Yandex, Russia’s leading search engine, is developing a voice-activated search application that retrieves and displays relevant data from Facebook or other social network content, TechCrunch reports from unnamed sources.
The new mobile app, codenamed “Wonder,” will enable users to see results – including images – that feature places where their friends have checked in or posted photos, the sources say.
A tile-by-tile image interface displays photos of the establishment which any of the user’s friends have posted on social networks, along with their posts and other related data, notes TechCrunch. Searches can be fully voice-activated, or the user can type in search terms.
So far, Facebook had a similar, but more limited app, called “Nearby.” But the US company has just unveiled a new search feature, called “graph search,” which lets users search their social connections for information about people, interests, photos and places.
At present, it is unclear whether Facebook will allow Yandex to fully launch Wonder, as Facebook’s published policy prohibits the use of Facebook data in search engines without permission, notes TechCrunch.
Yandex is prepared to launch a fully-functioning version of Wonder for their iOS device, and sources claim Yandex may also have developed an Android version. At present, however, it remains unclear whether and in which form the app will be released on Facebook.
Yandex’s press service declined to confirm or comment on the matter. However, the Russian company did admit that Yandex is working on mining social data and building mobile applications.
One year ago, as reported by East-West Digital News, Yandex introduced the beta version of a new search service displaying search results from social network content in a more ordered and convenient way – and a step ahead of Google’s.
Worthy of note is also the fact that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, paid a visit to Yandex while visiting Russia this past fall.
Updated Jan. 16, 2013.
