Search Engines vs. Social Media
Google, BING, Yahoo, there certainly are a lot of outlets for searches these days. And, the searches yield thousands upon thousands if not millions of results. But honestly, how do we sift through the results of such a search? If we look at the companies that appear at the top of a search, we know they just paid to have their name appear, but they aren’t necessarily any better than the rest. But, if we look at organic ads, we quickly become overwhelmed. The solution is simple! In comes Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other social media.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to post something on Twitter for example asking for a recommendation or suggestion? Our “friends” on Facebook and our “followers” on Twitter are suppose to be our network, our confidants, our partners in crime. Isn’t that what everything we read these days about social media tells us? We are to have conversations and build relationships rather than sell things so why not ask our cyberspace peeps for their opinion? This is the very thing we’ve been building relationships for and it’s much better than sifting through 1,400,000 search results, that’s for sure.
For example, when I do a search for PR firms in Phoenix, 105,000 results come up. Granted there are a lot of independent practitioners in the Valley and more and more are popping up due to lack of jobs, but come on, 105,000 credible and relevant PR firms? How do I know who to pick if I am looking for a firm? I’m pretty sure much of those are irrelevant fluff and probably not even true PR firms, and it would take me several hours to even scratch the surface in sifting through the results. But imagine if I made a post on Twitter that said, “looking for a good PR firm in Phoenix, any suggestions?” I am willing to bet the list would be loads shorter and the results more relevant and credible and not simply the result of a company with a good search engine expert. The value of world of mouth speaks volumes and it’s much more “real time” than a search since most of us have access to social media on our phones or have TweetDeck open all day at work.
Next time you are looking for a good mechanic, printer, sports bar or of course PR firm, ask the people you communicate with everyday, you’ll be much happier with the results and a lot less panicked at the thought of having to sort through the millions of suggestions by Google.
And yet another reason to engage in social media!
You’re right. Social Search provides a more effective way to get answers, when people respond. I predict that Search will incorporate Trusted Sources, via tools like Twitter Lists, so that you can actually search leveraging yoru social networks: http://bit.ly/dpPPt.