Social Media Challenging Search Engines

Attention: all the online businesses seeking to drive traffic from Search Engines. Yeah.. people are spending more time on Social Networks than on Search Engines. Some of the sites have started reporting some improbable facts, one being; Facebook sends more traffic
their way than Google, according to Adage.com

Social Media sites like Twitter, Facebook etc are becoming huge contributors to the traffic on a website. Media planners have started to ensure that a social media element is present in every campaign they carry out.

Due to the economic downturn companies are looking for innovative ways to market their product and services. Clients who don’t have money will seek different ways to promote their products and services at no extra cost or are economical.

It is time media profoundly research this element and website entrepreneurs create a Social Media Revenue Model.

If this happens we can expect an emergence of Social Media Specialists in the market. There will be agencies specializing only in Social Media promotion.

Search Engine Wars – Google vs Microsoft

Recently, the search business has been highly contested amongst the online tycoons. I guess the online industry has realized that if you can dominate the search business, you can take over the Internet. Lately some of the initiatives taken by the search engine website include: -

¨ Latest News – Live Search powered by Microsoft will be integrated into Facebook by year's end, which is a smart deal to boost the results of the search engine.

¨ In May Microsoft launched a Live Search cash back program for US users, and in July it unveiled Secret Search, unique incentive based program exclusive for Australian Live Search users (http://search.ninemsn.com.au/)

¨ We are already aware of the unsuccessful takeover of Yahoo by Microsoft, due to intervention of Google, and resistance shown by the CEO of Yahoo.

¨ Google has already launched several versions of its search including blogsearch.google.com, scholar.search.com etc

¨ Yahoo has taken the initiative to launch BOSS

But the ultimate question remains will Microsoft be able to beat Google? Well, if Microsoft is trying to create a better search engine, then it never will be able to beat Google. I believe its all about product placement and differentiation. The word search is owned by Google in our minds and it is difficult to replace it.
Microsoft needs to come with a better offering probably say – the ultimate
Web 3.0 engine. It is like Microsoft beating IBM in the 80’s when no one even could imagine that the old giant could be shaken.

Once again Google is already taking steps to safeguard its interests by venturing into various other markets like Mobile, Blogs, and Social Media etc. But until how long will Google retain its no 1 position?

What search engine do you use?