Scour

Scour was founded in 2007 with the aim to bridge the gap between searchers and relevant results. By providing a platform for the user to vote and comment on relevancy, searchers connect with one another creating a true social search community, attained through innovative solutions to meet the needs of today's web searchers.

Another point of discussion is that it pays to search; well they say pay you earn reward point and then you get a selected gift.

Here is the trip make money by searching. You have 100 search limit cap per day. You get 1 point per search, 1 point per comment and 1 point per vote. Do the maths that, 3 points per search itemised and a 100 search cap that 300 points a day. You have to get 65000 points to get paid in the form of a gift card, visa gift card that is.

What's more Scour encourages participants only in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, U.S., and U.K.

Participants from other countries have to wait till they have accumulated around 50,000 reward points for which they get $5 in return!!

The search guideline details some key elements participants have to keep in mind whilst performing search.

A quick search online shows that Scour have kept up to their word by paying participants as promised. Looking at their website also shows current users payouts. Moreover, the site is currently nominated for the CNET Webware Awards 2009.

All good!!

Well then again we should look closer. On inspection, I found users who were either banned or have had their points reduced hammer their complaints towards the strict regulation system. Some users have also complaint on having their points reduced unnecessarily. The response time to complaints have also been criticised for being too slow. Moreover, with the existing payment system, payments are expected to take a processing time of 2-4 weeks.

I believe since it is a relatively new site (the search engine bit) we should be giving Scour.com some breathing space and watch how it performs. Also, keeping a close watch for its future plans is a good idea.