The future of search is info dissection
Yes, Google is undoubtedly the 300 pound gorilla of search. All other search engines are asked “Well, what about Google…” The easy answer is, yeah, they won, move on. Maybe the harder question and answer is “where is Google missing the boat…”
I’m thinking that Stephen Wolfram’s new Alpha search engine might be one of those missing pieces:
In today’s demo, for example, Stephen Wolfram searched for “internet users in europe,” or “weather oakland” – two queries that most users would also use in Google or any other search engine. Where Alpha exceeds, is in the presentation of its “search” results. When asked for how many internet users there are in Europe, for example, Alpha returned not just the total number, but also various plots and data for every country (apparently Vatican City only has 93 Internet users).
link: Wolfram|Alpha: Our First Impressions – ReadWriteWeb
What’s so different about Alpha? As you see Alpha is going to focus on giving answers to questions not just results that might contain the answers. This, I think, is the next evolution and step in search. Think about the last few times you searched. Sometimes you’re looking for a raft of information: reviews of an app, restaurants in an area, those kinds of things. Broad searches require results, but think about when you’re looking for a simple answer to a question: how much is, what is, where is…those require answers. Yes, you will likely find the answer within the results, but wouldn’t it be better if you just got the answer in the first place?
I’m looking forward to trying Alpha when it launches. It won’t replace Google, but it might reduce my default use of Wikipedia.
If Alpha is giving answers over results, what do you think the other remaining gaps in Google’s search?
