Will Twitter Replace Google?
Dave, in one of his periodic why-the-hell-have-I-chosen-a-career-in-SEO moments, sparked an office debate about whether things like Twitter could sound the (distant) death knell for search.
Part of his point was demographic. When da kidz are looking to see where Kirsty got her kewl Uggs (LOLZ), they possibly – probably – don’t even think to ask Google. They just ask Kirsty. And they ask Kirsty on IM, Twitter, Facebook or probably bloody Bebo for all I know. That circumvents Google altogether. And if youths aren’t growing up with search then that means the next generation of internet users might not use search as their first port of call at all.
Remember how quickly our TV viewing habits changed when you realised you could TiVo TisWas instead of waiting patiently for Saturday to roll around? We might think that search is eternal, but what if we’re just wrong.
It’s a sobering thought when paying your mortgage depends on people using Google.
We kind of all agreed that really, asking a giant computer where the best place to buy socks from is a bit weird when you think about it. More sense to ask someone you know – like your Auntie Eva, who seemingly buys nothing else. At least not for Christmas and birthdays. And once you find a good community site, you return to it for advice rather than blindly typing in pidgin English into Google.
Taking that thought to its logical conclusion, the future belongs to social not search.
As people turn more and more to apps on their Fancy Dan phones to talk to each other and discover new stuff maybe there is an argument that sitting in front of a desktop PC asking a computer program “buy socks online” is a tiny bit retrograde.
I think he’s probably wrong, but the floor’s open – share your thoughts!
20 Comments
Jamie Edwards - http://www.twitter.com/jmedwards
I don’t think so. Search engines search the Web. People-powered-search and information discovery just find and reproduce popular content, and would be useless for the long teal search.
“Top” content discovery via Twitter is also self-fulfilling. When “Top” Tweeps find “Top” content and Tweet about it, the content gets retweeted not because of the content’s merit, but because it was from a “Top” Tweep.
John Markey - http://www.planetgizmo.co.uk
I don’t think so either. Just because Kirsty & Auntie Eva say they’ve got the best deal, I wouldn’t trust them – Besides those evil sock companies might be giving Auntie Eva a backhander just to spread the word on her popular blog\twitter\community site.
I google my shopping wishlist everytime, just to make sure I know if something’s a good deal or not, otherwise i’d never know for sure.
Though it does bring up an interesting point – How popular would Twitter be without google? Would it still be as popular using word-of-mouth alone? I reckon so.
James
I don’t think so either. Once you get past a certain point, it’s easier to ask Google than try to find a friend who might possibly maybe know the answer to your question.
Obviously the recent Twitter/Facebook/Bing/Google deals hint that the idea has some grounding in reality though.
paul carpenter - http://www.itsafamilything.co.uk
I probably agree… but Dave spotted these links. See a Google logo anywhere?
Allan Stewart - http://www.pulsestaffing.co.uk
Social replies on people being assed to reply. Computeres are always there, always ready to answer. Depends how many followers, friends or fans your got really.
Its all in the mix. I don’t think its a death nail, just an evolution. Social will continue to be important, probably increasingly so.
I’ve asked questions on Twitter and other similarly crap websites several times and not got an answer. Who do you ask next. Google, wiki, etc etc.
Lol. Imagine if google did twitter and when you query google you get the google response and then 5 mins later (or whenever) you get your mates reponses. That would be cool.
Allan Stewart - http://www.pulsestaffing.co.uk
Friend feed + google + lonley night one hand browsing = enbaresment in the office on monday. LOL
TallTroll
I know what’s being said here, and there is a grain of truth in it, but the refutation is right there in the post, if you look
>> see where Kirsty got her kewl Uggs (LOLZ)
>> your Auntie Eva, who seemingly buys nothing else
Right. But you know those people. You know what their judgement is worth, and what their areas of “expertise” are. Want to get socks? Ask Auntie Eva. Want a new mobile phone? OK, she might know about that too. Want to find pics of a midget blowing a blond, blue eyed transgender Cambodian donkey? She might even know that, but you aren’t going to ask her, I’m guessing. Or anyone you know, for that matter. Google knows though. Apparently…
How many of the people on your follower and / or followed list do you actually know? There is very little about “social” sites that is actually social. And the accounts that aren’t bots are users, and they are tooth-grindingly stupid (I’ve said all that before, elsewhere).
Twitter kind of works right now, because not that many people are on it, but it’s becoming more and more shouty every day. Get rid of the crap, the RT posts and the thinly disguised commercial sales stuff, and what’s left? Iran, Ashton Kutcher, Stephen Fry and a handful of brands who have realised it’s a way to retain some control over their brands and the conversation around them, and that’s about it.
