Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

Will Powerset be the next Google? It already is employing a very Googley strategy by simultaneously embracing hype, secrecy and launch by “elite” invitation only aka Gmail.

SO WHAT? The Powerset target audience is Silicon Valley techies AND they are dutifully affirming that YES indeed Powerset is set to “revolutionize search,” when/if it launches.

Powerset supposedly came out of stealth mode. How? With a Powerset PR cum product pitch at its San Francisco office yesterday, apparently for a handful of bloggers.

Steve Newcomb, Powerset founder & COO, pushes all the right Web 2.0 buttons:

Imagine a mashup between Facebook, Digg and Google Apps, but you get to participate in the building of the products that sit on top of our platform. You log into a social network, like you would Facebook, and you get certified to be a Powerlabber. Once certified you can join different interest groups, such as travel, and participate in idea and mashup competitions. QA is embedded and its all bloggable.

Facebook? As in the “open” F8 platform? Newcomb:

Instead of being stealth mode, we are being more open than any other company has been in the launch process.

GREAT! I eagerly visited Powerset to take Newcomb up on his “open” launch process evangelism. At Powerset I was encouraged on:

Want to try Powerset before the official release? Sign up for Powerlabs below and you’s get a sneak peek at our technology.

Enter your Email. Sign me up!

Simple as that! NOT QUITE. The “natural language” search engine is using language not so naturally to lure email address submissions with promises of direct Powerset access.

I provided my email address as asked and awaited a view of the Powerset promised land of search.

But alas, Powerset “thanked” me for my interest with a resounding thanks, but no thanks AND attempted to lure me into another you are almost there bait and switch routine:

We are limiting our initial invite list. Just give us a few more details about yourself so that you’ll be among the first to see what we’ve been brewing.

RIGHT! Still no precious Powerset “invite,” BUT a solicitation for name, company, profession, blog, friends’ emails, market resesearch question…

What DOES the Powerlabber “certification” entail?

Of note, while Powerset.com requests and processes individuals’ personal information there is no Privacy Policy available. Not a very auspicious beginning for a service that claims to be able to “replace the core of the search engine.”

Moreover, Powerset doesn’ even offer the ability to search at its own corporate Website, “natural language” or otherwise. Perhaps because when Powerset DID offer search at the Powerset blog it was not good, especially from a “natural language” perspective.

I put the Powerset internal search function to the test earlier in the year, when Powerset first publicly declared its intent to take over the search world. The Powerset blog was, presumably, powered by Powerset’s “search engine that breaks the confines of keyword search.”

As presented at the time, Powerset’s blog search function was similar in look and feel to the Google.com keyword search box experience (see screenshot at left). I entered the word “news” and was returned “search results” as shown below.

The unchecked boxes on the SERP labeled “Match case” and “Regex search” did not seem “natural and intuitive” for consumers searching; No explanation was offered.

The lack of “news” results was also surprising as a “consumer” searcher might expect a company blog to include company “news.” Inconsistent nomenclature was used in the presentation of a lack of “news” results within the blog; The heading “Entries matching ‘news’” was followed by “No pages were found containing ‘news’.

Powerset now may hope a wisdom of the search crowd will surface via its Powerlabs developer scheme, but the supposed “crowd” it wants wisdom from will undoubedtly be but a hand picked, meticuously groomed microcosm of the “geek” community that is already well represented within Powerset.

A true “natural language” search effort ought to reflect how average people use language, naturally.

Newcomb revels at his blog in the Powerset hype-secrecy combo he is exploiting to fuel “revolutionary” search passion:

I decided that I wanted to be the first to post a screen shot of Powerlabs (it’s a pretty cool screenshot and in my opinion a much sexier screenshot than the search screen shot)…Over the coming weeks, we’ll release more details, but in true Powerset style that’s all you get for now.

Hint: Powerlabbers are getting this blog entry 1 hour before I post it (that will be the norm from now on, so sign up if you want the inside scoop) I figured since there is such competition to be the first, I would actually give the Powerlabbers a shot at beating me to it. Each time I will announce who was the actuall first person to post the screenshot. Note: the first screenshot poster contests was won by Jessica Mah and she wins the right to have my voice on her answering machine.

Hint: We may not be launching Powerlabs officially until September, but we will be selecting a small group of people early to give it a test drive.

The official Powerset blog acknowledges its “tease” campaign:

As a teaser for Powerlabs, we’ve decided to release a “Query of the Week.” Each week, we’ll release a screenshot of Powerset search results that demonstrate aspects of our Natural Language technology. When Powerlabs is fully launched, you’ll get to play with our search engine yourself, so be sure to sign up today.

In lieu of current access to Powerset or Powerlabs, the company is offering a “nifty video” to “tell you what Powerlabs is all about,” now playing at YouTube.

Geeks apparently want something more substanial from Powerset, now:

not a useful video! what do I care what is cool inside your company or not? tell me a little bit aobut the product,

“Beat” is a vague term. Beat in what sense? Accuracy of search results? Speed and performance? Scalability? Natural language capabilities?,

WE want a Demo,

That video just left more curious about it… Do you think that Powerset can beat google? I would like to see an enterprise that could do that. The probem is that Microsoft already have the desktop business. It seems that now, google want to do the same with internet, we have just to see that almost every new magnific internet startup is bougth by google….

Watch out Google? Powerset WILL meet Google, one way or another!

ALSO: How Facebook IS the Next Google

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN