Bill Tancer, of Time, recently wrote a really enlightening column about the future of internet search. He suggests that, given the astronomical increase in traffic, traditional methods of search such as Google and Yahoo, which are initiated by the user and utilized in an on-demand sort of way, could eventually give way to a more fluid search process based on social networks such as Facebook or MySpace. Increasingly, he suggests, rather than typing a word or phrase into the Google search bar and populating a list of links to wade through, users will just post a message on their Facebook page and wait for a more personalized answer. It’s an interesting concept for advertisers and marketers, because the challenge becomes determining the best way to communicate with or be-“friend” people who have insulated themselves somewhat from the greater sea of web users.  We don’t see traditional search going away.  Rather, we see giants like Google and Yahoo adapting their tools to allow users a social networking experience.

Additionally, he touches on “open source search”. I recently visited the new Wikia search engine that Tancer mentions. Wikia is an open source site that allows users to create and edit search results. Out of curiosity, I typed in the name of a local military base and received 20 results, including the homepage to the base, local weather, city government websites, and real estate information. Not bad. I typed the same search term in Google and received 109,000 results (the first page was of equal quality to the Wikia results). The real difference was that there was a message to me, the user, on the Wikia site…

“We do not have a mini article about "Norfolk naval station". Improve the search results for everyone by starting this article!”

Upon further inspection I found that since the project is still in Beta, one can currently create an article, but it will not yet be included in the search results. From a public relations standpoint, the possibilities are quite exciting. Essentially, you can create a “Mini Article” about yourself, complete with your key messages and critical information. Granted, there is no guarantee that another user couldn’t later change the information. This is why businesses have to be engaged in social media. If you are not providing information about your company, there’s a chance that someone else is. It’s one of the cardinal rules of good PR, stay in control of the message. That’s difficult to do if you don’t know what messages are out there. Open source technology coupled with what is generally accepted to be increasing public reliance on internet search ensures that there is opportunity for businesses that choose to engage.