Mahalo - A Second Look
While I was searching for more information on a particular topic, I was surprised that Mahalo turned up in the first page of search results since this was a very specific search, and I was looking for up-to-date information. I decided to click on the link just to see exactly what Mahalo had in the way of information.
Mahalo touts itself as a search engine but it’s more accurate to save it’s a search directory. What makes it special is that all entries are done by people. Each search page is maintained by someone who updates it with new information.
The Mahalo results for my particular search were pretty accurate and up-to-date, something I hadn’t expected from the website. I feared that since it was manually updated then that would mean delays in current content being added to search pages. Now that I see this is not necessarily the case, Mahalo might become an alternative to other search engines for me.
When Mahalo first launched back in the summer I have to admit that I was underwhelmed with it. It seems like a good idea to have someone edit each entry so that links and information are relevant and useful. But just from the sheer amount of information on the web seems like an impossible task. Besides web surfers have grown accustomed to search results that might not fit their criteria, so they adapt and try different wording on their new search.
After seeing that pages are kept very current with Mahalo and since relevant information is presented on one page, it will be easier next time to trust their search results.
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