Happy new year! Now that 2010 has been rung in, it’s time for some reflections on a year of search, and a year in search.
Google has compiled the popular Zeitgeist statistics for 2009, which shows Michael Jackson, Facebook, and Twitter as a few of the most popular rising searches of the year. One of the most surprising statistics of the year was caught by TechCrunch, which reported that for the first time ever, Facebook surpassed AOL in monthly traffic volume. What is shocking is not that Facebook is continually spreading across the planet, but rather that AOL still commands a huge amount of viewers (and subscribers). It’s a battle of Web 2.0 versus Web 1.0, and it should be pretty clear which will ultimately prevail.
2009 also brought us a Yahoo wiffle-waffle on search, with Shakespearean wails of “to be (a search engine) or not to be.” But moving forward quickly was Microsoft, which brought Bing into the field as a replacement to Live.com and the awful MSN search. Spending copious amounts of cash on nationwide, offline marketing (at times it seemed that every cab in NYC had a Bing ad atop it), Bing was able to become a formidable force in search.
But ultimately, it was the 800-lb. gorilla in the room, Google, which stole the show. Playing with realtime search, product search, and blog search, while developing a phone, operating system, browser, and a bevy of other services, Google proved that it is a force to be reckoned with. Even if Google was officially launched in the late nineties, 2000-2010 could officially be pronounced the Google Decade.
What’s in store for the coming year? To soon to tell. If Google’s near-acquisition of Yelp is any indication, location-aware services may be the next big thing.
