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Re: Google Posts

#91
While there would be a lot of fear of Google interfering with public discourse, it is key to point out that there are over 1,600 presidential candidates. How many of them do you even recognize? How does the country know that there isn't another great president who just didn't make enough to have public impact?

This can actually decouple correlations between spending and winning. Maybe then we would have a government by the people, not by the big corp.

Re: Google Posts

#92
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Terrifying? I assume you're living in a constant state of fear then, because television networks already have and use that power. On the contrary I'd say that in this field the more players there are, the better.

There are thousands of television channels. As far as most people are concerned, when it comes to search, there is only Google.

There are not thousands of television channels in the US that will broadcast political content such that presidential candidates can push their message across them.

The average American household has access to just 150-200 TV channels, total. Most of those would never carry anything related to the election. The vast majority of those are specific content carriers: movies, music, on-demand, sports. You're down to having a few dozens channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNBC, MSNBC, local affiliates etc) that a candidate can push through.

There are 2,200x tv stations in the US. Most of those are small, local stations with zero national or regional reach.

There are thousands of online sites and platforms that at least have as large of an audience as those stations. All of those sites can be reached by almost anyone in the US, which is not true of the local TV stations.

Further, there is nothing even remotely like: Reddit, Twitter, Wordpress, Tumblr, Facebook, et al. in the television realm, where just about anyone can reach a national audience if their message resonates (and do so for free). There is also nothing like the app options that are available online, whether Snapchat, Instagram, or voter reach apps like NationBuilder.

Re: Google Posts

#93

It is scary how much power and influence Google now have in setting the agenda for public discourse. When this opens up to other "prominent figures and organizations", it will be at Google's discretion who is worthy of the public's attention and which issues and areas will get this treatment. This seems a step beyond simply organising the world’s information. Even if it's with the best intentions, the fact is that th…

Clearly it's a direct assault on Twitter.

This is no doubt the outcry they are hoping for, with the intent being to open it up fully to everyone qualified to be a Twitter user. The exclusivity is just to build hype and cachet for PR purposes.

Re: Google Posts

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are thousands of television channels. As far as most people are concerned, when it comes to search, there is only Google.

There are not thousands of television channels in the US that will broadcast political content such that presidential candidates can push their message across them. The average American household has access to just 150-200 TV channels, total. Most of those would never carry anything related to the election. The vast majority of those are specific content carriers: movies, music, on-demand, sports. You're down to havi…

More importantly those 150-200 channels or few dozen political content channels are owned by a VERY small number of very large corporations. Five or so.

Re: Google Posts

#97

I wonder if this is open to all 1,649 presidential candidates, or just 2 or 5? http://www.fec.gov/data/Form2Filer.do?format=html On another note, I wonder if this has anything to do with Medium who has been positioning itself in Washington and C-suites as the "default place for people to go when they have ideas of consequence." http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/how-medium-is-breaking...

So if it's open to the whole list, then the cost to get access is effectively $5000.

Re: Google Posts

#98
post #2

This infuriates me as a Twitter stockholder and user. Has everyone at Twitter fallen asleep? How could they not have the jump on Google on this.

This is a bit of a snide remark on my part, but maybe the fact that that Dorsey is trying to run two separate companies at the same time may explain some of Twitters aimlessness.

Re: Google Posts

#99
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Terrifying? I assume you're living in a constant state of fear then, because television networks already have and use that power. On the contrary I'd say that in this field the more players there are, the better.

There are thousands of television channels. As far as most people are concerned, when it comes to search, there is only Google.

But they're owned by about 6 companies: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/democracyondeadline/media...

The web is vastly more open and representative.

Re: Google Posts

#100
post #97

I wonder if this is open to all 1,649 presidential candidates, or just 2 or 5? http://www.fec.gov/data/Form2Filer.do?format=html On another note, I wonder if this has anything to do with Medium who has been positioning itself in Washington and C-suites as the "default place for people to go when they have ideas of consequence." http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/how-medium-is-breaking...

So if it's open to the whole list, then the cost to get access is effectively $5000.

Maybe on paper, but the FEC makes it easy to get on that list without any proof of identity. There are tons of joke candidates, like Crawfish Crawfish.
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