The more I immerse myself into the world of conversational technology, the more clear it seems to me that it best exists on a different plane from Search. I’m increasingly convinced that Google wants to treat conversations as a means of parsing and ingesting conversational questions into a search answer. Converting right-brain exploration into left-brain challenges of synthesis and order – as if the entire point of a conversation is to derive an answer to a question.
Perhaps we have the proverbial nail-hammer mindset in action. I’ve characterized Google in the past as the awkward nerd at a party. You know the type. A tad desperate to fit in socially, invariably trying too hard to win over the guests with encyclopedic interjections. The conversational nerd rarely fits in, as he tries to complete every conversation with a “best answer” completion of a dialog, versus a participatory comment.
The beauty in conversations revolves around serendipity and discovery – free-wheeling dialog where questions are often answered that were never really asked. A tremendous amount of knowledge is developed through collaborative discovery; conversational technology seems to hold the unique promise to ignite this knowledge development. However, the phraseology of search seems ill-fitted to the party. It’s damn frustrating for someone who generally knows more to step back and let a conversation meander.
Yet, how often does the conversational nerd get invited back?
After just reading a GoogleBlog post from the SVP of Product Management, I couldn’t help but to add-on to this post, with a few select quotes that continue to build a profile of how Google looks at conversations. I’m not one to quote ValleyWag, but their title “The Height of Google’s Hubris” seems very fitting.
From this “state of the world” posting from Google Senior Management.
…We won’t (and shouldn’t) try to stop the faceless scribes of drivel, but we can move them to the back row of the arena….
…No one argues the value of free speech, but the vast majority of stuff we find on the web is useless. The clamor of junk threatens to drown out voices of quality….
…Putting the power to publish and consume content into the hands of more people in more places enables everyone to start conversations with facts. With facts, negotiations can become less about who yells louder, but about who has the stronger data. They can also be an equalizer that enables better decisions and more civil discourse….
To me, this seems to reinforce the way Google views mainstream conversational media: the majority of what everyday people have to say is “drivel” that deserves to be sent to the “back row of the arena” while “voices of quality” are pushed forward. Pretty illuminating commentary from the guy in charge of products.
