SES: Where Will Consumers Be Searching in 5 Years?

That's what I wanted to know. Here are the key points I picked up:

1) Search marketing spending is getting smaller. As a result, Google is collecting less from ad spending.

2) Video marketing is increasing. The number one thing people look at online is video.

3) iPhone Effect - The mobile audience is growing fast.

4) At any given time, watch what the kids are doing. We'll be doing that in 5 years.

5) The panel predicts that computers will converge, and then merge, with TV. They get this from the fact that we are watching so many videos online.

6) Google is building big data centers to support its Cloud Computer Initiative. This is the idea that everything we do will take place in the cloud (including TV) . We'll have simple access devices. Probably some relative of the iPhone or other smart phone model.

To support this point, the panel reported that Nike will be broadcasting the (uh oh! something I didn't get down in my notes!) finals on YouTube in May '09. What would that be? Don't know but the point is Nike is using YouTube to do it.

The panel also discussed the "Deep Web." There are billions of pages of information that Google doesn't search such as archives and libraries to name a few. This will become more available as time goes on. Also Semantic web searches are coming about. These handle complex searches mostly through social media outlets. Google is no longer the middleman in these types of searches. Trip Advisor is a good example of this. This site answers questions about travel directly. Also, go to pipl.com and put your name in. Prepare to be shocked.

This panel emphasized that Twitter as a media type is where we are headed in the future. This means access to information through social networks where search engines are not needed as middlemen. The nice thing about Twitter, so says the panel, is that Twitter is in real time and that is what we want.

Universal, blended, and Live search are the results that we get now when we Google something. You will notice that in the results you get videos and images and categorized websites. Also, there is a lot of geo-targeting going on as results are presented to you. These links are targeted towards your own geographical area, which has been noted via your previous search activities.

More on these interesting concepts in later posts.

Jennifer Bunker