not they find particular sites useful. (English article; Chinese article)
More “like” ratings can then help improve a company’s rankings in search results — an important new element in helping determine which sites are the most useful for web surfers. Qihoo could also presumably use the information in other ways that would be useful to consumers, such as creating “like” ratings that would actually appear alongside each website in a search result.
I’m not an expert on search algorithms, which are the key element in determining what results get displayed and in what order when someone searches for particular words in a search engine. Most companies are highly secretive about such formulas, which they consider their most valuable assets much the way that Coca Cola (NYSE: KO) jealously guards the recipe for the world’s most popular soft drink.
But based on my limited experience, this kind of direct polling of users as part of a search algorithm is something I haven’t seen before and seems like a smart and useful innovation in an Internet universe where web site operators use numerous tricks to improve their rankings in search results. Of course there’s obviously the opportunity for abuse of Qihoo’s latest innovation, since web site operators can presumably “like” their own sites thousands of times each day to improve their rankings.
But I’ll assume Qihoo has already thought of this kind of potential abuse and designed ways to avoid it, which brings me to my bigger point that Qihoo seems to be bringing some interesting and innovative new ideas to its search initiative. Chinese Internet historians will recall that Qihoo’s controversial founder Zhou Hongwei actually founded China’s first major search engine, called 3721, more than decade ago, and ultimately sold it to Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) for $120 million in 2003.
Since then Zhou has tried his hand at a number of new businesses, upsetting many of China’s other major Internet companies such Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), Tencent (HKEx: 700) and Alibaba along the way with his name-calling and questionable business practices. I wasn’t a big fan of Zhou’s latest move into the Internet security software business, as his model of giving away software for free and then loading obtrusive software onto people’s computers also involved dubious business practices.
But this latest search initiative finally seems like an interesting new business that could have some solid long-term potential. Qihoo launched the service last month, and instantly made headlines with an innovative feature that allowed people to do integrated searches that incorporated results from several engines with a single search. (previous post) This latest “like” feature is yet another new innovative feature in Qihoo’s search service, which could quickly rise to challenge industry titan Baidu if it doesn’t run into unexpected obstacles.
Bottom line: Qihoo’s ratings feature is the latest interesting innovation for its new search service, which has the potential to pose the first serious challenge to Baidu in years.
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