Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
Google's weak in one particular area: I think Google relies on people trusting them. People are more and more aware of the fact that Google's primary business isn't search, it's advertising. And if people start to feel that Google is aggregating information about what they're doing on the Net -- if they start to lose trust in Google -- that could mean that they will start looking for an alternative. And that is an opportunity for another search engine to come along.
[marketplace.publicradio.org...]
Actually a story on Powerset, but an interesting perspective on G's vulnerability.
And an interesting forum for the discussion to boot. Pretty mainstream media NPR is. I thought it was pretty telling that the commentator states that people are becoming aware that G's primary business in NOT search, but rather it is advertising, and implicitly states that G's strength is not quality, but trust.
But, then again, every business has to make a profit. Isn't that why they call it a business to start with.
I don't think that Google was started with a philanthropic vision, do you?
The commentator has, IMHO, identified the Achilles heal of the G monolith. There are a few threads running right now talking about trust and G - check out thh .cn threads for example.
If the average person loses trust in G, then we may experience another sea change, ala altavista back in the day.
That doesn't necessariy mean losing trust in the SERPs. It means losing trust in the company, and what exactly they are doing with all of the information that they are aggregating.
I thought it was pretty telling that the commentator states that people are becoming aware that G's primary business in NOT search, but rather it is advertising
Yes, and Pepsico's primary business isn't soda, but food. That doesn't mean people don't regard Pepsi as the company's core product, or that the name "Pepsi" conjures up an image of a bag of corn chips or potato chips instead of a cola drink.
I think it will be a long time before the average Internet user says "Oh, yeah, Google--isn't that the advertising company that also does search?"
[edited by: europeforvisitors at 9:55 pm (utc) on Sep. 26, 2007]
It means losing trust in the company, and what exactly they are doing with all of the information that they are aggregating.
Yes, what to do with all of that information? And what does that mean about the company, if the information they use is used inproperly?
Wouldn't you not think though, that Google has already thought about this? I don't think they just fell off the apple truck yesterday. But I understand your point and the concept. :)
It matters not what I think, I suppose.
When the average surfer hears stuff like this in mainstream media, it might matter what they think.
At that point it might matter little what G thinks, or how well it has been thought through. People are a fickle lot, and herd mentality prevails. Facts seldom mean much (just look at the US housing and mortgage industry for a recent example). Perception is everything.
The observations of the commentator are, in my opinion, well placed as far as G's vulnerability. They take on added significance when one takes into account recent comments on these boards about issues such as .cn domains loading malware.
Trust can be a very fragile thing.
My intent in posting the quote was to start a discussion. I have no investment in defending the commentators point of view, nor is it my intent to portend G's failure and ultimate doom.
Simply thought it was a provocative blurb that arose in mainstream media, and that it might precipitate some interesting discussion here.
Trust can be a very fragile thing.Indeed this is true. :)
I whole heartedly agree about discussing this, especially in this forum. I also agree that the 'mainstream media' can VERY much influence those who are not "In The Know".
I do appreciate your thoughts and this forum for the thought provoking nature of it. In reading into the post a little bit, I would agree that no one is going to answer for Google but Google. And the name 'Google' could be substituted with any other business name for that fact. ;)
With every big update a huge amount of webmasters (myself included) profess about how google is losing quality and/or becoming downright irrelevant.
Well, I have changed my mind. The amount of people worldwide using Google absolutely dwarfs the amount of people that used Altavista during its very brief market leading position. The Internet is now vast - it wasn't then. Only "geeks" used the Internet then, now my Gran goes to "Google" as her starting point. The comparison between the two is now outdated.
Google has now been a market dominator of search for a number of years and seems to gain share whilst the Internet usage and demographic is growing.
My mum does not give a crap about the ".cn" spam problem because on the whole she still finds what she wants - I told her about it, still doesnt care. She does care about the advertising - she clicks on sponsored listings if they seem relevant to what she wants. She is fine with it - she isn't a webmaster that looks "deep" into the index quality for a variety of phrases.
For Google to lose trust now at this point is the equivalent of the world deciding that "swanson cola" is a better brand of cola than pepsi. That is not going to happen. I thought it could before, I just don't now - you don't become a verb and then lose out to distant competitors.
I don't even think it is about quality anymore - they only just need to do enough to satisfy the mass market, which is not the people on this forum anymore.
As the web grows the "intelligence" of the users goes down as the early adopters are the more tech confident and the late ones the least (and therefore least internet "intelligent"). That is why the tech bit of Google becomes even less irrelevant - as long as half a dozen listings on the front page match something they are looking for they will be happy.
Altavista may not be a good analogy. And, it is true that events like poisoned Tylenol, withdrawn Vioxx, tainted food, mad cow disease and recalled lead painted toys have been weathered by large companies over the years.
As far as SE usage, it is interesting to watch novices. My wife uses MSN because it is tied to her browser. My kids use Yahoo because it is tied to their online games, communities, email and chat.
They are generally happy with the results.
My wife uses MSN because it is tied to her browser.
Another one which I've encountered is someone who associated their browser with Yahoo. For them, clicking the blue 'e' was running Yahoo, because that's what they saw when they got there.
When it comes to Google, I suspect that for some sectors of Google's userbase, Google means search and they are not really aware that there are other search engines.
For that reason, I don't think it really matters what Google does with private data or whether they are an advertising firm; user contact is Search and that's what they will be known for.
clicking the blue 'e' was running Yahoo, because that's what they saw when they got there.Perception is to a certain degree, reality.
Oh, the Power of Branding. Trust the Brand? Time will tell.
P.S. I run IE 6.whatever and FF. When I start IE the homepage is my custom homepage on my box. When I open another tab I get Yahoo. Even though, in the set-up I've specified my personal homepage. So, I just have to simply click my home button on the browser and it switches from Yahoo to my page.
