Is it possible for one search engine to determine the “pulse of the web?” OneRiot, formerly known as Me.dium, is not your typical search engine. What differentiates OneRiot with other search engines is their method of presenting information. OneRiot prioritizes the current popular information, making their search results “relevant, fresh, friendly and pulsing with the real-time energy of the web.”

OneRiot determines the popularity of the search using pulse indicators. If the search results are something the community is excited about, either of the three pulse indicator images shown below will be next to the results:

• Emerging
• Surging
• Raging

To search for the most popular web content, all you have to do is download OneRiot’s toolbar. The toolbar, once known as the Pulsechecker, can be found at the bottom right corner of your webpages. It is compatible with Internet Explorer and Firefox. For customer service and support or for general questions, visit OneRiot’s Satisfaction page.

I decided to test what I felt was yesterday’s buzzword: TwitterRank. OneRiot listed 94 search results for the buzzword and none of the results had the pulse indicators. What does that mean? TwitterRank was yesterday’s news.

I then tested the social search engine for our President-Elect Obama and found 66,802,000 search results. Three of the results had “Raging” pulse indicators. What does that mean? Those three articles on Obama are so far the most popular for the day.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 3 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: OneRiot is a fun tool to use and search for popular web content. I do enjoy the simplicity of the tool and the layout. The pulse indicators are useful for determining which content people find more valuable.

Negative: While playing with OneRiot, I noticed next to the pulse indicators another indicator called the “Average Visit Duration.” That indicator was represented by a mini pie, which was colored in depending the average time someone spent on the site – at least that’s my interpretation. I couldn’t find an answer to how they measured or determined the Average Visit Duration.

Conclusion: ReadWriteWeb said OneRiot has the possibility to “corner niche categories with specific markets;” and I agree with them. OneRiot has the potential to drive social content if they can find more users with similar interests to further drive the popularity of their search results.