Sency real-time search engine gains some momentum, founder still abroad

Update: Corrected details about features that have been added by Sency since a conversation in October.

It was mid-October that we first heard about real-time search engine Sency, when the Inquirer’s Joe DiStefano first wrote about the business, a virtually-located company with plans to move to Philadelphia, founder Evan Britton told DiStefano.

Sency collects real-time data from Twitter, but differentiates itself from Twitter’s search by filtering spam and pulling the most popular links being shared on the microblogging service. Sency also lets publishers have a very basic, yet customizable widget with real-time search results on their Web sites.

We caught up with Britton when he was in town for the World Series, a trip he made from the West Coast to see one of the memorable games. “I miss my sports teams, friends and family and the city. Being away from Philly made me realize how much I love it,” he told us in a telephone interview then.

Britton, who grew up in Lafayette Hill, says he is still assessing a move to the city, citing personal reasons. But despite relocation plans being postponed, over the last few months, the real-time search engine has seen growth, Britton says.

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