In December of 09’, Google implemented real time results into their website. This can benefit the user because if you happen to be searching for a hot topic – you will usually see real time results streaming on the results pages at Google.com.

However, Google is just mixing in real time results sometimes, and there are a slew of real time search engines , such as Sency, which are completely focused on real time results. So where will users go for real time searches?

One take-away from the headaches that came with Google Buzz is that while Google is trying to get users to interact insider Gmail – people have gotten use to using Gmail for email. People like interacting on Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace because that is where they have always interacted socially. Gmail, has been used for private communication – so thus far – people haven’t been as excited about interacting in a different way through Gmail.

Often, internet users get comfortable and use to a website for a given task – and those habits and built in branding are hard to change. Imagine if CNN.com started focusing on just social media news – I’ll bet a lot of people would be confused and and many people would still go to Soshable for their social media news. So, it is important to focus on what you are good at.

The real time web I believe will have a similar path. Google is far and away the #1 traditional search engine. That is where users will always migrate to for traditional searches. However, the real time web offers a different type of search – with different types of results. And, if you mix in real time results with traditional web results, it may end up confusing the user and it also may end up making it more difficult for the user to get the info they are actually looking for.

If you want to find out what people are saying right now about any given subject– a real time search is the way to go. If you want to find out what the hottest links are right now about a given keyword – a real time search is also the way to go. There are several engines focusing on bringing this real time information to you. And, you don’t have to be a member of any social network to perform a search on the real time web. Traditional engines, that try to mix in real time results – won’t be able to “know” for sure whether a searcher wants real time info or traditional info. It’s the user that knows what they want – and real time search is so unique, that for now at least, the real time searches are best performed on a site entirely focused on the real time.

* * *

Read more about Real Time Search on this blog.

Yes, it has been bad.  It is possibly the greatest 1-day reversal of fortunes in the history of the Internet.  Monday started off as a monumental day for Cuil with over 7.4 trillion articles and blog posts written about its launch.  Before Monday ended, it was reviewed by another 471 billion blogs and given a fail rating by all but 11 or so.

If you haven’t heard about it, you didn’t turn on your computer Monday.  Sadly, that would make you one of the lucky ones.  If you haven’t tried it, it’s worth a shot just so you’ll know that we aren’t just picking on it.  It’s that bad.  NetworkWorld said it was cold.  The New York Times pointed out various problems with Cuil, as did IT Pro, ZDNet, an eWeek.

WebProNews was a bit more blunt, saying that Cuil crashed and burned, while AlleyInsider said it was the “Worst.  Launch.  Ever.”

All of this is wonderfully scathing, but perhaps the truest testamony against the Google challenger-for-a-few-hours was picked up by Techcrunch.  Erich Schonfield noted that a search for “Cuil” ON cuil did not list their own website on the first page of results.

Wow.

The come and they go.  It’s the Internet.  There are a million failed websites for every one that makes it.  This one went from a monumental launch to a monumental failure faster than I thought possible, even by world wide web standards.

RIP.

* * *

Read more website reviews on this blog.

Everyone knows a nerd or two.  Do you know the top nerds in the world, and by top, I mean the people who took visionary nerdiness, elbow grease, and luck and translated it all into billion dollar companies?  Below, you will find 15 faces (nine singles, 3 doubles).  Most readers will be able to name 3 or 4.  Real techies can name 5-10.  If you can name more, you are a true guru.  All 15?  Well, there’s a special place for you.

To get the answers, simply place your mouse over the image until the alt tag pops up.  If it doesn’t, scroll down to the list of answers with links to the source stories where the pictures were found.  Are you ready?  Can you…

Name that Nerd?

#1

“We’ve done a lot but we are still a small company, just over 300 employees. There are a lot of interesting things happening in that space, however don’t know when it’s going to be, and as a small company we have to prioritize things. Something for the future.”

#2

“We had to use all of our credit cards and our friends’ credit cards and our parents’ credit cards.”

