Another rehash on “the future of search” – this one from Fast Company. OK, ready? It’s…contextual, behavioral targeting, and local. Whoa. I have to keep in mind that the readers of larger magazines are not search enthusiasts, but still…the cliches (“Meet the future of advertising!”), the careworn anecdotes (they trotted out the Adsense-displays-luggage-ads-next-to-suitcase-murder story, gleefuly planted by Overture last summer), the lack of analysis. Is this how you justify shipping atoms around the nation? At least my “intent over content” meme gets a boost, from Charlene Li, at Forrester. “You could never target intent before, in any medium,” says Li, capturing what’s exciting about the new method. “You just put your message out there around content that seemed likely to attract the right people and hoped it worked.”
Glad to see that idea spreading.