People Search Digest

Roll into the future of search engines with Rollyo, where you can create your own custom search engine. Launched in 2005, Rollyo allows you to create and publish your own search engine based on websites that you choose to include. The basic idea is that you can create personal searches, and in doing so save time not looking through a bunch of sites you don’t care to search.

When you “roll” a search, your new Rollyo search only looks through sites that you’ve chosen because you know and trust them. A cool feature the site provides is that it allows you to see what searches others have created, and roll with them. You have the option of setting the searches to be public or private. Public searches are ranked by popularity and listed on the site. If you have like-minded friends, you are able to share your searchrolls directly. Also, you aren’t limited to your personalized searchroll; you can expand your search out to all websites to get additional results. You can even search and edit other people’s searchrolls.

Rollyo is constantly creating new tools. If you’re a Firefox user, any Rollyo searchroll can be added to your Firefox browser with just one click. Another neat thing about Rollyo is that you have the ability to become a “High Roller.” Rollyo welcomes several high profile, High Rollers: Debra Messing, Arianna Huffington, Rosario Dawson, Brian Greene, Diane Von Furstenberg, and many top bloggers (such as Dooce and Seth Godin) have all rolled custom search engines. You too can achieve High Rollerdom if your searchroll becomes popular, and you don’t even have to pay a minimum to play.