Using Google
2007-12-21 09:10PM PST/Home
I was having lunch with an old friend/former coworker of mine and her daughter the other day. They came by for a visit, and at one point they leaned in conspiratorially and quietly asked the question, "Tell me, do you use Google?"
I get that a lot when people find out I work for Yahoo!
My response is always the same, "Of course!" And they lean back and smile and nod until I say, "Of course, I use both." And the smile slides off their face and they start to look at me like I'm slightly mad. Well of course I use both. Is that so surprising? What surprises me is that so many people only use one. When a result sucks on Yahoo!, of course I try it on Google, and vice versa. Why wouldn't I?
Update 2008-02-16: Interesting article on the demographics of search published by hitwise, Yahoo! Search Draws Younger Audience; Google Users Big Spenders Online. The one group I found most interesting was the one they have pegged as "Varying Lifestyles". It has both a high Yahoo! and Google representation index. And they spend almost as much online as "Affluent Suburbia", which seems to use Google more exclusively. I wish there were a definition for representation index.