Microsoft has rather unexpectedly anounced a Beta of a new product called SearchTogether.

This will enable anyone with an MSN Live ID to share commentary on search results... what's even more interesting is that it will not be restricted to Live Search and can be used on other search engines.

There is a good example used on the Microsoft Research blog of family members booking a holiday, but you can imagine how this could affect any search where the outcome affects 2 or more people.

I can also imagine it being extremely useful for marketing purposes and discussing search rankings with anyone involved. 

The below extract illustrates how Microsoft came to this conclusion.

"Search, of course, has become ubiquitous for enabling users to find Web content, but existing search engines have been designed for use by an individual. Search interfaces don't support collaborative search. Collaborating on search generally means one person at a keyboard while another makes suggestions, or two people using instant messaging or a phone while each is viewing a Web browser. It can work, but it's not optimal.

While using SearchTogether, though, users can collaborate locally or at different locations, working in tandem or at different times. As Morris notes, her research has demonstrated that the need to do so certainly exists."

A blog post over at Search Engine Land raised the very valid point that it is still early days... as we're seeing with Wikia and even with Twitters scaling problems, it really can take some time for these products to develop into something very usable that would create a true shift in the way we do things.

My only gripe at the moment is that it only works in IE, it should be a real test of Microsofts approach to the web if they develop a Firefox extension or allow the development of one. 

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