Is Google a Dinosaur?

Most of my readers know I always root for the underdog, so it's no surprise I've never been a big cheerleader for Google. Too big, built on the fly, and most importantly, delivers search results based on popularity.

The Chicago Tribune is doing a terrific series this week "Gunning for Google" which thoroughly explains Golliath and its multi-billion dollar success. Even Google's co-founder Larry Page is quoted in the Tribune as saying "You're important if other people think you're important."

I don't think that's a good basis for news, research or educating ourselves on important topics. Google is too big, stumbles on itself, and is caught in a tailspin of popularity making it less meaningful. As I always say in my own business, "You can't be all things to all people."

Give other search tools a chance

I like Clusty.com because it clusters search results down the left column. So if you search for "medical research" instead of 222 million results and many ads at Google, Clusty shows you the top 177 results out of 33 million. The left column then takes those 177 best results and clusters them by category, so you can explore exactly what you want: Clinical, Universities, Journal articles, etc...

I have always liked Yahoo.com - have you seen it lately? Instead of a big blank page like Google, Yahoo has a test version (beta) of a home page providing instant local traffic and weather in a sort of web balloon that appears when you move your mouse over the buttons. You can customize the page for local TV listings, movie theater schedules, and see all news categories in addition to a powerful search engine, all on one page.

Sign up for my free e-newsletter if you want to keep informed with a monthly dose of "clarity."
http://www.mailermailer.com/x?oid=24316a