The End of “Just Google It”? Twitter-Based Search Behavior

Let me be up-front about this from the beginning: this is a half-formed thought. But its implications are very, very interesting.

So here’s what just happened: I had a desire to take in some emerging thoughts in the user experience field. I wanted some fresh thinking, some exposure to new presentations.

For about 8 years, my first instinct has been a) browse to Google, b) type in “user experience”, and c) browse the list of returned search results to see if anything new strikes my fancy.

This morning, I didn’t do that.

Without even realizing I was changing an ingrained habit, I went to Twitter.com, typed “#ux” in the search box, and browsed the list of returned tweets. I clicked a few, starred a few, and made a mental note to come back and check out some of the links to preso’s.

Then I sat bolt upright when I realized what had just happened.

This, colleagues and readers, is an early warning. An indication that one of my consumer habits is open to change, and could very well tip into a new and different routine.

And if it happened to me, it can happen to any of us.

I don’t know if you’re grokking the import of what happened, so I’ll restate it: something in my sub- or semi-conscious mind decided that the resource I’ve been relying on for years might not be cutting it any more, and it directed me to try a more real-time and dynamic resource.

I will certainly follow up on this in future posts. But right now, I think this incident opens up several interesting research and design questions, such as:

• How much of customer behavior is consciously directed, and how much is directed by the sub-, un-, or semi-conscious?
• What factors influence customers’ willingness to change behavior?
• What are the leverage points for changing customers’/users’ habits?

Tagged as: Behavior, Google, knowledge_management, Measurement & Assessment, Navel Gazing, Research, search, Twitter