One of the most difficult elements of online conversation search is finding conversations on forums – where a majority of conversations occur in Australia. ¬†When I’m trying to find an online conversation relating to a particular issue on forums, it’s generally a matter of being a Google expert – using Google advanced search, adding keywords and watching the forum specific answers float to the top of the search results.
Now, it’s simply a matter of going into Google, typing in the keywords, and clicking “More Options” on the top left of the page. ¬†There it is: Forums, on the left of the page.
Once clicked, conversations on forums relating to that search term simply pop up. ¬†Easy. ¬†It’s what I’ve always wanted!
For so many years, blogs have had the luxury of Google Blog Search, Technorati, BlogPulse and other search engines, while forums had the likes of BoardReader – which, quite frankly, is pretty lame. ¬†Finally, Google comes to the party… ¬†It’s not perfect right now – yes, some conversations aren’t there, but it’s a bloody good start.