Is there room for another social search site?
A group of Philadelphia-based angel investors seems to think there is, and have collectively injected $840,000 into CliqSearch, a new Web application that lets users discover local businesses based on recommendations and review from friends and ‘friends of friends’.
CliqSearch wants to make it easier for people to search for information on local businesses based on relevant social data shared by friends and contacts through Facebook Likes, foursquare checkins, Twitter followers and whatnot, to help them make better decisions on places to go or things to do.
The startup refers to its service as a ‘social knowledge engine’ and says its directory of local US-based businesses is already 1 million strong (though I’m still a little fuzzy on where the data comes from, considering they’re launching in beta today after months in private alpha mode).
The company is currently working on mobile apps for iOS and Android, and in the ‘near future’ users will also be able to add and search shared social data from Google+ and LinkedIn.