Tag: Search

Search and Sedentary Life Style

It’s only been a bit more than 15 years since the Internet entered our homes (You’ve Got Mail).

Before that we got to run errand, with multiple stops e.g. at the library, bookstores and retail stores.

Now, just Google it. Price-comparison shopping, or just ordering it online.

We find friends online, learn online and practically do more things online (when someone comes up with a new app like SimCity or DropBox – now acquired Mailbox).

Around the time the Internet got to be popular, social scientists had already alarmed us about the decline of community participation (Bowling Alone). If that study were conducted today, the title would be ” The disappearance of Bowling.”

Let’s imagine that the ARPANET project did not get out for civilian use.

We would have:

– still run around to the library, searching through Dewey card catalog

– ordered from the Sears Catalogue

– played cards with friends (some still do, but not as frequent)

– gone clubbing to be seen

– treated phone, TV and computer separately (phone is personal, TV is social and computer is professional, for HR Block tax preparers).

So far, there has been a correlation, but not definite linkage, between Search (Internet) and Sedentary Life Style.

But every sign seems to point to a more mobile (on the go) computing and convergence, which at least relieves us from a desk-bound life.

I hope among the multi-tasks we find ourselves doing, walking will be one. Even McDonald now serving Egg-White Muffin.

After all there is a down side (sitting too much for too long) to even the most blessed event in human history: Search at our fingertips, and let the “bots” do the “hunting” for information.

Your story

During the 60’s, when computers were too limited for personal use, Andy Warhol had already predicted that in the future (which is NOW) each of us would have 15 minutes of fame (just like his signature Campbell soup ).

Naturally, he couldn’t have predicted the rise of social media  which upend traditional broadcast media, turning it around from one-to-many (old) to many-to-many (new) forever and free (Cloud computing + mobile + social media).

Unrestricted and unleashed i.e. texting while driving (we have yet come up with an acronym similar to DUI).

We “Like”.  We “tag”. We “tweet”. Yahoo now bets big on Mobile.

We prepare to lay ourselves exposed: photos (even pictures when we were babies), home-recorded songs and secret sauce.

We learn the art of filmography and biography e.g. story board and story line, scripting and screen playing (Youtube).

We share lessons on sewing and  selling.

It’s quite an open world and open society.

It used to be that the only time someone asked “tell us about yourself” was at a job interview.

Now, we tell them about ourselves even when not asked. “They” here means the World Wide Web:

Facebook, Google + and more.

A narrative was supposed to have a beginning, middle and end. Since we keep discovering and reinventing ourselves, our personal narrative evolves. Every day, we put on make-ups off line and  make-over on line. Some even called this “the start-up of you”.

The more interaction on-line, the more detailed our social graph, the richer our narrative. Fresh content generates higher Search Engine Optimization. This process also creates Digital Addicts or DigitAl-holics  who cross-comment  and follow each other. A band of brothers, only more inclusive and extensive (coincides with austerity).

This domain used to be exclusive for professionals e.g. product improvement and placement now laid bare for all (design your T-shirt contest etc…).

Now, people are the product (sold to advertisers). Their tweet or post could go viral, to the tune of a million hits.

Self-branding.

Self-aggrandizement is in. Self-effacing is out.

The modesty of Asian mystique faces serious challenges, perhaps more so than last century’s cultural invasion of the West e.g. China and Japan with men eventually do away with braided hair or Samurai tradition. This time around, the invasion is technology-enabled, a spontaneous explosion of personal freedom and expression second to none (including the 60’s Flower Power. This time, it’s trans-cultural and trans-continental in nature.)

As a result, we need to put up personal “firewalls” to protect our privacy and safeguard our brand.

To trade ourselves up. Tier-One (as in Premium LinkedIn accounts etc..).

Sort of like LV who refused to offshore the manufacturing of its handbags. Planned scarcity.

We first expand, then contract our circle over time.

This retrenching was mentioned in The Tipping Point (maximum 120 in your circle to have a meaningful conversation and community).

In the early days of Social Media,, we enjoyed new-toy stage (friending everyone).

Then Google + came out. By then, we became social-media fatigue.

Once  you lost that first-mover’s advantage, it’s hard to play catch-up,

Good luck yahoo, with revamping.

Yahoo was late in Search, and Social.

I wonder whatever else it could do to innovate and leapfrog competition. Perhaps with the yCloud? or Ymobile.

Meanwhile, we still want to find new ways to connect, to share and to show off.

We are members of a digital country club, where strangers suddenly become intimate i.e. know more about our personal stories, or at least, more quickly, than family members . These are our intimate strangers.

So, if you share, learn to show and tell properly. Learn the 2-minute summary like our presidential candidates just did tonight. Tell them what you are all about, your hopes, fears and dreams, all scripted and rehearsed (elevator speech). And maybe, someone out there, can identify with your vulnerability, your shortcomings and your humanity. Maybe they will endorse you, adopt you as family member, and you then become  “famous” for 15 minutes. Warhol would have never guessed someday (today) we would be showing off our secret sauce, while he, could only photocopy the (Campbell) Soup he touted as arts.

Xerox, Yahoo and Google

With the exception of Yahoo, we can pretty much use the other two as verbs i.e. to Xerox s/t or to Google it.

When your company is a household “action” verb, you have it made.

Yahoo got a head start, with strong brand recognition.

But it flounders (even MySpace, as cool as it once was, couldn’t escape this mayhem).

AOL, Yahoo and MySpace belong to Web 1.0 era, the Valley’s equivalent of Big Band music.

We are commemorating the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

And candidates from both parties are now running for 2012.

Get a move on.

Don’t believe me? just Google it.

