Over the past year, I’ve developed a new habit. I now add “Reddit'' at the end of my Google searches. This search habit has carried over to other social media platforms: if I have a hike in mind, I search the location tag on Instagram. For product reviews, I go to TikTok. This shift from Google to social media platforms is my reaction to traditional search engines becoming increasingly filled with sponsored, click-bait, and filler content. Searching online has become a social act to find real content and perspectives. Today, to search is to be social.
I’m not alone in this behavior. The transition from traditional search to social search is fundamentally changing how we discover information, consume content, and interact with the world. In 2022, Google revealed that nearly 40% of young people turn to TikTok and Instagram to discover lunch options. Following this trend, TikTok released a commercial called #TikTokTaughtMe that shows the app providing a range of userful user-content on parenting, traveling, and cooking hacks. Even high schoolers use the platform to search for advice like “teacher letter recommendation” as reported in The New York Times.
Social media is capitalizing on social search where user-generated content and social interactions, such as likes, comments, and shares, are prioritized over traditional search engines. Content creators are reimagining search as a tool for discovery rather than a result to a question, where the discourse and its delivery is both visually and aesthetically more interesting than the final report. A desire for fresh and unfiltered user-content is growing in a time when conversational AI chats are on the rise.This shift towards social search stands in stark contrast to the digital landscape of a decade ago.
I recently watched a new Asian-American coming-of-age movie, Dìdi. The movie takes place in 2008 in the Myspace and AIM chats era where content flowed more slowly. It reminded me of how singular the search experience used to be. Google searches took you from point A to B using a perfected search query while social media stayed in its own lane.
Online search was never destined to remain as a purely functional tool for information retrieval, serving solely as an answer to a question. As Google co-founders described in their 1998 paper, advertising has always been the primary business model for search engines. Earlier this year, Nilay Patel from the Verge had Google CEO Sundar Pichai search for “best chromebook” to convey how overwhelming Google search results have become: is a Google search a waypoint or destination? Seeking unfiltered user-generated content is a response to the convergence of deceptive e-commerce and streamlined AI. Sifting through excessive information to decipher what is valuable and authentic makes user-generated content feel superior. A Instagram Reel or Reddit post by a user 10 minutes ago can feel more relatable and timely than any content predating it.
The risks are high when social search becomes the only way of receiving information online. TikTok embraces a mirror within a mirror effect, where a video can have a comment section that leads to a video response that leads to another. The clever use of search suggestions within a post creates a never ending dialogue for you to consume. When I’m on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram, I get spun towards topics I never knew I needed or wanted. This evolution in search has reshaped my Seattle experience. Instead of relying on a dated blog post or online map, I rely on local TikTok influencers for weekly commentary on new restaurants and events in the area. I see meetups gaining traction from a single Instagram Reel, and while sitting at the new Backyard Bagel opening in Fremont, I couldn’t help but wonder if online virality fed into its popularity. This convergence of online and offline experiences is redefining what it means for media to be “social.”
Social media is now a breeding ground for “authentic” content. Google recently announced in February it will have access to Reddit’s API to train Google products using user-generated content on Reddit to display more relevant search results. This is the commodification of authenticity, where genuine human interactions are being used to train, humanize, and advance AI models, but will this be enough to reign over real-time virality and commentary by online users? Ultimately, the future of search will depend on our ability to balance the benefits of social interaction with the need for accurate and trustworthy information.
When searching online increasingly feels like being in a noisy room, it feels instinctive to trust the source that has a username and bio with lived experiences. Rather than being presented with a perfect answer, we want a seat at the table to join the chat.
