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Dear Googles: Stop asking

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111–120 of 261 posts

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#111
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the case of YouTube, I agree. What good alternatives are out there that have even half the content that YouTube has?

Vimeo is on par or ahead for artsy original content, but pretty much focuses only on that niche, so there aren't many music videos for popular music, tv show / movie clips, or any of the rest of the stuff you find on YouTube.

Vimeo is where YouTube's original content creators are talking about moving (I'm not sure to what degree seriously).

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#112
post #11

The main issue is Google will only drive a small minority of it's customers/'products being sold' away. If you have a problem with Google's current approach, you may want to consider leaving, not to "stick it to the man" but to not have to deal with their services anymore. I recently deleted everything on my account (G+ & YT included) and it feels great to be free from the constant harassment. I only have Gmail activ…

What about mail.com as your new mail service?

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#113
post #105

You can only grow a user base that is engaged with your product organically , not by forcing them.

Google Plus - as in, the actual plus.google.com website and app, the Facebook competitor - has basically failed in this regard. The people on it love it! I've been on it since it started. But the people on Buzz loved that too, before Google unceremoniously shot it through the head.

Basically, the existing user base doesn't matter. So they might as well go straight to forcing people onto it, since they failed to lure them onto it.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#114
post #48

Is there a browser plugin or something that can keep google in check? Like separating youtube, gmail and the search into different "sandboxes"? Maybe blocking some of the annoying popups that constantly demand your info? I'm not familiar with such a thing, but it could be kinda nice to have it.

Even if you run YouTube, Gmail and search in different incognito windows so that they don't share cookies, they could still figure out that all these requests were coming from the same browser (via browser fingerprinting) at the same IP address.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#115
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea why people talk about huge corporations like they have hive mind and are in total unity? Google is now a mega-corp, comprised of thousands competing for finite success outcomes (raises & promos). It is also data driven hence they look at metrics that are considered success like registers over abandonments. Brand tarnish is a long term outcome, therefore it can not be seen in typical a/b testing cycles.…

Maybe as a general assessment, but I think the google+/youtube merger specifically is being driven by ideology, not metrics. Remember that memo Steve Yegge wrote a few years ago? I think the company took that message very seriously. Maybe a little too seriously...

I don't see the connection though. Yegge was lamenting Google's unwillingness to be serious about being a platform company for third-party app developers (, developers, developers, developers ...) The latest changes don't seem to have much to do with progress on that front.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#117
post #34

Does Google believe that if they just push a little harder and finish the job, that somehow the people so alienated will be won over? Or is the pursuit of profit far more important than the perception of the brand overall? Right now, and for the last year, the brand is being severely tarnished in all of the networks I have, tech and real-life. I don't see them winning on any front. A Pyrrhic victory.

I have no idea why people talk about huge corporations like they have hive mind and are in total unity? Google is now a mega-corp, comprised of thousands competing for finite success outcomes (raises & promos). It is also data driven hence they look at metrics that are considered success like registers over abandonments. Brand tarnish is a long term outcome, therefore it can not be seen in typical a/b testing cycles.…

By all accounts the consolidation and Plusification of Google's services is being driven from the top, by Larry Page specifically.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google does not get the credit for making the Internet searchable; there were some pretty decent search engines, like AltaVista, before Google came along. Google made an incremental improvement in search algorithms and figured out how to make search very profitable.

I think you're wrong there. I remember using the web back then. Search sucked before Google. Altavista was a bit better than what came before it, but Google really was the first search engine that was any bloody good at all . The PageRank algorithm basically cracked the search problem. Making money actually came years later. Google used the method of "get a zillion users and we'll figure out money later."

If I remember correctly, AltaVista had a pretty sophisticated advanced search mode where you could string together search terms with Boolean operators (and/or/not). And I'm sure that AltaVista had some kind of metric of "site quality" before PageRank came along. For example, you could judge how "important" a site is by how often people click on a search result to go there, or how big they are (number of URLs from that site in your search index). You can also rank the relevance of a search result by how closely the search terms match the text on the site.

Also, as the web and search evolved, people who ran web sites figured out what they'd need to do to get found more easily by search engines. It's possible that the rise of SEO was more responsible for a better search experience than improved site ranking algorithms.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#120
post #60
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would really like to see Vimeo become more popular. Their service is much cleaner and far less annoying. Although the recent discovery of Youtube Feather has me intrigued.

They don't permit all sorts of content that YouTube does, which is what holds Vimeo back from broad acceptance as a YouTube replacement.

...but their higher quality standards are also what has allowed them to carve out a niche which youtube can never replace.
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