Future of Search Marketing?
| Manoj Jasra - Monday, May 14, 2007 63 Comments |
Web Analytics World Blogging Contest - entry by Ilker Yoldas of
http://www.thethinkingblog.com
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Have you ever noticed how your collection of photos, music and other documents keep growing everyday? With the rise of Web 2.0, there is an ever increasing number of Internet users who contribute to form the collective knowledge that emphasizes online collaboration and sharing among users. However, there will be a time when we can't find what we're looking for in a search engine and somehow all these billions of documents online need some sorting to make sense to us all.
Common Sense. The aim is to add an extra layer of meaning on top of the existing Web that would make it less of a catalog and more of a guide. We need to get machines doing the thinking rather than simply following commands that are updated by computer programmers. However, that level of artificial intelligence will require something more than what the Internet is capable of providing us today. Some call it a World Wide Database. Some say Semantic Web. Perhaps you are more familiar with its buzz word, Web 3.0.
Artificial Intelligence. Of course, the Web is going to evolve like everything else but it's not all about glossy tabs, drop shadows and simple personalized homepages. It's how the user interacts with the machine and vice versa. In the future, more powerful systems could act as personal advisers in areas such as financial planning, with an intelligent system mapping out a retirement plan for a couple, or educational consulting, with the Web helping a high school student identify the right college. The new Web is going to build a system that can give a reasonable and complete answer to a simple question like: "I'm looking for a sunny place for holidays and I have a budget of $2,000. Oh, and I have an 8 year old child."
Personalized Information. Yes, you can tag your photos on Flickr so that we can find images that a computer could never find. Yes, you can change the way Google looks to suit your taste, needs or interests. All these collaborative filtering services adds intelligence to the path towards Web 3.0 but for those who think the next phase will be about extending the functionality of the Web and not changing it - think again!
Pushing Further. The real task at hand is to find a new way to mine data and present it to the user in a human fashion. Moreover, this data should be "customized" for each and every user. Adverts will not just be relevant but also be displayed according to the user's tastes. That means you will see (the right) ads, when you want to see ads. For example, the computer will "know" that you like spicy food when you travel to your vacation spot and display ads for good restaurants in the area. That is, when you get there!
Keep Thinking. The very idea has given rise to skeptics who have called it an unobtainable vision. But what about web 4.0? Web 5.0? This doesn't mean engineers start versioning the Web for the sake of marketing. This means the emergence of new systems that change the way we interact with machines, computers, and the Internet in particular. Notice how advertisement are less "in your face" (read pop-ups) and more relevant with searches? Notice how easy it is to create a website like this (read blog), link to information and top that with comments? I remember the days when I spent most of my time coding than writing content, while dreaming of the day when a machine could do it for me. Well, that dream has partly come true.
Everybody needs to have a dream!
Labels: Blogging
That's quite an interesting article. Web 2.0 is already great enough... I can't even imagine what the future holds for us! Maybe web 5.0 will offer us the option to teleport?
It would be interesting when artificial intelligence becomes part of our experience to see where it takes us with the connectivity and interchange capabilities of the web
The additional use of artificial intelligence to "learn" likes, dislikes and the such will indeed deliver a web custom designed to the user's tastes... of a given moment.
Tastes change and things we once hated we now like, such as broccoli, but if the AI continues to present the information to us in the same way time after time, we will never have variety and the Web will be the same no matter where we look.
It is spooky that Google has material of mine that I have forgotten about cannot readily lay my hands on otherwise.
Ilker, with all due respect and regard,you simply amaze me with your astute brilliance!
*Hugs*
Nice post Ilker, lucky to SU it..
The Artificial Intelligence improvement seems nice but it freaks me out a little bit.
I guess I watched the Terminator to many times :)
I don't get it. Here it is though. You are a great writer.
I'm really interested in what web 4.0 and 5.0 will offer us. If the web even survives that long, that is. Once everything becomes connected and the internet basically becomes everything, don't you think it should get a new name?
The rest of the world really isn't keeping up with the internet, especially education, look at the difference in progress in the two. Education could take a leaf out the the very large book of the internet.
