Is Facebook the Future of Search?

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1710493,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-bottom --> Original Article

This article caught my eye for its provocative headline! For almost 9 years now, Google's pristine white search page has exemplied "search" for me. During my MBA days, i remember assignments and project reports that were dug out and googled. Back then and even now, Google is my saviour in terms of information i need. There was encarta and there was Brittanica encyclopaedia, but Google over ruled them all. Alongside came Wiki and the search for information found it panacea. No wonder Google is a lingo out there is the west, a connotation for information search.

So then, when i saw this headline, i was taken aback. Facebook to me is social networking. It is like a real ife experience on screen on internet. You meet freinds, you send messages, you declare your state of mind, you play, you share birthdays, you meet more people, you share photos, you share information. Prima facie, the impact of the statement never hit me. However a deeper thought on the issue made me look at it otherwise. Free world, free trade, free information, sharing are wholistically a democratization of knowledge sharing. No one screens it, we make it, we share it, it is for us. Web 2.0 and 3.0 are all about free availability of the information from consumers to consumers. As a consumer, i would much more believe a C2C source than a B2C source. In their lies the insight and genius. When you co discover with other people like you, you feel more affirmative, more reassured. I had trust a friend telling me to watch a movie because it is nice than trust all the trailers and promos of the movie. Facebook is delivering on this insight! Thus it is bridging the gap between social networking and information search. So much elementary!

This is an interesting insight and in the times to come i see a lot more of this happening and businesses come all over supporting this structure. Giving the consumer his right to referral and information is possibly going to be the next big thing. Watch this!

PS: Wiki does some bit of this thru open source content development but then it is more informative and academic than business/transactional...