14 DAY TRIAL // These days, we expect to find any piece of information we need on the Internet at just a search away. However, it seems that while the content online may be ever increasing, the search tools for finding that content may not be keeping up. A new research conducted by Outsell found that professionals searching for information online do not get the results they want in a proportion of 36 percent.
“Time spent pulling up information is dropping, but zeroing in on the highest quality content for decision making is getting more difficult,” said Roger Strouse, Vice President and Lead Analyst, Outsell. “Organizations are likely to depend more on information managers to purchase and centralize this quality information, although these individuals face reduced budgets.”
The survey showed some interesting findings on how professionals are using search and their habits related to information finding tasks. The number of people starting the search on an Internet site went down to 57 percent in 2009 from a reported 79 percent in 2001, while searches beginning on an intranet went up from 5 percent in 2001 to 25 percent today.
The report showed that social networking has seen a huge increase in professional use, with more than 50 percent of the participants using this type of services. The top social network used for “professional” or “professional and personal” purposes was LinkedIn with 87 percent, followed by Ning with 47 percent, Twitter with 39 percent, Bebo with 36 percent, and Facebook with just 18 percent.
The survey was conducted on 5,660 information users in the US and UK from a variety of domains and backgrounds like corporate, education, government, and healthcare. The focus was on their information gathering behavior and time spending and participants were questioned on their habits, needs and preferences, as well as their preferred types and formats.