We will see Web 3.0 slow down as a better CBR (Case Based Reasoning Software) is developed to help migrate to Web 4.0! Web 5.0 will only be released openly in Canada. Web 6.0 will be the last Web you ever need. Web 7 and 8 will never be touched, in an attempt to market Web 9.0 as the Web of tomorrow...today.
Funny that many people don't realize that everything...is simply a bunch of '0's and '1's, period. We just get better at repackaging, data compression, error correction...geez I'm starting to geek.
Translation: It's not real. Your mind makes you think...it's real. But it's not. What's real is the 'perception'.
I'm just glad I still remember a phone tree voice subroutine is still just that. Some people actually think there's a computer 'thinking' about the conversation their having while getting a phone number.
As usual, great post, dude!
The very communities that people are using to try to catalog the 'net are the same communities that people could use some help sorting through!
I'm a member of Stumbleupon, Delicious, Digg, and Reddit, but imagine how great it would be if the "AI" could start spoon feeding me not just content or relevant ads, but actual ideas of what I should be doing on the 'net based on my social networking habits.
It's all very confusing right now, and I think that Web 3.0 and beyond will eventually become a full-blown necessity.
- Aaron
http://www.todayisthatday.com/blog/
I don't even know what a linkback is...but I am reading here and learning. Thanks for that!
It's going to be cool, and kinda scary what technology will soon be able to do.
I'm interested in the way the future webs will enable that sort of focused data management and retrieval, but I think there are two things that will be obstacles.
One, user privacy concerns. Some rational, such as I don't want Google to have access to all my personal data. Some irrational, like the PhD I know who refuses to buy anything over the internet.
Two, data input. Tagging is too inefficient. Few will go to the trouble. There needs to be a better method to input the data. Something more TIVO-suggestions like. Something that requires little or no extra effort on the part of the user.
It will be an interesting evolution to watch.
It is funny, I really am looking for "I'm looking for a sunny place for holidays and I have a budget of $2,000. Oh, and I have an 8 year old child."
I think that AI is not that far off.
Thanks for the intriguing look into the potential future of the internet.
Great as usual! thanks Ilker! :)
This article has led me to a quite obvious thought: in the future the difference between men and machines will be smaller and smaller, because men's body will be made of bionic parts and machines will have a sort of brain. But then, the next step will be the man-machine ?
Nice Job Ilker. Learned a ton from this article.
Only when we dislike the current ways of searching for answers or how the web offer solutions, it make us think and that's the opportunity for growth or call for innovation.
"Success is usually one idea away. Let's ask ourself questions. Compare and combine."
Ilker, thanks for this post that makes us think!
IT is quite funny how the marketing word 'web2.0' created some kind of tsunami in the hopes of webdevelopers minds. But this time I feel the bubble can't explode, because it's not driven by brokers fantasy, but by real humans that interact. And like email was the first (and maybe in some years the last) 'killer applikation' we humans allways like to interact and communicate. But independent from what will happen: Beware because the world outthere can be a dangerous place!
Interesting article. I think that this is gonna be the future, if you like it or not. Sometimes I think about web XX, but for now I'll stay in the kitchen and tonight I'm gonna watch the movie "Back to the future".
Moving toward web 3.0 wouldrequire google to rewrite algothms - I don;t see that happening ... nice article through.
Quite an article and does make me think...
I like your vision of thinking beyond Web 3.0. Nice article Ilker!
Not too sure that all this 'progress' actually makes the web a better place. Content has to be king for me.
I notice that the title is about Search Marketing but the label is 'Blogging': I fear for the future of the labeled 'search marketing' =P.
We're pleased to have stumbled upon your blog and your community at MyBlogLog. We try to brew fresh thinking daily, and we celebrate innovation and change. That's what we are all about. Thank you for creating a smart, thoughtful, curious exchange here. We look forward to reading more.
Nice article, but you forgot one component imo:
"curiosity".
How to model a neural algoritm to reflect human "curiousity" will be the key to web n.0.
Currently systems can be thought to "learn" stuff using trainig sequences (i.e. Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks).
But the great leap would be when machines will be able to "wonder", when they will be able to use, how to say, their guts (if any) somehow.
