Charlene Li authored a new paper on search engine user loyalty and posted a summary on her weblog. The $50 six-page paper cites extensive customer survey data. Some interesting findings:
- MSN gained substantial share as the default browser home page. (Internet Explorer no doubt)
- MSN has a slight lead in toolbar users. (related to Messenger installs?)
- Almost half of all toolbar users also use another toolbar.
Charlene concludes that customers are becoming more sophisticated and specialized search companies will take away market share from Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. Feedster is mentioned as a player in the RSS specialty.