Comments on: Why Google Should Fear the Social Web

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:20:47 +0000

Agreed. I think the bigger issues are somethings I am going to address in one of my upcoming posts is that the search – social or otherwise needs to change.

Google’s attempt to launch +1 is a positive first step in this direction and the company is working hard to bringing that level of discovery into its results.

But I do agree, the era of 10 blue links is over.

By: iamdavo

iamdavo — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 05:26:25 +0000

Hi Om,
I think there are still flaws in the idea of social search. While some of my friends do share similar interests, my friends are not a very good representation of my interests. what I really want is to stop searching (ten blue links, love that) and rather have relevant content find me. Regardless of what my friends know I want to define my interests and then attract information and even people that match my interests. This is more deeply personal than social. Make sense?

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:52:35 +0000

Hi there.

I think there is a whole bunch of companies who are thinking differently about finding information which is different than search. for this year you will see a big upsurge in interest in structured data and how to use that as a basis of search.

it is important for us to rethink any and every notion of search — the google paradigm of search is going to change over next ten years.

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:48:01 +0000

Guys

We are publishing a new post which is essentially news report about our visit to FAcebook and it extends my arguments a bit further.

By: eteshmangray

eteshmangray — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:50:34 +0000

Hello Om,

Happy New Year. I wish there was a way to check back on this conversation. It now 2 months old. Sorry about that.

Do you think there could be a way to get inside these apps and create a new kind of search destination – one that is mobile only – meaning collect, analyze and present all the data from the mobile apps like Foursquare, Goawalla, Aloqa, Dopplr, etc.

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:10:26 +0000

Just like Facebook remains largely dark for Google, these apps would be another memory gap in Google’s brain.

I am pretty sure that is Google’s worst nightmare come true. I am pretty confident that as we see the growth of these applications, Google will struggle.

On your second question, can you elaborate so I can offer a proper response.

By: eteshmangray

eteshmangray — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:05:04 +0000

Great article.

Two observations

1) There seems to be a lot of content being created inside mobile apps that are not part of Facebook or Twitter. (Doplr, Brightkite, Foursquare etc). I am wonder how all of that content will get surface and used to bring more relevant information to the user.

2) Is Facebook and twitter content really that helpful as the metadata layer if it has a lot of useless info in it? (e.g I am going to eat, or i just go in my car)

By: AMIR BANIFATEMI

AMIR BANIFATEMI — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:18:42 +0000

Very well written.

Google never pretended to bring people together. their mission was to allow search of information of any kind (and monetize of course).

Facebook has certainly tremendous monetizing advantages today, but Google, Yahoo/Microsoft and others have still solid plays (part of their dna) and the ability to acquire many game changing technologies and companies.

People may still search in a variety of ways and maybe they will search more and more inside of Facebook or other forms of socially comforting ecosystems. There is a risk somehow that the trend reverses, and if that happens, what would remain of the social search?