Sightix Offers B2B Social Networking Search Solution [Israel Media Tour]

An article by Ayelet Noff    5 Comments

Company name: Sightix
Founded in: 2005
R & D Location: Netanya

Sightix, a B2B search service targeting social networks, has headquartered its research and development in Netanya. The company offers a unique search engine solution for social networking sites. While Google’s algorithm is based on page rank, Sightix gives users more personalized search results based on their own social graph.

Sightix’s VP of Business Development, Ari Gottesmann, explained that Israel was a natural choice for the company’s R&D effort. “The entrepreneurial spirit inbred into the culture means that in Israel EVERYONE has AT LEAST TWO opinions about how to do things better, said Gottesman. “This is both a huge asset as well as a management challenge. For startups the fact that people are given the creative freedom and flexibility in the process means they aren’t just working for the job, they are working to prove their inputs and opinions as being right…”

Gottesmann explained that when a person is searching for information within a social network, Google’s search algorithm is flawed. Sightix has developed an algorithm that takes a user’s friends and connections into account when providing him with search results. Sightix is suited for searching for things that you need help from friends to find. For instance, if you wanted to find a lawyer and did a Google search, your top results could include those lawyers who paid the most for advertising. However, when you search in Sightix you receive prioritized results based on lawyers in your network and your friends’ networks. In this manner, you can receive personal recommendations from your friends.

Sightix is currently targeting small social networks with under 5 million members. They have recently partnered up with Shin1, Israel’s most popular social network for kids, and are in the process of closing deals with seven smaller social networks in the United States, as well as South America. The company is focusing on smaller networks because the development process for smaller networks takes less time. Sightix hopes to show its value through these smaller social networking sites and expand to other areas of the world.

This post was originally posted July 10th on Mashable.com