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Joongel makes searching social sites simpler

Want to search social sites? Check out Joongel, which lets you quickly search a variety of social media services.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
Josh Lowensohn

Joongel (rate it!) is a new plug-in for Firefox and IE7 that lets you search through various social media and news sites using the same query. Unlike a search aggregator that mixes up all the results, you have to view them on each service's results page. It's simply emulating the same effect of having each site's custom search installed in your browser's built-in search bar.

If you're a search junkie, this is a whole lot faster than having to navigate to each site and then use the search tool. Essentially it's saving you one click each time you want to look for something. At the same time it's taking away some of the business your browser's creators are getting by replacing the stock search engine modules with this one.

The Joongel plug-in comes in two flavors: one for social media sites like Digg, Reddit, and Delicious, and a "standard" one that includes reference tools like Wikipedia, Technorati, and Yahoo Answers. Those who don't want to install the plug-in can give it a spin (in any browser) by clicking on the screenshot below.

Joongel's social media search toolbar gives you quick access to several social news and media sites and the search engines that go with them. To give it a spin, click on the graphic above. CNET Networks