i-level Search News - January 2008
Looking back at 2007
In this edition of the Search Newsletter, we take a look at what 2007 was (and wasn't) in the world of Search and what we expect to see in 2008.
Acquisitions by search properties
The three major Search properties (Yahoo!, Google and MSN) all made several large purchases this year. It is estimated that at one stage Google was making an acquisition a week (http://mashable.com/2007/07/03/google-acquisitions/) many of them small and unannounced.
The impact of social networks on search
Social networking sites grew exponentially last year. Traffic to Facebook grew by 118% between October 06 and October 07 according to comScore. Photo-sharing site Flickr grew by 138% in the same period and LinkedIn 257%. The meteoric rise of Facebook in particular has resulted in changing the meaning of the internet experience for most from being a research and purchasing tool, to becoming a place for socialising and hanging out.
Crystal ball time
So what does 2008 hold? Now that the Google DoubleClick deal has gone through, we are looking at a year of innovation in consumer targeting within the online space. The lines between display being used as a branding medium and search being used as a direct response mechanism will blur.
Mobiles in 2008
What about mobile we hear you say? While the majority of users right now are still battling with small screen sizes; slow download times and web pages which are difficult to read, it is likely that improvements in handsets along with the introduction of flat-rate data tariffs will greatly improve users' access to search interfaces in 2008.