29 August 2007

08/28/007 - Man burned at Burning Man!


So this is about Search Engine Strategies, San Jose 2007. but first...
HEADLINE: Man gets burned at Burning Man. too soon.

I was looking for a good example to use to demonstrate various components coming together in Google's Universal Search paradigm. I thought...Burning Man! Timely! West Coast focused. blah, blah, blah.

What pops up but flaming articles about the premature conflagration of the Man! Hey, I love this kind of stuff. Life goes on la dee da and then whoops...somebody thinks outside the box and the unthinkable happens. Paradigm shift.

Point is, how does this get on my radar? Universal Search. Casting a bigger net. Which can be interesting if it pulls in an exotic starfish that entrances me for the nonce. But what if I'm hungry and alls I want is a big fat mahi-mahi? There is the rub for the way things are evolving in search. Will everyone be served as well as at the dawning of the ubiquitous "Google one-box"... that was golden.

My impression of SESSJ2007, it feels a bit like watching a soap bubble swelling, bigger and bigger. When will it burst? This thought brings me to one controversial session topic:

"Are Paid Links Evil?" which actually got some real debate in addition to some blustering, admittedly, but lively enough to be a hot topic for media coverage.

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