First//Look: Microsoft's Tafiti (beta)

The competition for search eyeballs is an intense game. Anything that a company can do to test new waters or create real differentiation could potentially be a driver for new user acquisition. Of the big three search proprietors, Microsoft has stepped up with an innovative new visual search tool called Tafiti (which means "do research" in Swahili).

Built on the company's Silverlight (it's basically another version of Flash and could be the downfall of this product) platform, Tafiti allows users to search in an interactive, visual environment. The motion is fluid and rich and should appeal to anybody who is tired of the stark white look of Google or the overly crushed look of Yahoo. This universal search tool incorporates images, RSS, news and books into one search with a visual toggle between them. The option that allows you to drag results to a pile for later reference is a very cool idea. (Makes me wonder if/when Apple would partner with Google to do something like this.)

Here is the video for your review.

[Feed readers please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]

Key takeaways:

• All major search players are moving to universal search
  
• Visual search overlays like this one could be a part of next generation search apps
  
• Because items like images, videos, RSS, books, etc. will be indexed, marketers need to start looking at tags and other meta data to make sure people can find them
  
• Silverlight = Flash functionality, but it's a separate plugin
  
• Would be interesting if Microsoft built another version of this in Flash to bump up adoption
  

Related posts:

• Inside//Out: Mahalo
  
• Google, Yahoo testing next generation search
  

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Technorati Tags:
marketing, Matt Dickman, Microsoft, Search, strategy, Techno//Marketer, trends, Tafiti

Comments

[Jim Kukral]

How did you do this video matt? Awesome!

[Andrew C.]

Agreed...awesome video format

This could be a truely incredible tool...it is only a matter of time until someone figures out how to make it run in Flash, or Microsoft
a) gives up trying to compete with Flash or
b) Netscapes Flash by dumping a few billion into Silverlight

But all-in-all, this looks pretty amazing; I love new takes on everyday tasks like search engine interaction!

Great review, thanks Matt

[Lewis Green]

Matt,

Thanks for sharing. Seems like a tool worth trying.

[Cam Beck]

I wonder if the tags you give your saved search affect what will be displayed when you perform future searches or when other people use the same search terms.

[Matt Dickman]

Jim -- Glad you like the video. I actually use an app called iShowU and grab the browser and my iSight video window.

[Matt Dickman]

Andrew -- Thank you for commenting and welcome! I think you're right with the convergence of these types of apps. Flash is so ubiquitous that it's basically pointless. I also like new takes on search and I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.

[Matt Dickman]

Lewis -- I love to share. Glad you liked it!

Cam -- Those are good questions. I'm not sure. I know they save for you personally, but I'm not sure on the whole community of search idea.