Today I came across a Firefox search plugin (look in section 21. Society - Weblogs) which specifically does the Yahoo! Blog Search (skipping right over news and straight to blogs). At least one guy gets me.  Thanks LouCypher, wherever you are.

I mentioned a little while ago while on the topic of Robert Scoble's Brrreeeport experiment that,

Admittedly, unless you knew to look for it, Y! Blog Search isn't going to be obvious to find since it is incorporated into Y! News Search.  You have to first do a news search and then click on "More Blog results..." from the right column.  Maybe it could be extracted from News Search so it can stand on its own?


Jeremy Zawodny asked, "How do you suggest we explain to users that blogs and news are so different that we want them to remember yet another place to go?" and conceded this had been the topic for discussion at Yahoo!. I gave him a rambling reply which I unfortunately haven't given much thought to since.

After more consideration my reply is simply this: news and blogs, although there is some overlap, are mostly two distinct search pools so no explanation should be needed to clarify this to users. Are studies justified in this case to measure search user confusion or lack thereof when using two different jumping off points instead of one with a link.

As it stands now, the Blog Search results show up in a diminutive sidebar position on the News Search results page. It wouldn't be hard to confuse it with a vertical advertising banner. A poorman's study would be to measuring the number of news searches which then led to a click on a blog search result or a "More Blog results..." But this will be a weakened measure since those seeking to do a Blog Search may not have even known to go to the News Search to get there in the first place.

Just as images and videos, even though they are both graphical electronic media, require two separate jumping off points.  A lot of videos are news videos.  Did the need to create a separate video search instead of directing all video searches to news cause as much hand wringing? It seems to me like too much is being read into this to insist on melding news and blog searches.

I am very grateful for the Firefox plugin since most of my searches originate from the content on a page I've visited. Using the context search extension with Firefox search plugins makes for a very efficient surfing experience indeed.