"I don't search, I find"

Think about how you search for and find information online. Are you traditional and use a search engine like Google? Or are you an early adopter who goes straight to a large language model, like ChatGPT? Or maybe you will see what YouTube or TikTok produces in response to your search prompt on their platforms.
Trends in how we find information are changing

Transcript

“I don’t search, I find”

That’s the title and chorus of a Madonna song. Now that I have your attention think about how you search for and find information online. Are you traditional and use a search engine like Google? Type in a prompt and get a listing of websites that are (probably) relevant to your search prompt. Spend five minutes trawling through those sites. Or are you an early adopter who goes straight to a large language model, like ChatGPT? You get a quick response, but perhaps you are unsure of the validity of that information. Is ChatGPT hallucinating again? Or maybe you will see what YouTube or TikTok produces in response to your search prompt on their platforms. I know builders and car mechanics who use YouTube videos as instruction manuals. 

OFCOM data shows that video-based platforms are the preferred online information source across all age groups. YouTube, then Instagram, then TikTok. Not the BBC News app, The Guardian or other national newspaper apps, or even news aggregators like Apple News. Recent ONS data shows that the 75 years and older demographic are the most significant users of websites. Not those a bit or much younger. They also spend the least time using social media but are the greatest users of one particular app. I often do this as a quiz with my apprentices. The answer is the NHS app.

You may think that using a well-established tool, like a Google search, will give you the best, most accurate information. Think again! Google’s organic search listing no longer favours niche websites that follow the white hat Search Engine Optimisation rules of using original information, including keywords that people are interested in, is updated frequently and has strong visitor analytics. Instead, Google favours user-generated content on discussion boards and forums. For example, Reddit’s organic search engine traffic has increased by 250% over the last year. Conversely, many websites have seen a significant drop in visitor numbers. The way Google search operates is probably the reason.

My go-to information source is the Perplexity AI app. If I want to know the year that the first press release was issued, Perplexity will tell me nearly instantly. It will also tell me the sources it used for the response. I like that. In reality, Perpexity is an AI-powered search engine. The answer is 1904, and the press release was written by Ivy Lee, by the way.

If you prefer to use a browser because of the many tabs/favourite sites you use regularly, try Arc. This is based on Chromium, which is very stable and supports Chrome browser extensions. However, unlike the Chrome browser, it is privacy-focused. The best thing about it is the layout. All your essential tabs are on the left sidebar of the screen, and you can have multiple sidebars for different purposes like work, fun, etc. Plus you can tailor it with different nice pastel colours. I particularly like that, too. You can also use an AI search function within the browser.

Trends in how we find information are changing. Although the business of traditional search engines is still profitable, they are adapting to these trends. The marketing technique of Search Engine Optimisation is becoming redundant as search engines evolve.

It's time to refresh the way you source information. Think of Madonna’s song, “I don’t search, I find.”

[Image: Souvik Banerjee on Unsplash]