Collecta, one of several search engines that aimed to make the growing amount of real-time data searchable, appears to have formally shut its doors.

A message on Collecta’s home page tells visitors, “The Collecta story will be updated shortly … you caught us in transition.” ReadWriteWeb reported earlier that Collecta plans to make its software open source and is already working with agencies such as the United Nations that could potentially use the software to help with crisis relief projects.

Collecta launched about two years ago when real-time search was a hot topic. It offered a number of advanced search options and claimed to have information available to users less than a second after it appeared on Twitter, Flickr, blogs and other sources.

In January of this year, Collecta effectively left the real-time search space and said it would take a step back to assess its future. At that time, Collecta CEO Gerry Campbell told us that the real-time search market didn’t develop in the way the company had hoped.

Erstwhile Collecta competitors Crowdeye and OneRiot have also gotten out of the pure real-time search space.

Related Topics: Search Engines: Real Time Search

About The Author: Matt McGee is Search Engine Land's Executive News Editor, responsible for overseeing our daily news coverage. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. See more articles by Matt McGee

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