Online Conference 2006 'The Death of Search'

Really?
Not exactly, no.
More accurately the EVOLUTION of search to an entirely different place.
“ Any search engine, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from magic” Apologies to Arthur C Clarke.

How evolved are the engines now?

Is this fair though?
The interface is only one part of the whole
True, but…
Functionality has improved surely?
Yes, but…
More pages have been added?
Agreed, but…
Results are better surely?
Maybe, but…

Just see what Google alone has done!

Is that search though?
Google is not a search company

Google is…
“ Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful” http://www.google.com/corporate/
Google is in the content aggregation business
Google is in the audience aggregation business

As for search…
[Some] search functionality has been broken for months
Searches bring up poor results
Lack of innovation in basic areas
Movement forward comes from other companies, other resources

So where is search going?
Search 2.0

Search by IM

Using MSN Messenger
add [email_address] to your contacts
Byoms (build your own mobile search) which works with AOL IM – AIM
add byomsWikipedia to your list of buddys

Getting out there

Mobile Search
By 2015 4 billion mobile phones will be use – every other person on the planet will own one. ( Jorma Ollila CEO Nokia)
By 2008 75% of new cell phones will be internet capable
Search by Voice – already looked at by Google

Personalized searching

This does require the use of search engines – initially and to an extent
It’s the choice of the search author
Sites emphasis that author’s interests
As many engines as necessary can be created
Simple and quick to create, easy to throw away when no longer needed
Single user or…

Community searching

Everyone can learn from everyone else
Everyone can improve every search
Every search reflects back to the user community
The search engines are less important, the people more so.

Not searching, delivering
Let the news and information come to you

RSS is your best friend

Don’t search, get it delivered

What’s delivered?
Updated weblogs
Updated news items
Results of searches
Notifications of changes to pages
Newly arrived email
Additions to forum discussions
Locations of packages…..

Personalization
Of course the search engines are important
Personalization is another step forward
Search engines learn from what we search for, and what interests us by what we click on.
Even more so if we are part of a community

Advantages
Better search results
“ Phil Bradley” – the porn star, the baseball player or the internet consultant?
Search becomes more intuitive
Searching for librarians, you’re probably looking for me, not the porn star
Search results are pushed, not pulled
Google news alerts, RSS, to desktop and mobile

Disadvantages

The more accurate the results
The less privacy you have
Your data becomes their data
Your data makes them money
You no longer own your privacy
Advertising is tailored to you, making you more likely to buy?

So… where does that leave us?
Search becomes
Created by individuals
Community driven and community shared
Available everywhere, not just the desktop
It also becomes
Personalised
Targetted
Better (?)

Is that the death of search?
NO!
Search will evolve, and continue to evolve
It will in fact become MORE pervasive, not less
"Search is everything and will be everywhere." (John Battelle, co-founder Wired magazine)

Thank you!
Phil Bradley, Internet Consultant
http://www.philb.com
[email_address]
http://www.philbradley.typepad.com

Online Conference 2006 'The Death of Search'

by Phil Bradley on Dec 07, 2006

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Online Conference 2006 ’The Death of Search’ — Presentation Transcript