Google Acquires ‘Open Database’ Company Metaweb To Enrich Search Results

The internet search and and services giant Google has just acquired Metaweb, a company that focuses on “help[ing] site owners, bloggers, and developers make their sites richer and more engaging.”

Metaweb is perhaps best known for its massive open database of people, places, and things called Freebase. Google intends to integrate this information into its search algorithms to boost its ability to accept search queries more like questions, and to provide smart contextual information based on the synthesis of the search input. Metaweb is to help Google do this is a bigger and better way.

Of course, if Google does fully execute on that vision, it seems that they would be walking closer to the domain of WolframAlpha. It remains to be seen if Google will take a similar route in the future as WolframAlpha has, or if the integration of Metaweb into Google will yield something completely distinct.

Source: The New Web