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Computer users are thrilled with Internet search engines, but that bliss may have its roots in ignorance.
That was the gist of a study released this week by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which is based in Washington, D.C.
"Users paint a very rosy picture of their online search experiences," Pew researchers noted in a copy of the study obtained by TechNewsWorld. "They feel in control as searchers; nearly all express confidence in their searching skills."
Of the 2,200 adults surveyed by the researchers by phone between May 14 and June 17 of last year, 92 percent said they felt confident about their searching abilities.
Other study results, however, suggest that self-confidence may be misplaced, especially when it comes to distinguished paid from "organic" search results.
Happy Ferreters
"They are happy with the results they find; again, nearly all report that they are usually successful in finding what they're looking for," researchers reported. According to the Pew survey, 87 percent of ferreters said they had successful search experiences most of the time; another 17 percent said they were successful all of the time.
And searchers are very trusting of what they find on the Net. The surveyors found that 68 percent of their sample said that search engines are a fair and unbiased source of information, with only 19 percent saying they didn't trust search engine results.
"In general, people are very trusting of things that they find on the Internet," Alan Gordon, president of Findit.com, a recently launched search engine. "Anyone can put up a Web site and say whatever they want. And if they're smart enough, they can get it to show up at the top of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). Does that mean what they wrote is accurate? Not at all."
Knowledge Gap
But the glowing reviews respondents gave search engines in the study may stem from their dearth of knowledge about the technology.
"While most consumers could easily identify the difference between TV's regular programming and its infomercials, or newspapers' or magazines' reported stories and their advertorials, only a little more than a third of search engine users are aware of the analogous sets of content commonly presented by search engines, the paid or sponsored results and the unpaid or 'organic' results," Pew reported.
"Overall," the researchers noted, "only about one in six searchers say they can consistently distinguish between paid and unpaid results."
"This finding is particularly ironic," they added, "since nearly half of all users say they would stop using search engines if they thought engines were not being clear about how they present their paid results."
No Blinking Lights
According to the study, "Users do not object in principle to the idea that search engines will include paid results, but they would like them to be upfront and clear about the practice of presenting paid results."
Obscurity and immaturity have contributed to the confusion over advertising and search findings, maintained Pew Senior Research Fellow Deborah Fallows.
"These paid results on search pages don't jump out at you the way traditional advertising on the Web does -- lots of blinking lights, stars and bright colors, pop-up ads and so forth," she told TechNewsWorld.
"On the other hand, people aren't mature enough yet in the use of the medium that they're thinking about it and looking for it and scrutinizing what they see on the Web."
Regulation in Wings?
As search engines work their way into the fabric of people's lives, their operators can expect to come under increased scrutiny by regulators, observed Chris Sherman, associate editor of SearchEngineWatch.com.
"I
certainly hope it doesn't get to the point where search engines are
perceived as something that is in need of regulation," he told
TechNewsWorld. "I would hope that they would act in the best interests of
everybody, and the mechanism for judgment there is that people vote with
their thumbs. They'll click elsewhere if they're not getting what they
want."
