MySpace Quietly Launches Site-Wide Image Search

MySpace has introduced a new image search feature to its integrated
search engine, allowing users to quickly search through photos shared
by their friends and the MySpace community. While MySpace did not
officially announce the new feature, the company has confirmed that it
recently went live, and indexes around 3 billion of the site's photos.
The addition reflects MySpace's apparently increasing focus on its
search engine, which also includes the site's video and music content
along with a Google-powered web search. Users are given the option to
search through photos their friends have shared, those with viewing
rights set to 'public' by other MySpace users, or images on
Photobucket, which was acquired by MySpace's parent company in 2007.

Users are given the option to search through photos their friends have
shared, those with viewing rights set to 'public' by other MySpace
users, or images on Photobucket, which was acquired by MySpace's
parent company in 2007. MySpace says that all results are shown
through a "social lense", which means that the engine pays attention
to keywords in your profile and who your friends are to try to
generate the most relevant results.

It's a neat feature and one that I'm sure will improve over time, but
in its current form MySpace Image Search is a little weird. While a
search for "San Francisco" on Flickr or Google Image Search will
generally yield city-scapes or famous landmarks, most of the results
on MySpace feature people that you don't know, with the famous
landmarks in the background. Searches for celebrities like 'Lil Wayne'
tend to fare better, but you'll still wind up with a number of MySpace
users who have photographed themselves dressed up as the person you
searched for. Like I said, it's a little weird - though it can come in
handy when you're only concerned with looking through your friends'
photos.