When Tristan was small and went in search of something, he never said, "I'm looking for something," he always said, "I'm finding something." I thought that was interesting because there's a huge connotative difference in confidence in using one word over the other, don't you think? When I search the web, I'm definitely looking because I'm never sure what I'm going to find. Most times, I'm not disappointed and there's the rare occasion where I'm knocked for a loop at what I find. Like most folks, Google is probably my first choice but I'm warming up to the others. That's why I was surprised to see Bing as the leader for my searches at Blind Search. I searched for the new Green Lantern movie (Yahoo), a recipe for Enchiladas Suizas (Bing) and Shetland Sheepdogs (Bing). We have a Bing toolbar on our computers at work but I am stubborn about change so I still go to Google. I'll definitely have to take another look at Bing! At Hitwise, Google was numero UNO the week I searched, both in terms of volume (72.25%) and number of visits (64.05%) over Yahoo's volume (14.83%) and number of visits (10.96%). Personally, I think it's more a matter of what you're used to over preference, much like web browsers. A lot of noobs still think Internet Explorer is the only way to go and would never think of giving Firefox a shot. (psst! Give it a shot...it's better!) Maybe it's a case of better marketing but I think it's just fear of the unknown. There's some fairly computer savvy people at my branch who are still afraid of online banking so there's no real measuring stick for being adaptable to change, especially if it involves technology. Recently, I've been exploring the new features of Bing, which I like, but still can get the same from my old friend Google. Yahoo seems pretty much the same as before, which is a disappointment. I do have to remind myself about some of Google's nifty features like Google Books (which I've used to search titles for work). Thank goodness they've settled that lawsuit! Adding an asterisk at the end of a keyword to "fill in the blank" is helpful, as is typing in "movies" followed by your zip code to find what's available in your area. And of course, nothing is more breathtaking OR scarier than Google Earth, in my opinion. If you don't believe me, use Google Books to search for George Orwell's 1984. So it turns out that the act of finding, to use Tristan's verbage, is easy to be confident about if you're flexible enough to embrace change and curious enough to try what's being offered. In other words, it's there if you're willing to open your eyes and look.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Searching #75 Google and Beyond
When Tristan was small and went in search of something, he never said, "I'm looking for something," he always said, "I'm finding something." I thought that was interesting because there's a huge connotative difference in confidence in using one word over the other, don't you think? When I search the web, I'm definitely looking because I'm never sure what I'm going to find. Most times, I'm not disappointed and there's the rare occasion where I'm knocked for a loop at what I find. Like most folks, Google is probably my first choice but I'm warming up to the others. That's why I was surprised to see Bing as the leader for my searches at Blind Search. I searched for the new Green Lantern movie (Yahoo), a recipe for Enchiladas Suizas (Bing) and Shetland Sheepdogs (Bing). We have a Bing toolbar on our computers at work but I am stubborn about change so I still go to Google. I'll definitely have to take another look at Bing! At Hitwise, Google was numero UNO the week I searched, both in terms of volume (72.25%) and number of visits (64.05%) over Yahoo's volume (14.83%) and number of visits (10.96%). Personally, I think it's more a matter of what you're used to over preference, much like web browsers. A lot of noobs still think Internet Explorer is the only way to go and would never think of giving Firefox a shot. (psst! Give it a shot...it's better!) Maybe it's a case of better marketing but I think it's just fear of the unknown. There's some fairly computer savvy people at my branch who are still afraid of online banking so there's no real measuring stick for being adaptable to change, especially if it involves technology. Recently, I've been exploring the new features of Bing, which I like, but still can get the same from my old friend Google. Yahoo seems pretty much the same as before, which is a disappointment. I do have to remind myself about some of Google's nifty features like Google Books (which I've used to search titles for work). Thank goodness they've settled that lawsuit! Adding an asterisk at the end of a keyword to "fill in the blank" is helpful, as is typing in "movies" followed by your zip code to find what's available in your area. And of course, nothing is more breathtaking OR scarier than Google Earth, in my opinion. If you don't believe me, use Google Books to search for George Orwell's 1984. So it turns out that the act of finding, to use Tristan's verbage, is easy to be confident about if you're flexible enough to embrace change and curious enough to try what's being offered. In other words, it's there if you're willing to open your eyes and look.
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