The former head of Microsoft's search engineering group is taking the wraps off a new startup company tomorrow called CrowdEye -- a new search engine that allows people to more easily sift through discussions on Twitter.
Ken Moss, a 20-year veteran of Microsoft who most recently served as general manager of Live Search (now Bing.com), said he got really intrigued with the idea of "real time search" when he left the software giant last fall.
Of course, Moss isn't the only one thinking there's a big opportunity to simplify the Twitter search process. In fact, Twitter itself recently integrated a search bar on the profile pages of most users. Now, users can search for terms like "Seattle tech" or "Sounders" or "Bing.com" directly from their Twitter accounts.
Nonetheless, Moss is pushing ahead with CrowdEye. And he still think there's room to operate.
"We are certainly big fans of Twitter here and the platform that they are providing for the world, but I think they would be the first to admit that they are not taking full advantage of how to provide interesting search results," said Moss. "Things like looking through the links that people are Tweeting about and providing what the popular links are or what the popular hashtags are or any type of time view."
Moss said that Twitter is more focused on providing a reliable platform rather than a better search experience, he said.
"I do think that there will probably be a number of successful search (applications) built on Twitter," said Moss, adding that CrowdEye is looking into aggregating and segmenting content in fresh ways.
For example, users can see how many Tweets mentioned "Obama" or "Tehran" or "Apple" during a certain time period. When a story breaks on Twitter, Moss said that people can track who was on top of the story first.
Other players in the Twitter search arena include Topsy and OneRiot. Moss said with this first release he's really focused on getting the technology right. But over time, he said there could be multiple revenue opportunities.
One obvious monetization area could be sponsored links, an area where Moss eventually plans to expand.
"Sponsored links -- sort of in the traditional search model -- make a lot of sense here," said Moss. At this point, Moss said they are going to focus on Twitter before expanding to other social media platforms.
At this point, Moss is working on CrowdEye with his wife, Becca, also a Microsoft veteran. Moss -- who has self-funded the startup since it was founded last fall -- may consider raising capital in order to grow the business further.
Asked about working on a startup with his wife, Moss said: "It is one of the best experiences we have had."
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