Only When the Words Outdo the Silence

Came across this blog post, Search Engine Optimization vs. Social Media Optimization, and have a few replies:

What is the world like when real human beings can replace the best in search engine optimization?

I’ve Blogged about this notion more than a few times. If you were looking for the best Thai restaurant in New York City, would you ask Google or your friends and followers in places like Twitter and Facebook? Whose response would you trust more? Where is there more value in terms of both relationship and community building? Search engines are still hugely important in today’s world, but will their primary function shift because of Social Media and how well connected we are all becoming. We are moving ever closer to what James Surowiecki described as “The Wisdom of Crowds” (also the name of his best-selling business book).

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My general response to this passage:

I think that search is so fundamental to our experience on the internet – being at the edge of something, exploring, digging, looking, searching for…something – that it will be extremely difficult for a single company to do both search and social well.

My specific responses to this passage:

1. If I were looking for the best Thai restaurant in New York City, would I ask Google or my friends and followers in places like Twitter and Facebook?

Well, that would depend on what type of answer I’m looking for and how long I’m willing to wait – it’s both a qualitative and time bound (quantitative) answer.  I’ll start with the qualitative part  then go on to the time bound/quantitative part.

Qualitatively, if I’m looking for an answer that is generally middle of the road, determined by the numbers, determined by the wisdom of the crowd then I’d likely head to Google (or some other search engine…or not).  So, on the last point covered in this passage, the wisdom of the crowds part, we’re already there.  Google determines results primarily via the wisdom of the crowds, otherwise known as the number, velocity and quality of incoming links directed at a Thai restaurant.

If I’m looking for an answer from a friend who is a Thai food connoisseur then I might head to Facebook, but more likely Twitter.  Anecdotally, it seems more questions are asked on Twitter whereas people tend talk entirely about themselves on Facebook – “Is it Friday yet?”, “Something, something, republican, something, liberal, something, BP”, “YAY! can’t wait to go to Costa Rica!!!” or something entirely too personal.  In either case, I’d likely head to a social media website.  This is another reason why I don’t think social media websites are going to replace search engines anytime soon – each serves an entirely different purpose, a different telos.

Numbers definitely play a role in this portion of the game.  By going to Google, I’m asking this machine to crunch the numbers for me, a huge lot of numbers (votes, links), and provide a qualitative answer based on the crowd.  Also, I know that Google has access to a lot more “people” than I do in my little social network on Facebook or Twitter.  Who is most likely to have an answer to a question I do not know?  Looking at the numbers, Google.  Yes, friends, you are all brilliant people, but you don’t know everything

Going to a social network for an answer significantly shrinks the number of minds I can tap into regarding the best Thai restaurant in NYC.

From a time perspective, I know that I will get an answer within milliseconds – the search engines are nice enough to let us know how long it took them to retrieve the answer.  But, if I head to a social media website who knows when I’ll get an answer – whenever my friend feels like it.

2. Whose response would you trust more?

I think this is answered generally above, or vaguely if you wish, but to be explicit I trust both search and social.  If you start getting into things like how many liters does a gallon contain then the trust issue disappears and might even lean toward a search engine, whether Google or Wolfram Alpha.

3. Where is there more value in terms of both relationship and community building?

Well, I don’t think search engines are in the business of creating value around relationships and community building, so a) I think the answer is obvious and b) I don’t understand how this is a relevant question to the topic.  We do know that search engines look at relationships between sites, links, and uses them as an important ranking and relevancy signal, but in that regard they’re the objective observer taking pictures of these relationships.

I think the overall post relies on the assumption that because so many of us are engaged in social media, we will inevitably ask our social media accounts for answers to questions.  And, more importantly, ask the social media accounts questions more often than a search engine.  However, I don’t agree that because we spend a lot of our lounging-around time on Facebook or Twitter we will ask them for answers to questions.  We are there because we’re voyeurs and exhibitionists.  It’s watch or be watched. And we have short attention spans today.  Search is about instantaneous answers.  Give me the answer now or give me dea…another blog post to scan!