Search (whether it’s Google or not) does something Twitter can’t ever do. Social sites do do some things better, it’s true, and will be a place to get that kind of traffic from now on, but Twitter isn’t going to kill Google. Twitter isn’t even going to twist Ask.coms’ nipples
Becky - http://www.beckynaylor.co.uk
I’d be asking what is next in the social media arena …. in the latest issue of Wired that came in the post today there is a big article about twitter and how it aims to get 1 BILLION users. But it was only a year or so ago when Facebook was the biggest thing, but slowly people do move onto the “next big thing”. All you need on twitter are the major celebs to fall out with the concept and many people will follow, along with users being messed with as they try to monetarise the site.
I reckon search will still be there as the main resource for the vast amount of information, it will just carry on evolving. We just need to make sure we stay one step ahead at all time.
Dave Ashworth - http://www.webmarketingadvisor.com/about-our-seo-services/dave-ashworth
Whilst Twitter and the like allow people to perform a more subjective “search”, there will always be a need to find information that has a more objective edge, such as your Wikipedia entries – also, you can only ask your friends what they know about – or more to the point, you can ask, but they may not know – whereas you would expect that the search engines would always “know” if you couldn’t find the information elsewhere.
Therefore, I see it as:
Social Media = subjective searching
Search Engines = objective searching
Anthony
I believe it highly unlikely that Twitter will ever pass Google. Whilst i’m sure search will change a lot over the course of my lifetime places like Twitter are just too full of noise to be of any real value to anyone.
Andrew
Who said Google isn’t social? I search Google and I get a bunch of results that are already social in a way, like Yahoo! answers listings, or like a question that someone’s already asked on a forum and 10 people have answered it. These results are all there instantly and Google’s reach is FAR wider than Twitter’s. It’s also a lot more trustworthy than Twitter which is full of spam.
Wardy - http://www.driving-experiences.co.uk/
I don’t see that twitter will replace Google but I can see the logic behind the thinking of it.
You see plenty of “does anybody know…” queries on Twitter, with loads that could be answered quite simply with a search of a SE.
Imagine if it did happen though, we would all need to become “twitter search engine people” trawling twitter for relevant updates ready for us to deliver them with an answer with a link to our nicely crafted websites as those BBC links and well crafted title tags become worthless even if they do make us site at no.1 spot in the SE
TallTroll
>> Google’s reach is FAR wider than Twitter’s. It’s also a lot more trustworthy than Twitter which is full of spam.
Not sure I can accept that statement (on spam – clearly, reach is much wider) when I still see Wiki injected material ranking for 2 word generic travel terms
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Ian Macfarlane - http://twitter.com/ianmacfarlane
Google’s Social Search is definitely a move in this very direction.
People will still need search – you’re not going to ask your friend for a large number of types of things.
If you can do search AND social, then there’s no need for just “social” – in theory, Google should be able to dominate social too, if they’re very, very clever (and a bit lucky).
The passive nature of Google’s Social Search should also not be underestimated – you can just search for something, and it can automatically let you know if your friends have an opinion, which will save even asking half of the time (again, in theory).
Nigel Cooper (Qube Media) - http://www.qubemedia.net
I don’t think Twitter will replace Google – these conversations always seem to end up in an either or scenario – but I think Twitter will enhance Google.
Twitter will make Google’s social search more relevant.
Individually, your friends don’t always have the answers and aren’t always online, but if you bring the power of Google to the wisdom of crowds (like social search), you can get the best of both worlds.
What does that mean? Real life recommendations with the computer power to find where to buy it and where is the cheapest.
Robert Phillips - http://mymediasecrets.com
Even I don’t think so. How can you get a thought like this? It is very unrealistic. I understood the point which you raised that, younger generations are using twitter instead of Google for purpose of search. It is possible to get information to some extent in twitter but, we get whole lot of information from Google. I probably say that twitter can be next to Google.
Justine - http://www.mesrianilaw.com
I don’t think so either. Searches with google will become more powerful because of its new experimented feature, Google social search where you can also get results from social media like twitter, facebook, and other links that you activate on your google profile.
Dave Ellis - http://www.novolume.co.uk
Will twitter replace Google? I don’t see it.
Will search stay the same? I hope not. Searching Google still brings up lots of irrelevant results in most cases, and perhaps more worryingly, it brings up the companies that have invested most in SEO, not necessarily the results I’m after.
If I’m searching for impartial advice I have to wade past the first few pages to get past all the companies that are trying to sell me something, and the way I see it, this is only going to get worse.
Joy-Mari Cloete - http://joy-mari.com
Nope, I too have my doubts about Twitter replacing good old faithful Google. Whenever young kids start using some other search engine than Google, people start saying “God’s dead”, I mean, “Google’s dead”.
You don’t know everyone. Your social network may not be knowledgable about every little item — there’s just too much out there for that to be an option, even/ever.
And yeah, sometimes people just can’t be bothered to answer your questions. Then you feel pretty daft and ask Google instead.