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CBS “60 Minutes” piece on Google’s abuse of dominance

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Re: CBS “60 Minutes” piece on Google’s abuse of dominance

#31

Post by annexrichmond »

telltruth wrote: post #19

CBS interview leaves out critical details. Initially, Google was scrapping Yelp reviews to show snippets in their Google Places product. Yelp CEO didn't liked that and demanded to remove all snippets. Google said it had right to show snippets like any other websites and if Yelp says their content is "private" then Google shouldn't be crawling them at all. That's what they did. This caused Yelp to disappear from Googl…

> Personally, I don't think Google should be obliged to promote all kind of crappy 2nd rate products out there

1. So you believe anticompetitive practices are okay when you "personally" don't like the competing product.

2. It is not promoting Yelp when it is the organic search algorithm. The point is that they are demoting Yelp in favor of their own evidently inferior product, as their own algorithm would have otherwise ranked their own product lower in the organic setting.

> I hate Yelp. They are greedy bastards who have cornered up huge content entirely contributed by volunteers.

No bias here at all... How is this much different from the endless other free-to-use websites out there?

> Yelp reviews and ratings should be free and in open domain by vary nature of how it was created

So Yelp shouldn't try to build a brand. They should just host all the content and give it away.

Re: CBS “60 Minutes” piece on Google’s abuse of dominance

#32

Post by johnnyfaehell »

barry-cotter wrote: post #28
mattmanser wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One company doesn't get to unilaterally decide what is 'fair'.

True, but there should be a strong presumption that if some company wants to spend their money on a product it’s up to consumers to decide if it’s a success or not rather than the courts. If Yelp gets destroyed because Google decides to give away their entire value add for free that’s no more something that’s no more an injustice to Yelp than Android was to Blackberry, Microsoft or Apple.

This comment is mildly funny. You say it should be up to the consumers to decide the success. But that's not what is being suggested is happening. It's being suggested that one company is trying to hide another. It's like if you have a shop selling something and Big Shop Corp comes along and puts up a bunch of trees and bushes in around your shop so it looks like there is only a forest there and no shop. No one is being stopped from going to that shop, but they are being prevented from knowing about the fact there is a shop and the choice of going to that shop instead of Big Shop Corp.

Re: CBS “60 Minutes” piece on Google’s abuse of dominance

#33

Post by kolleykibber »

telltruth wrote: post #19

CBS interview leaves out critical details. Initially, Google was scrapping Yelp reviews to show snippets in their Google Places product. Yelp CEO didn't liked that and demanded to remove all snippets. Google said it had right to show snippets like any other websites and if Yelp says their content is "private" then Google shouldn't be crawling them at all. That's what they did. This caused Yelp to disappear from Googl…

Google's results are better than yelps. As soon as that isn't true, I'll download yelp again.

Re: CBS “60 Minutes” piece on Google’s abuse of dominance

#34

Post by brisance »

jaydz wrote: post #29
telltruth wrote: post #19

CBS interview leaves out critical details. Initially, Google was scrapping Yelp reviews to show snippets in their Google Places product. Yelp CEO didn't liked that and demanded to remove all snippets. Google said it had right to show snippets like any other websites and if Yelp says their content is "private" then Google shouldn't be crawling them at all. That's what they did. This caused Yelp to disappear from Googl…

Yelp is a trash company, lets not forget how they extorted small businesses for years.

I was not able to find a reputable source for this rumor.

Re: CBS “60 Minutes” piece on Google’s abuse of dominance

#35

Post by annexrichmond »

seltzered_ wrote: post #17
willart4food wrote: post #3

Yelp is not that innocent either, their "practices" are just as questionable, if not more questionable, than Google's.

Only sharing for reference, you reminded me that someone made a documentary ('billion dollar bully') about this (not released yet, but supposedly being premiered soon): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion_Dollar_Bully http://www.prostfilms.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHEbVh3Yhrw (recent interview with the film creator)

The creator has been saying it will be released "soon" for years. Pretty sure it flopped.

Re: CBS “60 Minutes” piece on Google’s abuse of dominance

#36

Post by mehrdadn »

brisance wrote: post #34
jaydz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yelp is a trash company, lets not forget how they extorted small businesses for years.

I was not able to find a reputable source for this rumor.

What would be the bar for a reputable source here? An official court conviction?

Re: CBS “60 Minutes” piece on Google’s abuse of dominance

#37

Post by adventured »

willart4food wrote: post #3

Yelp is not that innocent either, their "practices" are just as questionable, if not more questionable, than Google's.

It's not necessary to be innocent to be a legitimate witness to a crime, or victim of a crime.

Sainthood is not a prerequisite to having credibility.

Yelp's bad behavior does not mean they're wrong about Google's bad behavior. If Yelp's bad behavior needs correcting, you're suggesting that Google's behavior needs correcting 100x. These entities are not similar in size or economic power. They are not similar in the scale of detrimental effects they can have on consumers. A local radio monopoly, is not similar to Standard Oil's monopoly in the scale of consequence to society & consumers, despite both being monopolies; one is properly far more concerning than the other.

Re: CBS “60 Minutes” piece on Google’s abuse of dominance

#38

Post by greggman »

Yelp is crying sour grapes here.

There are so many ways they could have innovated to stay relevant but has anything changed in years there?

They could have hired professional reviewers. Yelp reviews are notoriously bad.

They could have let you choose what you prefer, example (quality vs quantity) and given you custom ratings or only included reviews from people that share similar tastes.

Following up on the last idea They could have tried to auto cluster reviewers. (people who rated these 5 places as having good taste also liked ...)

the could have scanned menus so you could ask "where can I get a pepperoni pizza at 3am" instead of at best being able to look up "pizza" and figure the rest out yourself.

How about "where can I get a table for 10". How about partner with as many restaurants as possible so I can ask "who's still got a table for 4 for steak and win between 7 and 9pm tonight"

And maybe nothing would save them but I at least for me reviews make sense on Google maps. That yelp couldn't see their audience was going to dry up seems no different than newspaper classifieds and Craigslist. Their quality certainly isn't better so ATM there is zero reason to go there.

Re: CBS “60 Minutes” piece on Google’s abuse of dominance

#39

Post by camillomiller »

greggman wrote: post #38

Yelp is crying sour grapes here. There are so many ways they could have innovated to stay relevant but has anything changed in years there? They could have hired professional reviewers. Yelp reviews are notoriously bad. They could have let you choose what you prefer, example (quality vs quantity) and given you custom ratings or only included reviews from people that share similar tastes. Following up on the last idea…

You might be right, but a company’s abuse of dominant position isn’t defined by the quality of their competitor’s offer.

Re: CBS “60 Minutes” piece on Google’s abuse of dominance

#40

Post by modi15 »

The problem is not Google. The problem is that the government is unable to get his head around an internet based monopoly. Google shouldnt be allowed to host more than 50% of searches by law.

In any other industry enjoying a monopoly position in search as google has enjoyed all these years would have reason enough to break it up into smaller pieces.

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