Volunia Search Engine Hands-on

Thanks to Volunia’s Team and especially Massimo Marchiori for my Power User access to the site. Remember, I was writing about this new search engine from Italia in november 2011.

Now first test on Volunia shows that the startup is going after Google and… Facebook. Because it’s not only a search engine, but also a Social Network.

I must say that the engine looks incredibly good in many ways : efficient, social and easy to navigate.

Navigation : you always see the top header bar in your browser. This is correct and non-intrusive.

Note that in order to use Volunia at its full potential (social network) you need to be connected to manage your friends and chat with them, or edit your profile.

Homepage :

See VOLUNIA in details :

- 1 -

-top left bar : one click on Volunia icon will bring you on homepage, wherever you are

-”Map” shows Volunia.com Sitemap : Privacy, Contact, Terms and Conditions, About.

-”Trends” : not yet active but this section will show Top News & Trends.

-”More” : one click here allows you to share the page you are on, on Facebook, Twitter or by email :

-”Addon” : upcoming extensions & add-ons (not yet active)

- 2 -

-URL : it’s the address bar, you can enter a website URL. By default you have volunia in english : http://en.volunia.com/

- 3 -

-”Site Contacts” : one click to see friends and contacts

- 4 -

a - First icon shows the number of people online on the specific webpage you’re browsing.

b - shows number of friends online

c - add a friend (like on Facebook, you ask and you wait until you are accepted or not)

d - messages received from Chat

e - Profile Icon : gives you access to your Profile Page (see screenshot at the end of this post), Social & Search Settings, Power User page that allows you to contact directly the Volunia’s Team, and finally the logout link to surf in invisible mode.

f - Help (Questions & Answers) and Global Settings (search language, country and safesearch filter)

- 5 -

Search Form and search engine results. Example below with keyword “Social Network” :

Exactly like on Google or Bing, top links allow you to refine your search by web, images, videos, news, documents or people.

Orange color notifications show how many people online and from your friends clicked on this specific result.

Earth Icon on left brings you to the “Visual Map” of a website : (example with imdb.com here)

- 6 -

“Chat” Zone in the right column : cool and friendly, like on Facebook website. The Live Chat is visible on all pages and allows you to discuss about a particular result or simply with your friends :

–

Profile User Page : main section for a Volunia User. You can manage your friends, your photos, visited sites (places), add your own personal websites (you will need to confirm that you are the owner with a piece of code you’ll have to insert in header or by adding a volunia.txt file via FTP), Private Chat and “Power User”.