centre{source}

I found a neat site that combines two simple functions into one – and makes it fun (a great marketing push). ROLLYO allows users to select specific URL’s for searching in a combined ‘SearchRoll’. I’ve read various explanations on it, but none were very clear. As such, I thought I’d explain it a little better.

Everyone knows what search is. You need information, you visit a search engine, and you type in your key word/phrase. The search engine returns a massive list of URL’s it thinks are related to what you typed.

ROLLYO takes a different approach. Users can select a specific set of URL’s that ROLLYO will search, rather than the entire Internet. Here’s a quick example:

In Yahoo, I searched for the key phase “ipod nano” and received 10 results – 4 of which I found to be non-relevant. I had one result from Apple’s Japan site, two results from the actual Apple store (I only discounted the generic http://store.apple.com), iLounge.com, and Technorati with the tag, iPod.

Now, on ROLLYO – I found a SearchRoll created by a user for only tech information. In user ‘Richards‘ TECHSEARCHROLL, I put the search phrase ‘ipod nano’ and received 15 out of 15 exact matches for things related to the iPod nano.

To be fair, 6 of those 15 were articles/reviews from one site – Gizmodo. On the other hand, it was all different pages with different information… so the entries still count!

Richards Searchroll included sites like: Slashdot.org, techdirt.com, gizmodo.com, engadget.com, etc.

Now that you know what ROLLYO is, the next cool feature is that you can share your ROLLYO’s with your friends (or use other peoples). This is why I also consider it a great way to share links. I thought Richard’s ROLLYO was great for me because I saw a few new sites I’ve never heard of!

Simple but efficient… ROLLYO is cool.