NINE BELLS post-search

Came across that term in a Creative Boom article in July, which is when I’m writing this note. The full phrase is “a post-AI, post-search and post-social world.” Are we post-AI yet? I feel like what’s arrived so far is mostly empty promises. Post-social (media)? Well, yeah, but most people don’t see it that way yet. They even think TikTok is social media, and it’s not – it has no social graph, its algo is basically souped-up TiVo, it’s television with a comments section.

Sometimes I think old-style public access cable television ate the planet and nobody noticed.

But post-search. That feels right. Search has been crippled for a while now. Search being a fundamental function of the web, even saying the word “post-search” feels weird and worrying. Is that where we all are now? Hoping the “AI” “search” answer at the top of Google results is right?

I just found out that Searchblog is still running – https://battellemedia.com/ .