Microsoft says tailoring search results based on query history will beat google. IMO, no. Let’s say MS found a way to figure out the real intention of people by leveraging the query history. Will I leave google? No. Why? Because I simply don’t want to be left out. And I don’t think this feeling applies only to me. Here’s a scenario: Paris hilton shoots another sex video and it *somehow* gets released to the Internet. Do I need a personalized search here? I don’t want to be directed to the paris hilton hotel website just because I have been searching for tripadvisor to plan for for my upcoming vacation. I just want the freakin’ video. I don’t want to be left out. That’s what mainstream thinks. Same goes for services like netvibes. I want to see what other people are seeing, and the best place to find that information is probably Yahoo
People don’t want to be left out. Personalization may be powerful when the personalized content or whatever is delivered to you directly because you are receiving a pleasant surprise. But when you are actively searching for something, you don’t want a surprise. You don’t want to find out that you have been somehow blocked from information to which others are able to access, just because you typed in some queries that affected the search results.
Personalized service? Yes. But Personalized search? No.
