Hallelujah! A Viewzi Conversion Story.
Months ago, when I first got an invite to the closed beta program to take Viewzi for a spin, it still had some wrinkles to iron out (and, admittedly, it still does). I remember thinking, “Well, this is gorgeous and all, but Google is way faster.â€
And now I work here. Something must have changed my outlook, huh?
I imagine that a lot of people probably have a reaction similar to mine when they first use Viewzi, and that reaction is probably the single greatest hurdle for us (and any alternative search method) to overcome: that, for the majority of people, the benchmarks of a successful search experience are speed and relevance. These are the metrics that The Big Search Engines have focused on heavily, and therefore trained us all to identify as the measure of success. And, in large part, these are qualities that we all appreciate and demand for certain search activities (even us Viewzers!). We’re busy folk, and getting information fast is often the most necessary of requirements.
Google is great. Viewzi does not want to be Google. Or be like Google. Or ‘beat’ Google. One look at the Viewzi search model and it’s clear that it is nothing like a big search engine, and can’t compete with the efficiency and horsepower they harnesses. Viewzi certainly doesn’t give speed and relevance short shrift, but for us search isn’t just about efficiency, algorithms, and page loads measured in milliseconds. Viewzi is about context.
Context is the gem in the Viewzi crown, and the brilliant mind-shift that we are proposing to the world of search. Once I understood this one fundamental principle, my mind began to quickly see where Viewzi could take search. Not only could search results be visually rich and populated by information from hand-picked expert data sources (instead of the entire internet), it could make information discoverable in a way I haven’t seen done before.
Imagine searching for a city name; you might be looking for the weather (or anything, really), but Viewzi could also serve up a Local Events View (still working on that one) in addition to the Weather View, offering a map full of weekend activities in that city. Surprise, surprise; it wasn’t what you were expecting, but darned if it didn’t give you some great options for the weekend.
Imagine searching for “iron manâ€; the context of this search term could be that you want to see the movie trailer, or read reviews, or—heck—shop all the Iron Man comic books. C’mon—how cool would a Comic Book View be? Get ready to rediscover the joy of comic book collecting! Again, it’s probably not a way to view search results that you would have expected, and certainly not an option you would be offered by a traditional text-based search service.
Not only do Views strive to present information in a more interesting, enjoyable, appropriate and context-sensitive way, they can also open the door to discovery. Discover local events. Rediscover a love of comic books. There are a lot of possibilities here.
There are so many facets to every search that we have a board literally spilling over with View ideas. The more Views that get built, the more context and discoverability searches will have. We’re cranking away!
But the greatest thing about Viewzi is that it’s still just in beta. We are listening to feedback, refining interfaces, tweaking processes and throwing ideas against the wall. Whether it be designing new Views (for even more contextual coverage!), thinking up iPhone-specific Views, planning a Dashboard/desktop widget or extending the capabilities of built-in browser search fields to allow launching your search in your favorite Views from there, we’re always thinking of the next way we can make Viewzi more integral to our collective search habits and needs.
This platform has huge potential. I see it in a far different light than I did a few months ago. My passion is finding ways to bring that “a-ha!†moment of Viewzi clarity closer to the surface—more immediately digestible and understandable to (new) users.
Do you have a conversion story? I hope so!
Comments
Wade Winningham said:
My personal experience is similar to your own. I didn’t get it at first, but Viewzi has became the place where I go when I wanted to see images. Since the recipes view has been added, that’s now becomes a preference for that type of search. In these cases, I don’t care how fast the results come in, it’s just a better overall experience.
This just leads to thinking up other ways to view types of content. Your comic book view is a perfect example. I mentioned a source code view in a comment on another post. I’ve even thought about how Viewzi could be a really good solution for a corporate intranet for a document search. I suppose for public documents a document view using Scribd as the background engine would be nice.
Right now, the Viewzi home page feels like a blank slate. I need to type in my search term and dive in to really get a feel for it. I think the media searches best get across the idea, so maybe a simple link like “If you’re mind’s a blank right now, how about some pictures of the desert.” I guess pictures of dessert would be good,too. Just something to get people into a view that’s likely to entice them to make that initial exploration.
Posted on July 08, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Jared said:
I agree about the home page. I think the video is supposed to address that “okay, what does all this mean?” moment, but video isn’t succinct enough. I kind of like the idea of a way to launch into a view… maybe have a list of the top searches, clickable and launched in the View most used for the search term? Could be a possibility…
Posted on July 09, 2008 at 10:39 AM
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“Google is great. Viewzi does not want to be Google. Or be like Google. Or ‘beat’ Google”, I love this sentence. If we can put Google aside then viewzi is a big invention in the industry of Search Engines. Perhaps I have seen this new idea as a form of Snap or kartoo but viewzi has much more interactive front end. My expectations are high so keep up the good work.
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