“Research on the Web seems to be fashionable these days and I guess I’m no exception.”

#3

“I admit that when I think of the money one could make from all this, I get a little twinge. But I’m pretty happy with nerd values: Get yourself a comfortable living, then do a little something to change the world.”

#4

“We ought to be looking at business as a force for good.”

“I was just pursuing what I enjoyed doing. I mean, I was pursuing my passion.”

“I’ve got a passion for solving a problem that I think I can solve in a new way. And that maybe it helps that nobody has done it before as well.”

#5

“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”

“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.”

“If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”

#6

“I actually thought that it would be a little confusing during the same period of your life to be in one meeting when you’re trying to make money, and then go to another meeting where you’re giving it away.”

#7

“But the idea that some day people would want to be able to interact and get stock quotes and talk with other people or all these different things, I just believed that was going to happen.”

“One of the biggest challenges we had in the first decade was not that many people had personal computers. There weren’t that many people to sell to, and it was hard to identify them.”

#8

“As a business, if you cannot change the law, follow the law.  Respect the local government. We’re not interested in politics. We’re just focused on e-commerce.”

“It helps a ton when you learn people’s names and don’t butcher them when trying to pronounce them.”

#9

“I think there’s a lot of niches out there that aren’t being filled — say, hundreds of thousands of people who want to learn how to cross stitch. I can’t say we’re going to make that show, but there would be an audience for it online. For us, it’s been gradually expanding out from the tech and geek genre; we have a music show now, and we’ve got a bunch of good shows coming up later this year.”

#10

“I tend to see people trying to do stuff that is an uphill struggle.  Pay attention to what works, and do that.”

“It sounds crazy, but even in the first plan that I wrote up, I mentioned AOL, Yahoo! and Hotmail, knowing we would be big. And it’s crazy to think that it happened.”

#11

“A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.”

#12

“I see our service as one that’s been needed for a long time. The pieces to make it all happen just weren’t in place until we came around.”

“We needed it to be a no-brainer.”

“We allowed the community to tell us what was entertaining them.”

“We are building a community, and we don’t want to bombard people with advertising.”

And the Answers… 

*

*

*

*

*

1- Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Founder

2- Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google Founders

3- Craig Newman, Craigslist Founder

4- Pierre Omidyar, eBay Founder

5- Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder

6- Bill Gates, Microsoft Founder

7- Steve Case, AOL Founder

8- Jerry Yang, Yahoo Founder

9- Kevin Rose, Digg Founder

10- Tom Anderson and Steve DeWolfe, MySpace Founders

11- Steve Jobs, Apple Founder

12- Chad Hurley and Steven Chen, YouTube Founders

Hope you enjoyed this little game, and I hope you scored well!  Go back to the Soshable homepage if you would like.

Between mid-and late-January, Google‘s traffic levels according to Alexa.com passed Yahoo! to become the highest traffic website in the world for the first time, other than two brief spurts in 2006.  It comes on the wake of several pieces of news centered around Yahoo!, including Microsoft’s unsolicited offer to buy them and planned layoffs.

Both sites have been hovering around each other in traffic since the beginning of 2006, bouncing regularly between 25% and 30% reach to internet users worldwide.  Yahoo! is still listed on the Alexa rankings as #1, but if Google stays put, this will change with the next ranking update.

Internet Analyst Paul Rushing says, “Google’s push toward personalizing their services with products such as iGoogle and Gmail has been bringing more people to use it for more than just a search engine.  People want one point through which to go about their internet activities.”

Could it just be a brief spike?  It’s always possible.  Alexa data is far from accurate, but the trends have been pointing towards a decline for a while now.  Take a look at the Page View trends for the last 3 years.  While Yahoo still has a lead, they are definitely in decline while Google is holding steady.

If Yahoo! is sold to Microsoft, it will mean an infusion of capitol and technology to help Yahoo! reclaim the top spot.  Otherwise, Google should be able to stay on top for a long time.

* * *

Read more on this social media blog or check out some of our social media recommendations.