The speed of data processing and forced “choice architecture” results in shorter attention span.

We can’t recall but the top 3 (Incidentally,  World Economic Forum ranked the US as number 5 this year, after Switzerland, Singapore and Sweden).

Here in the US, we can’t even use the old Avis motto (We’re number 2, we work harder).

What belong to the previous decade stays with the previous decade.

No one could predict the rise of Singapore back in 1967 (or China in 1978).

In fact, much of the criticism was about its attempt at social engineering (match making its college educated).

Now, it’s number 2 and keeps working harder.

If I were to draft US policies, I would Xerox its road map, after Googling it.

This tiny country in Asia miraculously catapults into the big league.

If you understood how culturally advanced Sweden was, you would be able to appreciate the enormity of Singapore accomplishment.

Its secret sauce, turns out to be a right mix of social control and laissez faire .

Throw in a strong-handed leadership doesn’t hurt (remember Clinton had to plead so the gum-thrashing kid wouldn’t get spanked).

I wonder any of the folks who were on TV last night, purported to hold a recipe for recovery,

had ever set foot on this tiny island called “Sing” (short for Singapore)

or known precisely where it was.

Thank God for Google Map. Now, xerox it.

Tang, Sanka and Google instant

Tang was well-known way back then, as the drink of choice for astronauts.

Sanka had been in every motel room, before the green de-caffeine (equivalent of conditioner that is coupled with shampoo) bags came to existence.

And now Google Instant, promised to be faster and more magical.

Can’t data mine faster than that.

The wisdom of crowd interacts with the wisdom of machine. IQ vs AI.

We were amazed at Luke’s drink (in Star Wars). Now we know why? The speed of everything has been quickened.

I prepared lunch for myself and my daughter today.

I found myself very impatient with the process: chopping, heating, eating and cleaning.

Would it be easier to eat out of  Instant Cup O Noodles? (which made the Noodle King richer than Burger King).

Nobody knows you are a dog on the internet. But you must be the top dog. Search engine and crawlers show SEO, be it the best or not.

Only the highest page-ranked items are displayed above-the-fold. With Linkedin Social endorsement, we have invented the online equivalent of “street cred” (the age of Lordship is back, albeit in new currency)

I remember browsing through a section of the library, just to see what’s placed close by.

Now with Google instant, I won’t get to do all that. It will “ping” right away displaying only the search term.

We are back to data silos, to our own “cubicle”. Hence the danger of isolation and the need for integration.

The Web gives us vast data pool, Google instant narrows it down. A personalized version of Google trend.

Ph.D. candidates are having a field day narrow down their thesis.

( Once you can articulate the problem and find no existing research done on the topic,  you are half way to the degree.)

I am glad for competition in Search and instant Search.

It’s tough enough having to deal with spam, and unsolicited mail (data deluge).

BTW, the NYT might stop to exist in physical form. It’s experiment on-line has been successful, so much that it threatens the print side.

The tipping point came when people bought more e version than hard-cover version.

Save a tree, save a buck , but not B&N.

No longer do we browse other books while shopping for a new release.

Save gas, save space and save time. Instant gratification. Boy oh boy, what am I going to do with my existing book collection?

Another “Tower” is down (referring to Tower Records, which went busted after MP3). I don’t think Goodwill will accept all the book donation in the future,

the same way it is inundated with tube TV‘s. We are witnessing  a near complete transition to digital, one which is overtaking our lives a zero and a 1 at a time.

My plea: be patient with yourself. And if you have to prepare lunch, try not to use the microwave. Not that it’s not fast, it’s just that with our current expectation, even microwave speed seems so slow in the age of Google Instant. Use those free minutes for a Tweet that might go viral.

Pattern recognition

As the saying goes, “those who don’t know history tend to repeat it”.

I should have titled this blog, “the art of reinventing the wheel” as I saw familiar patterns reemerge everyday.

Avatar for instance. For a moment there, I thought I was watching Jurassic Park and Never-Ending Story put together.

Lady Gaga takes Madonna’s slot, Raquel Welch– Sophia Loren‘s.

And BP in the Gulf now the new bad guy after the Alaskan Exxon accident.

Matterhorn just painted a more vivid portrait than hasty Apocalypse Now (which in itself was Joseph Conrad‘s fixer-upper).

And Madoff was just reinventing Ponzi and recent ball field crashers just reinvent the 60’s running strippers (except for the being Tasered part).

I must admit, when the Oscar for Best Director went to the first woman ever (Hurt Locker),

all bets were off (in itself, it could be seen as a repeat of Broke Back Mountain‘s Ang Lee.

By challenging our presumptions, these people were given awards. Once again, Need to Know, the show,  tries to follow

Bill Moyer’s footsteps. The new “disrupts” the old (Amazon’s free smart phones) And society – or customer – benefits.

I hope there will be more google-like companies to unseat the incumbent (at least we got choices now between BING, Yahoo Search and Google).

( Bill Gates and Warren Buffett both said that five years from now, there will be another break through, and another five years after that etc…)

For instance, automated Search will be less random and based on our search profile, it can “recommend” and even make more sense than we could articulate .

Can’t wait for Semantic Web to come around. Now, that’s pattern recognition at a personal level: our digital shadow on the wall.

Keep clicking. And pack away those black and white ancestral pictures. Our descendants can always access “us” in the cloud, where they will learn about us more than we could ever selectively tell them. It’s good that each of us can be proud to have left not only our DNA strains, but also our 1-and-0 (not B/W) portrait i.e. our digital footprint.

The machine is the mirror. You might be looking at it, but it will eventually reciprocate. We forget, but it won’t.