Short Search Engine User Analysis (Money In The Bank 3)

Summary: This post describes an interesting analysis of search engine users. I provide a quick insight into the types of users that use Bing search and Google search. (UPDATED: Added Yahoo search results and pictures! soon)

In my blog post yesterday, I had to use the auto-complete feature that search engines provide in order to quickly learn some new perspectives on how society thinks about a certain topic. Though, I figured out that the results weren't society as a whole, but the community of users that use that search engine.

A little background: Search engines want to show the best results to users. One part of how they try to do this is by analyzing the way users use the search engine. Basically, the more times users search for a phrase, the more likely it will appear at the top of the auto-complete suggestions (Yahoo calls this feature "Search assist"). Analyzing a single search engine has been done before, but I in this post I analyze the differences between different search engines.

This answers the question, what type of users use Google/Bing/Yahoo?

The practical uses of knowing the answer to this question mainly lies in ads, or marketing to be more exact. When one purchases Google ads and Bing ads, maybe they shouldn't be using the same copy or text or graphics. The user demographics may be different. This information also helps out the search engine when advertising their product to more users, or adding features for current users.



My search seed for the auto-completion suggestion search was "money in the bank is ".

From a Google search beginning with that phrase, I found:
- "Money in the bank is like toothpaste in the tube"
- "Money in the bank is safe"
- My blog post
- "Money in the bank is stupid"
- "How much money in the bank is insured"
- "Money in the bank is peace of mind"

All of these seem like reasonable perspectives, or at least understandable. When using Chrome's incognito mode, only the last "peace of mind" one shows up.

From a Bing search beginning with that phrase, "money in the bank is " (note the extra space after is), I found:
- "Money in the bank is it m1"
- "Money in the bank in the water"
- "Money in the bank in hot springs ar"

Then I noticed more results when I didn't put the extra space after "is". These results included the ones from above and more:
- "Money in the bank images"
- "Money in the bank injuries"
- "Money in the bank singer"
- "Money in the bank instrumental"

These are very interesting results. The very interesting thing about these results is that it shows what type of people use each search engine! So many things can be said about each search engines' users.
 - Google users appear to be straightforward
 - Bing users appear to be more influenced by media
 - More...


I'm sure there are other excellent phrases to auto-complete-search for also and in a future blog post, I might write about it. So far I have searched:
 - "dog " with no interesting distinguishing characteristics
 - "cat " on the other hand allows Yahoo to stand about from the others
 - "fire" and "fire " are both great. Microsoft stands out in this one, the first four auto-complete suggestions are four Firefox (browser).
 - "safety ". Let's see, here's the first auto-complete suggestion for each search engine: Chrome - "safety not guaranteed", Bing - "safety topics", Yahoo - "safety 1st"
Disclaimer: For these quick searches, I used incognito mode in Google Chrome.


If you think of something I missed, then please share it in the comments!

~ Simply Advanced ~

ps - If you would like to find out more information on how I came upon this topic, then there are two more posts I made before this one, in this "series". [this 1] [that 2]

pps - Pictures!

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When Will Electronics Not Need Electricity?

Electricity is a hamper to our society.

You may argue that we would not be where we are today without electricity, and you'd be absolutely right. But, the problem is that many great products we enjoy require electricity; the electronic products we use today NEED electricity to operate.

Electricity is just a median for the electronics that we want to use. We don't actually care about electricity, we care about being able to operate our computers, televisions, phones, lights, and toasters.

Just like computers used to be people who were good with computing numbers in their head or on paper, electronics of the future will not be using electricity as a power source.

(...just trying to expand one's thinking...)

Don't be stuck in a paradigm. Facts change.


~ Simply Advanced ~

ps - Awesome tech of the day for this post: Tiny turbines in our bloodstream to generate power (2011)

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Normative

(This is an entry that I made for my Social Psychology class that I'm currently taking. Feel free to reply to the topic also.)

"After reading chapter 36 ["Doing Gender as Resistance" by Dr. Chauntelle Anne Tibbals], describe how you either resist or accommodate social norms related to gender, class, race and ethnicity in everyday life."


When I learn of something that "everybody does" I may tend to not do, just to be different. Ex: When there is a loud noise, most people look in that direction. I may continue what I was doing or look in the opposite direction. Ex: When people are walking and remember they have to go the other way, many will check the time or look at their phone [read: to put on a show for others in case they are watching]. I just seemingly "randomly" turn around now after learning that.

And there are at least two other big things, but I can't think of them right now. So, in the meantime, here's some things off the top of my head that exemplify resisting to social norms.
- Sitting in different places in class most days
- Sitting sideways rather than perpetually facing forwards
- Ethnicity: Half-Japanese, but not caring much for sushi or anime.
- Race: Being half-Japanese, but not looking the part.


Examples of how I accommodate social norms:
- Gender: Not wearing skirts. Having very short hair.
- Class: I generally "act" "average". (This example accounts for 100s or 1000s of day-to-day activities performed)


ps - I always like to think assumption reversal, "what if the opposite of ?"

pps - I'm interested in learning if people in general more want to be similar or different.

~ Simply Advanced ~

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Stereotypical Social Computer Programmer

It is typically portrayed that computer programmers are always at their computer writing code and are less social than average.

But, I'm going to present another perspective. Perhaps computer programmers are the most social in regards that they write many programs for others and society. In order to be a great programmer, one must know how the market thinks.

~ Simply Advanced ~

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