Hunch: Decision Becomes the Hot Search Angle
July 11, 2009
Search – particularly the key word variety – does not do the job for most users. For that reason, Google’s wizards work behind the scenes to deliver what most people want when two or three words are typed into the ubiquitous Google search box. Bing.com positions itself as being in the decision business. The idea is that a user types in a couple of words, and the Microsoft wizards try to match Google’s method and supplement the laundry lists with suggestions and actionable information.
The user, based on some work the goslings and I have been doing in the last six weeks, don’t care too much about the how. The users know only that the results deliver an answer or something useful. A system that moves beyond search and delivers useful information is perceived as a great leap forward.
Now we have moved from “search” to “decisions”.
Another search company – Hunch.com — has jumped on the decision bandwagon. I played with the service and found it useful for product queries. You can read a useful write up by Josh Lowensohn “Decision Maker Hunch.com Opens Up” on the sprawling Cnet service.
The idea is that a user can type a question or enter a key word and browse a list a topics. I tried netbook and found that the system offered by a one click option and then when I refined the query, the system allowed me to work through a list of machine generated questions that refined by initial broad terms and the first result list.
This struck me as a painless way to get the user to narrow a broad query. Big fill in the blank forms work for those with experience and training in parametric queries or formulating Boolean queries. Not for the average person in Harrod’s Creek, however.
Worth a look before every vendor lets their Buffy the Marketer or Biff the Business Development wizard use the “decision” word.
Stephen Arnold, July 11, 2009
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