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They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil

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Re: They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil

#11
post #10

Just last week, I wrote that Google+ was going to mess up the Internet by turning Web search into a popularity contest. Didn't google revolutionize search over a decade ago by doing exactly that?

I see what you mean. But at that time, Google results weren't tied to personal identities, which had no clear definition yet, and that's what this whole Google+ project has been about.

Re: They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil

#13

I reject your premise. Further segregating the echo chamber of the internet is not a good thing.

But here's the thing: this actually lifts the lid on the echo chamber to be more open than it was yesterday. Google recognizes that global search is a necessary option. Before this update, it looked like G+ was just going to be rammed down every Google user's throat. Now we can opt out without having to log out!

I agree with you. Prior to this, the only way to get global search was to add &pws=0 to the URL. Now, it's a button. It's a big step forward, and not that I don't like the "bubble", it has its advantages (increased relevance). It's fantastic to be able to switch between the two modes at the click of a button, and it's something we didn't have before.

Re: They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be suicide to do it now . What about in some months, when everybody has forgot about the debate and most of the users are constantly logged on google+ and use the feature as their standard search? Again, Facebook does it all the time and manages to pull it off on a regular basis.

I can't think of an example of Facebook taking away a preference setting that users have adopted. Even Facebook doesn't take away controls it has freely given. It would be one thing to take away the toggle button. That might happen, and it would suck if it did. But to go in and pull out a user setting that people are using, that would be astonishing.

How about the ability to hide your friends list from people you aren't friends with?

Re: They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil

#15
This includes Google+ content but not GDocs/Gmail content? If Google wants to really personalize my search and discovery I want universal tags. Let me browse my content by tags across services. If I have 2 documents, 1 contact and 3 emails tagged (labeled) 'HN' I want to be able to go into gmail (or some other page) search label:HN and see all 6 'things'

Re: They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil

#16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But here's the thing: this actually lifts the lid on the echo chamber to be more open than it was yesterday. Google recognizes that global search is a necessary option. Before this update, it looked like G+ was just going to be rammed down every Google user's throat. Now we can opt out without having to log out!

I agree with you. Prior to this, the only way to get global search was to add &pws=0 to the URL. Now, it's a button. It's a big step forward, and not that I don't like the "bubble", it has its advantages (increased relevance). It's fantastic to be able to switch between the two modes at the click of a button, and it's something we didn't have before.

It's not just a button, either. You can opt out entirely from preferences.

Re: They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil

#17
post #15

This includes Google+ content but not GDocs/Gmail content? If Google wants to really personalize my search and discovery I want universal tags. Let me browse my content by tags across services. If I have 2 documents, 1 contact and 3 emails tagged (labeled) 'HN' I want to be able to go into gmail (or some other page) search label:HN and see all 6 'things'

Enable 'Apps Search' from here:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#settings/labs

Re: They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil

#18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't think of an example of Facebook taking away a preference setting that users have adopted. Even Facebook doesn't take away controls it has freely given. It would be one thing to take away the toggle button. That might happen, and it would suck if it did. But to go in and pull out a user setting that people are using, that would be astonishing.

How about the ability to hide your friends list from people you aren't friends with?

Oh, yeah, that's a good one. That was a long time ago.

Re: They Did It: Google Personalizes Search & It Is Not Evil

#20

I reject your premise. Further segregating the echo chamber of the internet is not a good thing.

But here's the thing: this actually lifts the lid on the echo chamber to be more open than it was yesterday. Google recognizes that global search is a necessary option. Before this update, it looked like G+ was just going to be rammed down every Google user's throat. Now we can opt out without having to log out!

Further, the ability to swap back and forth between personalized and unpersonalized views makes the differences visable to users in a simple immediate way, so we can each make our own mind up about the tradoffs between relevence and "echo".
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