Conducting a Search, 3 Things to Consider

Whether you are looking for a high level candidate, or to find a new apartment, search is the way to go. You rely on search when it's something you are looking for, and also when others are doing the looking - with the answer preferably to be your product or service.

In search, you may feel that more choice is a good thing, when in fact less is more - as in more precise and in saving time and effort. True, sometimes you stumble upon an interesting bit while you sort through information, but most of the time, finding exactly what you're looking for is golden.

For those of you who rely heavily on data bases and search to be found - for a job, for an apartment, or even for an experience - consider these 3 things:

1. Word of mouth - and therefore relationships - is still a very powerful system. You cannot game, engineer, optimize yourself onto relationships. You must have them, over time. Except for now these natural relationships are integrated with the online word of mouth. It's about search, but also about impressions at those search points. Recommendations matter.

2. Exact match for something still means a human is involved to determine fit. There are just some clues, like culture and preference that are too subtle for an engine or an algorithm to get. A professional who has been in countless situations like yours gets there first. Experience matters.

3. Results are subjective and situational. What you find depends not just on what you're looking for, but how you filter the results given the time and resources available. I'm inclined to think that there is room for higher personalization in search. With one caveat - context matters.

I agree with Mike, people seem to be programmed to feel that the more choice they are given the more power and control they are receiving - even though it usually ends up confusing them and slowing the process. Less is more. Integrated is better.

When different coordinates meet in one point, your search is yielding better results. For example, this happens when two people recommend the same candidate for a job who a third person inside your company happens to know well and who has developed a relationship with the very recruiter filling the job.

Search is better when it's coming together, rather than when it takes you into several directions. What can you do today to start integrating recommendations, user experience and contextual marketing into your digital properties?

[the future of Internet search: mobile version as designed by Mac Funamizu]