(Disclaimer: Google employee, previously unaware of this program until it showed up on HN, speaking for myself and not the company.)
My guess is that this is trying to advocate for the open web, draw attention to all the ways that the web has changed our lives, and brainstorm new ways for it to continue impacting lives. It feels like the open web is under attack a lot these days, from various angles like walled-garden social networks, proprietary app stores, spammers, etc.
Remember that the vast majority of Google's revenue still comes from AdWords and AdSense. The more people use the open web, the more they search, the more they click on ads, and the bigger Google's revenue. Also, the more data that's available to Google and the better their algorithms can perform, which lets them put out better products.
When people use the open web, Google's stock price rises with no extra effort needed. When people switch to proprietary products, it's an existential threat to Google's business model.
So yes, this is done out of self-interest, but it's a case where a corporation's interests align with consumers. As a user (& a potential startup founder in the future), I very much want to keep the Internet free & open.
I very much understand the motivation behind it, it's just the means that is shockingly tacky and uncharacteristic. A slogan contest for the importance of the open web? Really?
Actually I'm referencing all kinds. Telco engineers were notoriously famous for not understanding the Internet as they thought in terms of channels and services and could not grok the advantages of best effort packet switching.
For those who seem confused, this is an effort on the part of Google to take the energy and momentum from the anti-SOPA victory and turn it into something proactive. I for one applaud it. For too long, we have been taking a purely defensive posture, where we wait until the next existential threat to the open internet pops up, and only then do we get active.
We need to start pushing our own agenda -- one that protects the free exchange of ideas and innovation online. Let the MPAA and their allies be the ones playing defense.
If that is what they are trying to do, I applaud it... however, Google probably have their own reasons. They want to be seen as the good guys on the web, even though they are tracking all of us along with Facebook and the others.
By the way, CISPA is the next retarded idea to kill the internet... I guess it will never stop.
By the way, CISPA is the next retarded idea to kill the internet... I guess it will never stop.
Unless Google is truly committed to some "open web" idea, in which case they would do better than collecting tweets by throwing their weight and money around to ensure an open Internet.
No, I mean like paying for enough lobbyists to get legislation passed that would make SOPA/PIPA/CISPA/PCIPA impossible in the future. To enshrine Internet freedom.
Currently, the discourse is oriented around the Internet having too much freedom and that it naturally needs reining in.
Yeah. I think all of the internet companies need to start lobbying like they were possessed, while everyone that can needs to start trying trying at the same time to push for de-corrupting the political system.
Funny that a search engine company wouldn't be able to derive this kind of information from the contents of their own servers. People have been giving them their thoughts in the form of the entire internet for 15 years, so this really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Google is supposed to be the smartest of the smart, so how did that lead them to run a Twitter survey?
seems to me that in the last, oh, call it 9 months to a year that Google has been building up speed to jump a mighty big shark. maybe this trend goes back as far as when they realized that gravy-wavy was flopping.
It's a simple A/B test. They're seeing which social network is the most popular by how many clicks its button gets, even with the page itself being hosted on Google.
30 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 45.6 ms ] threadMy guess is that this is trying to advocate for the open web, draw attention to all the ways that the web has changed our lives, and brainstorm new ways for it to continue impacting lives. It feels like the open web is under attack a lot these days, from various angles like walled-garden social networks, proprietary app stores, spammers, etc.
Remember that the vast majority of Google's revenue still comes from AdWords and AdSense. The more people use the open web, the more they search, the more they click on ads, and the bigger Google's revenue. Also, the more data that's available to Google and the better their algorithms can perform, which lets them put out better products.
When people use the open web, Google's stock price rises with no extra effort needed. When people switch to proprietary products, it's an existential threat to Google's business model.
So yes, this is done out of self-interest, but it's a case where a corporation's interests align with consumers. As a user (& a potential startup founder in the future), I very much want to keep the Internet free & open.
It's a lot easier to articulate what the Internet isn't, and one of those things is channels.
Seriously, is there some grander message I'm missing?
We need to start pushing our own agenda -- one that protects the free exchange of ideas and innovation online. Let the MPAA and their allies be the ones playing defense.
By the way, CISPA is the next retarded idea to kill the internet... I guess it will never stop.
Unless Google is truly committed to some "open web" idea, in which case they would do better than collecting tweets by throwing their weight and money around to ensure an open Internet.
[1]http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20109630-93/eric-schmidts-o...
Currently, the discourse is oriented around the Internet having too much freedom and that it naturally needs reining in.
It's not going to be a small effort.
I remember watching the Ugachaka Baby Video in the min 90's. Anyone else remember the original viral videos?
Once there is enough data, analyze it to see the kind of needs people have and what they're looking for.
Once the needs have been identified, create products to fulfill them.
Google is supposed to be the smartest of the smart, so how did that lead them to run a Twitter survey?
this is just more of the same.
;)