Review: Juice Up People Search with ISearch

There's a new resource available for finding out more information about people in an even shorter amount of time.

It's called iSearch, and it's by Intelius. Point your Web browser to www.isearch.com to check it out.

With iSearch, you can scour blogs, social networking sites, public records and much more for a wealth of information. A search for my name turned up my phone number, where I work, my personal Web site and even my Associated Content profile.

"iSearch.com is sure to generate a lot of attention and has the potential to make 'Googling' someone a thing of the past," technology analyst Chris Shipley said in a press release.

The quick search for my own name turned up mostly accurate results. The biggest error was probably that it said I once lived at the University of Richmond - not exactly. I did attend a university in Richmond, but it was VCU, not the University of Richmond.

It also mixes in results about other people who share my name, such as a soil microbiologist. This is understandable, though - no search service is perfect.

"Someone searching for a childhood friend can turn to iSearch.com using name and a long ago known location," the Intelius press release states. "An individual seeking an old colleague can start with the name and last known place of employment. In either and all cases, iSearch.com links past information to provide, among other data, current contact information and professional history."

iSearch offers another innovative method of searching that is especially appropriate in this day and age: searching by screen name. Many people use their screen name for Web sites and services in addition to instant messaging, so iSearch could help you pull all of that together.

The user interface of iSearch is very Web 2.0 - simple and clean, with bright colors and a design that appears to be geared toward making things as easy as possible for the end user.

Intelius describes itself as "the leading information commerce company providing consumers and businesses with information to empower the decision-making process for peace of mind and security."

With iSearch, could the company be trying to position itself to take on Google when it comes to people searching? It's quite possible. But it will still face competition in this realm, not only from the Mountain View-based search giant but from other people and records search engines already on the scene, including ZoomInfo.com and SearchSystems.net.