Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

engadget.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 150 posts

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#21

Post by ihsw »

cloudwalking wrote: post #18
minikites wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you publish a negative review of a restaurant? Now it's super easy for them to find you and possibly harass you. What if you're in a marginalized group? Now online harassment can move into real world harassment if you've reviewed local places you enjoy. Lots of people are harmed by a "real names" policy: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Who_is_harmed_by_a_%22Rea...

Why would Google show a negative review as an "endorsement"? If you rate a restaurant 1 out of 5 stars, Google isn't going to show "Cloudwalking rated this 1/5 stars!" in an ad.

Because people form a stronger rapport with those who share negative experiences than positive experiences. Granted, trying to take advantage of this is walking a very narrow tightrope, however if executed well then it could be hugely profitable.

Confirmation bias tells us that negative reviews will always be more numerous than positive reviews, however those people writing negative reviews will feel a stronger cohesion with each-other. As such, negative reviews will be more valuable to how people form first impressions.

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#24

Post by avar »

minikites wrote: post #15
Alterlife wrote: post #10

This actually doesn't seem terrible to me: If I published a public review on a product, why should Google not auto-match this up to a search result? That's the logical next step. It's what I'd expect from Google. I don't see anything privacy breaking about it of it's own... As long as the review was public, ofcourse -- or only being shown to those it was published to. That said, I just went ahead and opted-out of it…

What if you publish a negative review of a restaurant? Now it's super easy for them to find you and possibly harass you. What if you're in a marginalized group? Now online harassment can move into real world harassment if you've reviewed local places you enjoy. Lots of people are harmed by a "real names" policy: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Who_is_harmed_by_a_%22Rea...

    > What if you publish a negative review of a restaurant? Now it's
    > super easy for them to find you and possibly harass you.
That's already the case if you publish restaurant reviews on Google Maps, isn't the only difference here that those reviews will be presented on search results?

Like Afterlife I really don't see what the big deal is. They're taking data that's already public and presenting it slightly differently.

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#25

Post by [deleted] »

thezilch wrote: post #17
kevinh wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's generally not the review that's the problem, but tying it to a user's image and real name without their permission.

WTF? What review system, exactly, doesn't link to the reviewer's profile -- permission implied by posting? It's not even a generalism; it's a fact, full stop.

[deleted]

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#26

Post by the_watcher »

geerlingguy wrote: post #9

Disappointing. Facebook's decision to use people in their ads, and also automatically subscribe people to spam from Facebook Pages, has already made clicking the Like button a 'heavy' action—meaning I have to think about it before doing it, and most likely won't click nowadays. Google Plus is the same now. I used to consider handing out a quick +1 to any post I liked, or a cool site/service. But now, I have to think…

>>made clicking the Like button a 'heavy' action—meaning I have to think about it before doing it.

I may be in the minority here, but I think that is a feature, not a bug. "Liking" something should be a heavy action that you think about. I remember when I started getting page-spam from weird pages I'd liked in the early days of Facebook and went back and cleaned up my likes, there were some things in there I didn't remember liking or ever want to like. Now, I really have to think about it, and it leads to my ads and page updates being much more relevant and interesting to me. Also, the Graph Search capabilities should also be encouraging people to think before they like.

As an online marketer, I like it too, because it means my audience is marginally more likely to truly be interested in the targeting I choose.

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#27

Post by jonknee »

minikites wrote: post #15
Alterlife wrote: post #10

This actually doesn't seem terrible to me: If I published a public review on a product, why should Google not auto-match this up to a search result? That's the logical next step. It's what I'd expect from Google. I don't see anything privacy breaking about it of it's own... As long as the review was public, ofcourse -- or only being shown to those it was published to. That said, I just went ahead and opted-out of it…

What if you publish a negative review of a restaurant? Now it's super easy for them to find you and possibly harass you. What if you're in a marginalized group? Now online harassment can move into real world harassment if you've reviewed local places you enjoy. Lots of people are harmed by a "real names" policy: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Who_is_harmed_by_a_%22Rea...

If you are scared that someone will come after you it's blindingly obvious to not publish a review under your name. Google's change here has nothing to do with the issue either--you can certainly be recognized by a review on Amazon, Yelp, Google, Facebook or any other public venue. Google does allow easy to use privacy controls though, so that's at least a step in the right direction.

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#28

Post by jonknee »

kevinh wrote: post #7
rocky1138 wrote: post #4

Why would someone write a review for something but then not expect to have that review used by the business to further their sales?

It's generally not the review that's the problem, but tying it to a user's image and real name without their permission.

It's very much with their permission. They have even signed in just to be able to write the review with their real name and photo.

Re: If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

#30

Post by Permit »

ihsw wrote: post #21
cloudwalking wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would Google show a negative review as an "endorsement"? If you rate a restaurant 1 out of 5 stars, Google isn't going to show "Cloudwalking rated this 1/5 stars!" in an ad.

Because people form a stronger rapport with those who share negative experiences than positive experiences. Granted, trying to take advantage of this is walking a very narrow tightrope, however if executed well then it could be hugely profitable. Confirmation bias tells us that negative reviews will always be more numerous than positive reviews, however those people writing negative reviews will feel a stronger cohes…

I don't think anything you've mentioned is relevant at all. Google isn't going to show your negative review beside a paid ad because it'd help you build rapport with friends...

Keep in mind these are paid ads, Google is trying to further promote/endorse the advertiser.

Post reply on HN