We Totally Think You’re Ready for This Jelly: A New Way to Search
First of all, how could we resist referencing the now seminole classic, Bootylicious? Now, moving right along to the subject at hand: Jelly!
Created by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and partner Ben Finkel, Jelly is a brand new way to search for knowledge, information, and answers using pictures and your extended social network.
The concept started on what Stone describes as a “walk and talk” with Finkel, where they were discussing how to build a search engine in today’s landscape. Forget about updating how search already exists — how can you take advantage of everyone’s connectedness and tie it to search?
iOS
Android. How’s that for a fully stacked launch? ;)
Here’s one application of how it works:
You see something. You take a photo of it. You circle it and ask “what is this?” and post it. Then you get answers back in the form of cards, sort of like flash cards. Boom, you’ve got your answer and you might even get a little backstory… which is more than you might get from your typical search engine.
Stone and Finkel make the distinction between information and knowledge. Knowing something is entirely different than simply having the facts, and people have knowledge rather than just straight information. It’s definitely an interesting distinction to make.
Klout
Cinch is a super straightforward way to get expert advice based on your connections. You simply ask a question, then the app searches through your network and your network’s connections to connect you with someone who’s got great advice to give. And boom, personal advice from someone you’re connected to. The major difference between Cinch and Jelly is Jelly’s focus on using pictures to ask questions and tell the story. Cinch is currently just available on iOS, with an Android app coming soon!
