"Search is a Pencil"

I will never forget that quote, from Alta Vista founder Louis Monier, as he bemoaned the devolution of his creation into Yet Another Portal. He was devoted to the idea that Alta Vista would do one thing–search–and do it well. But Alta Vista was instead turned into a bawdy image of Yahoo (YHOO), AOL, Lycos, Excite, and all the other portals of the late 90s.

And along came Google (GOOG), which by 2000 had gained a reputation as the Best Search on the Web. And Yahoo, eager to appropriate all things Best on the Web, was more than happy to give Google what Netscape had given Yahoo in the mid ’90s: a front row seat to Becoming the Next Big Thing.

Oops.

This is all a throat-clearing to Think Out Loud about Twitter and Facebook. (Like I’ve been doing anything else lately.)

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