What Do You Use Search Engines For?

Chatting with colleague Dan Thornton I said outloud something that's been festering at the back of my mind. And I want to share it with you.

"I only use search to find people and companies. For everything else I follow what other people point me at."

And to be honest, I follow links for much of the people and company checking out, too.

And it got me wondering. Am I a bit of a social media freak, or actually pretty normal in a world rapidly headed away from discovering people through content (perhaps a match with the Newtonian world of mass media) and toward discovering content through people (a fit with the evolutionary, long-tailed, user-as-destination networked world)?

When I wrote Portability is the new Pointworthy (Why Links Won't Matter), I was thinking a few steps into the future.

But what I know I am doing right now, time and time again, is turning to people to provide the links - not algorithms.

So freak or not? How are you using search now?