Ark takes the art of people search a step further than Facebook and Google

Social networking has boomed in the last years, but searching people isn’t taking a great part in either Facebook’s or Google’s strategies. This is where Ark comes in.

Funded by start-up pusher Y Combinator, Ark helps you do people searches a bunch of different social networks like Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Orkut and MySpace. And it does it by making use of search filters, which Facebook restricts you from using.

What filters you ask? More than you could imagine. Current city, hometown, employers, education, gender, relationship status, sexual preferences, general interests, music and movies interests, email, phone and first name just scratch the surface of Ark’s search.

Using the filters correctly you could discover your old classmates, new business contacts, and if you are dedicated enough – your new girlfriend. The way the people search engine does this is by fetching the public information available on Facebook and the other social networks. This means that people, who have set their information to private won’t show up in your narrowed search results.

Here’s what Ark’s founders Patrick Riley and Yiming Liu told TechCrunch:

We imagined what would Google and Facebook build together if they weren’t at war. Someone needed to be Switzerland and build a search engine on top of all the social networks that’s completely remodeled for people looking for each other.

Interestingly enough, Facebook has given the new start-up thumbs up to utilize its Graph API and I expect the other social networks to follow the example.

Currently, Ark is in a closed beta but you should apply for an invite following the source link below. In the meantime, you should check out what Ark has to say about itself in their promo video.

Do you think Ark will thrive and become a major player in people search?

Via | Source