Too futuristic, I don't think so.
... and Welcome to the matrix.
There you go making me think again! I'm glad I got to read this. Very interesting and alot to think about. Thanks.
No, no, no, no, no! (and ni! for the Pythonic geriatrics.)
Web 2.0 blah, blah, blah...fueling randomly found pages into a group mind-meld is one thing, however, where the web will go is another.
I have bored friends for seven years, now, that the biggest growth industry will be those who "interpret" the web.
Mr. & Mrs Joe Cleveland simply don't have time to deal with an increasing number of variables... and radical as it sounds, 2.0 is merely a rehashing of 1.0 (though more concentrated).
Folks want info and they want it now. What's new?
Why is your blog good?
Because you interpret the web!
Phase 1 of my web empire is several blogs defining personality, of which:
http://andrewgouldingarticles.blogspot.com/
is one.
Phase 2 will be to monetize that.
web 3.0 and beyond may be fine for the eggheads (no insult intended) but the development of the web was power-driven by people with simple needs (porn)... and it still is.
Searchers will eventually look to "people", individuals...to make informed decisions for them, "suggesting" what they should and shouldn't be bothered with, just as your readers do through you.
Yes, you pose interesting questions but let's look at something like Youtube, which may well be changing the way news is created...but 99% of its use is just for good old fun, used by people who don't particularly care about its greater implications.
see my blog:
http://andrewgouldingyoutube.blogspot.com/
People will be the new force in the web.
Smart people. Mark my words.
ADG
It always intrigues me with the thought that the largest source of information and knowledge is our brains. It may evolve someday that the "internet" can directly connects with our brains, without our acitivity or senses, to form an ultimate collective information base. But then, will it be too scary?
I wonder what's going to happen a few years from now.
Ilker: as long as you keep us thing, I'll follow you until web 99.9 and beyond!
I don't think we'll have a next-generation Internet experience until a couple of things happen:
1)Shakedown - there are too many services that overlap, which have created a cottage industry of companies that aggregate other companies' services. For instance, there's a slew of bookmarking services available, and now there are services that aggregate all the other bookmarking services. Some competition is healthy; too much is confusing and fracturing.
2)Penetration - I don't know exact numbers, but I'm willing to bet only a small percentage of people actually know what Digg, Delicious, and other "web2.0" services are, let alone use them. Until "web2.0" begins penetrating the real world, a true revolution won't occur.
3)More searchable content - As audio, video, pictures, broadcast channels and more get indexed and tagged, thus becoming more searchable, more people will be drawn to the web as not just a place to find information, but a place to find entertainment. For instance, I constantly hear stories of peoples' children watching YouTube instead of TV - this trend will have to continue for new audiences to be attracted to the Internet.
4)The browsing experience - Browsers should provide an easier-to-understand Internet browsing experience and should do a better job learning a person's browsing preferences and suggest/promote similar websites in an effort to break the "deep web" effect. Additionally, the next generation web experience won't happen until more personal information is tracked - shopping experience, current location, and more. We as browsers want a more personalized Internet experience, but aren't willing to share the necessary information to get that experience - we're afraid of privacy issues. That will have to change.
Hi Ilker,
I recently installed an AI secretary on my blog. I asked her to write me a blog post... nothing happened. Then I asked who built her. No answer either. Now these are things we do daily and we know deeply, so AI... not so I when you ask me...
It's interesting how we all expected flying cars and Minority Report-style computing, but the real future is functionality. AJAX and other technologies spiced up the look and feel of Web 2.0, but not just for the sake of doing it. They were created and utilized to fill a functionality gap... to fill a need (however latent it may have been). Necessity is the mother of invention.
As a noob, that clarified a few questions I had about web2.0, thanks Ilker ;)
Great article. As much as Web2.0 has brought a level of interactivity and functionality to the original web, its only going to get better. So what's next?
The web is more than the sum of its parts...it's already functioning as an autopoietic entity and those of us who can navigate it effectively and seamlessly will...rule the world! No, I didn't mean to say that. But I do think we are entering a new era of thought-sharing among humankind and AI will play a prominent part in it.
