As the news breaks that Encyclopedia Britannica is moving into a Wiki platform (over and beyond WebShare) Wikipedia is now taking aim at search, with Wikia Search.

Resting on four words, Transparency, Community, Quality and Privacy, it’s a very different experience. There’s an odd but enticing feature –in the area where you expect to see paid ads– that allows you to add a URL to the search results. Results are not very accurate, but these are early days.

Wikia Search lets you register a “social profile” adding the social network ingredient to search. “Search requires a strong social and community focus,” they say, and they are building it through collaboration –much like Wikipedia. Worth watching.