Search Is King: Puppies Online And More

Using the Internet to finding what you need has become the de facto way most people search for the goods and services they need. While that may sound like a whole lot of online marketing gusto, it's painfully true. The future of the Internet is still tied profoundly with the future of search. In fact, most people equate the two with one another. You don't think of the Internet and news, do you? Perhaps.

It's gotten to the point that the average person looking for puppies for sale is more apt to look online before venturing out the door and jumping in the car. If the search is not overtly for puppies online, it'll be related to where puppies are being offered. Addresses for animal shelters, veterinarians, and even pet care questions abound by the aggregated millions online.

Try this simple test. Think of an item you need. Then ask yourself -- truthfully now, don't lie to yourself -- what is the first step in the process that leads to you having or owning that item? Is it that you think of the item, then jumping into the car and drive to a store you think has the item? Or, like the nearly 1 billion people online, do you first search for the item online to find out where you can find it, how late the store is open, and where it is located?

Search is so powerful, so profoundly tied to our internal dialogue, that as soon as we think of something, we can be reading, listen to or watching any number of sources pertaining to that something. It's the power and mental flaccidity that comes from having all of our questions answered for us. Soon the typed word will be superfluous. We will only need to ask the computer a question and have it answered for us via instant video feeds.

If you're under the impression that the future of the Internet -- and search for that matter -- will have anything directly to do with keywords and typed interfaces, you're in for a nasty surprise. The future of search is the promise of the spoken word and the video display. The film, based on Philip K. Dick's The Minority Report adequately predicts the future of search. We will only need to think it or speak it and an array of video screens will bombard us. The future will be incomprehensible.