Context has said to be the way of the future for the world wide web and the way search engines begin to work for us proactively. At this point, when you go to a search engine and start typing something in, only then does it start working for you and figuring out how it best assist you based on your search. But what if a search engine could start working before you even begin typing information into it?

This is where context comes into play. We are moving into a future where the web and search engines will be able to share relevant information with users in order to better their experience and meet their needs. By utilizing context for discovery, a search engine will begin to think before you do and show you things you may have never known you needed.

Right now, you can only tell about a person and their interest by reviewing multiple social platforms and using them together to gather information. Once data can be collected over multiple platforms, only then can it begin to analyze its data. Keywords are another way that people can be connected and understood. When you can associate a particular keyword over many platforms to a person, you can understand how it relates to them. But, with our current web, we are unable to do so, so we can’t fully grasp that knowledge.

Today’s technology is working towards pre-search, that analyzes intent which finds relevant information, that is predictive. Having the right tools in order to retrieve and utilize data will be a determining factor in moving into a contextualized web. When we can move all information from user profiles into one spot, there is a better chance of being able to understand what the needs are.

Although there are a large number of companies working towards this type of predictive information system on the web, they don’t have all the tools needed. It’s essential to pull apart users and look at them one by one instead of putting each under one category. Understanding what makes a specific site and information relevant to the users of today and tomorrow will give us insight into how we will move forward to a world where data will be presented to you before you even ask.