Why Google Alerts Could be Edged Out by Competing Services

I have a million things going on all the times. If you saw my Internet search history you’d be terribly disappointed; it mostly consists of different wordings of “startup statistics for 2012.” (You would actually be surprised how difficult it is to find a worthwhile fact sheet on that subject.)

Google Alerts has been failing me miserably so I set an alert to get information on better resources, and I found two that give me hope.

Mention is a great way to keep your ear to the ground regarding social media and what the Twittersphere, for example, is saying about topics of interest. The Parisian company touts itself as “the future of Google Alerts” and allows users to create mobile app alerts for companies, industries, names and anything in-between and be alerted in real-time.

Chicago-based Resultly, on the other hand, is a mobile app which also streams search results based on your interests. The site promises that unlike other search compilation sites you’ll “only have to search once.

The Chicago competitor also geo-tags results to make them most relevant to the user while there’s no mention if Mention does the same (see what I did there?) Either way, I think it’s interesting that two seemingly “small fish” are separately going after the Google giant and I can’t wait to see if either succeeds.

Adam Fridman is the founder of MeetAdvisors.com, a social network for entrepreneurs. MeetAdvisors allows for professionals to give free advice to those seeking help with their business ventures. Forbes has coined MeetAdvisors "Yelp for entrepreneurs." Armed with a Master of Science in Finance and experience in corporate finance and investment banking, Adam spent the past 10 years tackling a number of ventures with a focus on business development and strategy.

Contact Us