For me, web 5.0 will be when the computer will know where I left my car keys before I even start looking for them. Alternative: the option to teleport (in which case I no longer need those keys)
Interesting reading material..
It's amazing how far we've come with search engines. I agree that the next step is the search engines getting to know us very well and using some sort of programming that might be called AI to connect things together for us. It's sometimes a little bit scary, but the seeds are there already...
your article is very thought provoking. Having grown up before the advent of computers, and the internet, I consider myself technologically compromised. I still remember going into the library to find those " dewey decimal system" card catalogue rooms and being at a loss how to find the information I needed. Now , I still have problems with search engines and structuring my search to get the information I need. Either the search is too big or to restrictive. It would be nice to have computers do what you want them to do , rather than what you tell them to, especially when you dont really understand what your asking it to do.
john
http://www.eclecticcommons.com
what about capacity to love? and to emphatize.. aren't those one of the most important traits of being human?
The Future is here. Much closer that we think or even we can imagine. It's only our duty to see and understand it.
A "WOW!! article", really good.
What truly scares me is, once we reach this "semantic" web, a good lot of this "extra layer" you speak about will indeed be automated.
As it stands right now, hypothetically, you can search for any honest term... say "checkbook" and find thousands of 300 images mislabeled (google). Either through ignorance in people, or deliberate mislabeling... this will become an issue too.
Nice article. I enjoyed reading it.
Hi all - I just wanted to notify you guys about a new mindmapping tool - comapping - it is a tool invented by a team in denmark which is based on the thought of information sharing communities - have a look at the video on - www.comapping.com -
Big ups to comapping ///
Allan Hansen
London & Sweden
Well written,well said and thumbs up :)
Thanks to Ilkeryoldasfor suggesting such a wonderful post. It is really interesting. If it happens then with Web 3.0 many opportunities will knock blogger's door. I am waiting for the time.
www.famefire.com
I think Google is trying to index all this information but surely it's far from succeeding in that task.
The problem is that searching a keyword with Google and see the keyword in the title and URL of the first results displayed is not what we can call a "human search"...
There is still a lot of work to do in the "semantic web".
No one knows what is going to happen in the future but the search engines are buying companies left and right. First with Google buying doubleclick and now Microsoft buying some company for 6.1 billion.
Interesting to read Ilker!
I wonder what will happen in the future!
The Common sense layer is tagging or unique tags that are universal amongst all the Search engines. My issues have been with tagging in one application like Wordpress and it does well in Google but poorly in MSN Search. Search algorithms either need to become more universal or tagging needs to be smart enough (maybe through another tag application) that works to put the right words into multiple search engines.
Interesting post, I like your writing style.
An interesting viewpoint. AI is going to assume increasing role in the technologies to come. Good post!
Google led me to a blog and that led me here. It kinda answered a few questions I have been pondering upon lately. So, there is something going on out there which leads you to where you want to.
We arent on the road and asking for directions or are we guided with a map.
The web is delivering and thats the reality. Technology and tools aside ( evolution ), its the mind and the tools...
Lets soak in and give into the experience...
Artificial intelligence is already in the wild assisting financial hackers, and it's beyond your grandfather's text search and technical analysis.
The obstacle to rapid AI technology adaptation is normalcy, after you've looked at something long enough a certain way, it's difficult to discover something new.
Good information indeed. I'm a little concerned over the comment regarding Common Sense. True, there's a lot more we can expect from the future of the Web -- how it will improve our lives. I just don't want us to become so reliant on the technology (any technology) that it consumes to the point of being creatures lacking creativity and the ability to think for themselves.
Hmm, I wonder if it's too late to invest in hard drives. :)
But seriously, it will be interesting to see the new businesses that will come out of the ever-growing Web developments. New jobs, policies, the impact on the family and individuals.
Hi there,
I was thinking if a search engines for all those communities and info sharing documents is useful for this web 2.0 ?!
Anyway, thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Calvin Chin
The problem of how to find what you want in a sea of data is near and dear to my heart. Our site is still tiny, but already it's getting hard to find stuff. We're actually working on a super-secret way to incorporate some of the web 3.0 concepts and more perfectly match wisdom with people. Stay tuned, and thanks for the article!