elearnspace

Clive Thompson’s argument that the real time web is leaving Google behind makes a few interesting points…but it’s essentially wrong. Controversial statements draw more attention (hence, why I’m linking to this!), but what Thompson overlooks is that the web is expanding and fragmenting into specialized subsets…not that the core web is changing. For example, an individual wanting to research Michael Jackson (as stated in Thompson’s article), will not only be concerned with the events over the last few days, but over Jackson’s lifetime. We use the web for different purposes at different times. The author also states that Google’s contribution was organizing the web on authority, somehow suggesting that this is not the case with Twitter and Facebook. Have you ever tried following a trending topic on Twitter? If you’re tracking a hot topic, you’ll 800 updates each time you refresh. It’s a mess. It’s like Yahoo in 1997: topics by categories…but largely useless.
This trend-lover attitude (Ooh, look, it’s new, that means it changes everything) is great for drawing attention…but rather useless for anything else. A contextual, balanced, and nuanced understanding of search patterns and varying circumstance with varying needs is needed. But, it appears nuanced and balanced is now the new extreme.