In what seems like a rather odd move, Skype has incorporated a sort of phone book into Skype 3.1 beta. The thing is, there aren't that many listings in the phone book right now. Thats' because the new Skypefind feature is really more of a social business rating tool than a business finding tool.
You can search, create, review, or modify listings created by other Skype users. The idea is that you can add your favorite local restaurants, retailers, or other businesses to spread the word. As the database grows, Skype users will easily be able to search for highly recommended places to eat, drink, or be merry. Of course, you can dial any recommended listing using Skypeout by clicking on a call phone icon.
Right now, if you type restaurant into Skypefind, you get only 11 listings. And if you want to find a restaurant in Philadelphia, you're out of luck. Personally, I would have been happier if Skype had first acquired a large database of businesses and then let users rank those services. Having a Skype411 button would be a lot more useful to me than Skypefind.
[via GigaOM]
