With Yahoo! approaching its 10th anniversary, the question I‘m hearing a lot lately is "what‘s next in the world of search?"
Ten years ago, we were focused on a simple yet vast problem: finding better ways to aggregate and organize information so people can find it. Today, the challenge is different. On the one hand, there‘s a lot more information to aggregate and it‘s not just more in terms of quantity; there‘s a larger variety of content as well -- from products and images to news and business information. In addition, we‘re pulling content from more sources than ever before.
On the other hand, our user‘s expectations have also changed. It‘s no longer enough to simply provide a structure for users to find what they want on the Web. Today, people expect to find precisely what they‘re looking for exactly as it relates to them. It‘s the old example of the "Java" search query. Are you looking for coffee or for the programming language? People want to define what‘s relevant to them in their own personal way. They also want to tap into the source of their information at will and they want to manage it all to personally suit their needs.
That‘s what is exciting about where we are today. Search as a problem is still far from being solved. The user is in the driver‘s seat: they want an experience that is increasingly personal, more relevant, and ties into their task more integrally. Search is just a way to get that integrated experience, but it‘s all about what the users want - when they want it, how they want it, and who they want it from.
Jeremy hit on it in a recent blog entry; we have to "make search more relevant and personal." Those two things are the natural progression for search and they are tightly connected to our concept of seamless integration. Search has to reach a higher bar: it has to enhance the user‘s life on a daily basis. Integration of search, community, personalization and content builds the foundation for relevancy in people‘s lives.
Because the Net is obviously a bigger part of people‘s lives than 10 years ago, we at Yahoo! also have an opportunity to integrate into people‘s lives more deeply than before. Yahoo! Local and the beta version of My Yahoo! Search are just two of the examples of how we‘re enabling people to manage their search content, search within locations of their choice, and build personal communities online. Users can connect to people with similar interests and they can gather and share search information at will.
Fortunately, we‘re also at a time when the technology is helping us plug into people‘s lives even more richly. For instance, at this year‘s Web 2.0 Conference there was a lot of talk about RSS and wireless technology. This is stuff we only dreamed about ten years ago and its helping redefine what we do with search today. RSS is allowing people to access exactly what they want and wireless is letting us deliver the information wherever you are. People aren‘t chained to their PCs anymore and neither is search. Yesterday‘s introduction of Yahoo! Search for Mobile is just one example of how technology is propelling search forward. Search is literally in your pocket and at your bus stop. It doesn‘t get more integrated than that.
The question to ask now isn‘t if or when; it‘s "what else." What else can we do to take search to the next level? What else can we do to make search even more useful and accessible to you?
These are the challenges that will keep us busy for at least another 10 years and we‘re getting closer everyday. At Yahoo! it‘s our job to stay ahead of consumer needs and expectations and, based on the responses of our users, I believe we‘re doing a really good job so far -- but it‘s still very early. It‘s one of the reasons I remain really excited about how we can continue to provide real solutions to people‘s problems, and make a difference. While I‘m not nearly as technical as I was 10 years ago (I got my hint when David Filo changed the password on me so I can‘t touch code anymore), I firmly believe that the technology we are building today makes the future of the Web even more useful, informative, and entertaining. As long as there‘s a way to help people find more precise and more relevant information on the Web, you‘ll find me in the thick of things searching for it.
Jerry Yang
Chief Yahoo
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