D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, teamed up a couple of years ago with a cartoonist to create fun and instructive guides on how to make things yourself.
In my experience working with companies large and small, the question is less about whether people will rely more on search or social for information, but more about what situations call for search and social visibility and how can we get them integrated to create an experience that guides the consumer along the sales cycle.
This approach uses customer-buying patterns to create the best product offering, and simultaneously guides customers to the best choices based on what is on hand.