The Future of Search

“When people search [the Internet], they aren’t just looking for nouns or information; they are looking for action.” A venture capitalist says search engines are changing for the better. “[When people search the Internet] they want to book a flight, reserve a table, buy a product, cure a hangover, take a class, fix a leak, resolve an argument, or occasionally find a person, for which Facebook is very handy. They mostly want to find something in order to do something,” says Internet investor Esther Dyson. This contrasts the current function of search engines which is simply to provide information related to the query. Dyson explains the specific strategies Microsoft and Google use to improve their search capabilities.