Are You Engaging in Recreational Search?

Here’s something I’ve been wondering about: Is there room for recreational search?

First, a little background…

When I joined Viewzi in December, I had a very real fear that we would be perceived as a novelty. At the time, Viewzi was a great concept. But the execution… I found myself advocating for a ton of very mundane things. Is this usable? Why did you break my scroll wheel? Why would someone actually use this? What’s the functional value of that ‘spinny’ thing? I probably annoyed some people with my relentless nagging. But, usability, utility, usefulness— you have to get these right in order to create a great experience.

At the time, Viewzi was an all-Flash solution, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing— objectively. But just the choice to use Flash (in any capacity) is an emotionally charged topic. That, and there’s a history of failed Flash visualizations and experiments that we didn’t want to be associated with. Aside from this issue, there were dozens of little quirks-- no page states (which meant no bookmarking urls), a search path that didn’t let you stay within the same view, screen real estate issues, and other things— that became painfully obvious when we began using this as our full-time search.

Accordingly, much of what you see today is the result of us focusing on making this a useful and usable (and desirable) tool that could replace your search engine of choice.

So, it surprised me a bit when I began reading reviews like this one:

If one were to draw a metaphor for Viewzi, it would be the Porsche Carrera to Toyota’s Camry. It’s an evening or weekend thrill. Something to play with. A new route to take from A to B (and then to C, to D, to E, etc.).

via Mashable

and this:

I found myself caught up in my searching–it’s almost as addictive as StumbleUpon. It probably won’t replace the quick, simple efficiency of Google, but it might just make your list of alternative search tools

via Marketing Pilgrim

and this:

Generally, I don’t like to spend a lot of time in search; destinations are far more interesting. Though, with viewzi, you might forget you are just searching.

hackd

Here’s what’s interesting: No one has called us a novelty. In fact, quite the opposite--we’re possibly “a hint of what the future of search will look like” and we make “visual search usable.” Our hard work is paying off.

But, the feedback doesn’t necessarily advocate Viewzi as a replacement for a certain search engine, either. Instead, there’s a third option emerging: Viewzi as the weekend joyride. Clearly better for certain types of activities, but not necessarily for everyday use…

I had never thought of Viewzi in quite this way. And while I’ve long believed even the most ruthlessly task-focused activities can also be emotionally engaging, my mental model of search is (or has been) that it is a means to an end. However, the response to Viewzi is making me rethink this…

People are clearly having fun using Viewzi. And in the process I’m seeing a new form of search begin to emerge, one that is more recreational than utilitarian (not that we should be any less focused on quickly connecting people to results!).

So, what do you think? Are we creating a new kind of search experience? Can search be fun?