Web 3.0: Google’s Personalized Search?
People have had mixed responses to Google’s Personalized search. Surprisingly little has been said about it- Graywolf is bitching about it, and Search Engine Land is cautiously accepting it. Who else is writing about it? (damn, I wish Google Reader had a search feature)
I think it’s the best damn thing ever.
In fact, I think it’s almost herald of the “new” generation. Granted, I use this term loosely, but if Web 1.0 was content based on computer algorithms, and Web 2.0 was user-chosen content, then the next logical step would be to have a hybrid; one that would take the user input, throw it into a personalized algorithm to give you an absolutely unique set of highly specialized results.
StumbleUpon has already done this - their algo matches up our interests with other peoples similar interests to give us personalized results. Unfortunately, their system is a bit too haphazard to work as a search engine, but is a fantastic tool for channel-surfing the web. In terms of idea, it’s far more advanced than Digg.
And what about Digg? Why isn’t it jumping along on the personalization bandwagon? It would solve many of their problems - how can you scheme onto the front page of digg if everyone has a different, customized page? And you already KNOW what people like - they’ve been telling you since Digg’s creation. Take that information and USE IT.
There’s going to be a lot of negative reaction in the web development market, because people aren’t going to know how to react, and testing will be more difficult - forever. That’s a bad thing for legit SEO’s, but an even worse thing for spammers and black-hatters.
Things are getting shaken up. Let the fall-out begin.
‘Personalization’: The new ‘Social’ - MikeBogo on Marketing and Monetizing
wrote @ 4:58 pm on February 10, 2007:[…] We’re starting to graduate from that and see the “Personalized” trend. In my last article, I mentioned the idea that we were entering the next version of the web, and I praised StumbleUpon […]
tony
wrote @ 3:43 am on February 12, 2007:i just don’t want all of my information specifically tailored and personalized. to me it is better to have variety of information because when we narrow our knowledge it is also narrowing to our minds.
i should also mention that both those who are unknowledgable of the way to use search engines as well as the generally uneducated who wish to learn will have difficulty finding what they want to find.
i think that this is the case because when one does not know exactly what they are searching for, laymen’s terms and hearsay are what they will use. if the vast majority of searches performed on a certain subject are all personalized to those who have interest in that exact subject, then what terminology will be used?
I think that question will provide the sum of my questioning:
will the information that is veiled behind the terminology that is used to discover such information be accessible by the common curious researcher? primarily i mean those who do not have a community who is able to introduce the proper terms.
Mike Bogo
wrote @ 7:50 pm on February 12, 2007:You do make some valid points. However, I also think that you assume personalization means a reduction in the variety of results. I don’t think this is necessarily true - you’ll still be getting 10 results, only they’ll be shifted into what is more likely something to interest you.
As for hearsay and technical terms, the types of websites for each are generally quite different. Someone with expert web development knowledge doesn’t go to a basic html tutorial site. Rather than searching for “web site tutorials,” they’ll be looking for “yahoo’s panama update review.”
I’m not sure if this answers your last question, as I don’t quite understand what you’re getting at. Perhaps you could explain that question a bit more?
Stumbling your Way to 17,209 Loyal Fans - MikeBogo on Marketing and Monetizing
wrote @ 1:30 pm on February 17, 2007:[…] as well. In fact, just mentioning SU in an article seems to bring more Stumblers in (as it did in this article). I’m sure these other articles I stumbled across also received massive amounts of visitors. […]