Real time search for spikes, pulses, waves and trends is a game changer

This is a diagram from Ajit Jaokar and my book on “Mobile Web 2.0” way back in 2006 when social was new and search was stable.

The reason I have dug this up is due to the fundamental changes happening in search.  In old currency terms, search was about indexing the web and making results available and using preferences to improve the relevancy of results.  There was a significant delay (i.e. it was not real time) between content becoming available on-line and it being indexed and then being found via search.  A fundamental to get on page 1 of a search was to be referenced by quality and or authoritative sources.  If your desire was for authority this model worked!

The web has become closer to a real-time experience with the advent of service such as Twitter and Facebook and these services are effecting how we discover and interact with content.

Search now needs to help you discover spikes, pulses, waves and trends and this is a whole new problem and it is likely to change who we see as key players as this real-time web world needs access to new data and collection which some will fight to keep in their controlling silo.