Evolution of portals and stability of information ecology on the web

With the advent of the community-based search, the role of the search portal is evolving. Formerly a gateway, the portal is now becoming a destination. A community-based search delivers content from the knowledge community inside the portal that binds the traffic to the portal instead of allowing it access to external information sites. The Q&A mechanism available to users gives more relevant search results, hence resolving the search limitations inherent in the automated search engine. However, by monopolizing traffic inside the portal, it may of course deprive external sites. We examine how the evolution of the community-based search may affect information ecology on the web from a long-term perspective.