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Google Introduces Facebook Competitor, Emphasizing Privacy

nytimes.com

11–20 of 66 posts

Re: Google Introduces Facebook Competitor, Emphasizing Privacy

#11
post #3

Advertising your site as a "Facebook competitor" (instead of implying it) is a recipe for failure because you want people to look at your site as something completely unique rather than putting it next to Facebook immediately.

Um, I think all of the Google people interviewed have gone out of their way to say it isn't a "Facebook competitor". I assume this is just a copy-editor at the NYTimes who sees it that way.

Re: Google Introduces Facebook Competitor, Emphasizing Privacy

#13
post #12
post #4

Count me as one of the folks that believes Google ought to fix search before it takes on the juggernauts of the consumer web. But that could just be the SEO in me talking.

isn't a lot of the future of search potentially tied into social?

How so? How will knowing what my friends and contacts "like" help Google not respond to my searches with content farm-ed crap?

Re: Google Introduces Facebook Competitor, Emphasizing Privacy

#14
post #5
post #2

> "Mr. Gundotra and Mr. Horowitz said that knowing more about individual Google users will improve all Google products, including ads, search, YouTube and maps, because Google will learn what people like and eventually be able to personalize those products." I am obviously ignorant in my belief: privacy != Google obtaining and storing increasingly intimate personal data

Exactly. Who in their right mind would use the social services of a company like this: > "Google settled with the Federal Trade Commission over charges of deceptive privacy practices related to Buzz and agreed to 20 years of audits."

Doesn't that mean they're going to be more trustworthy than anyone else? They've got direct supervision from the federal government.

Re: Google Introduces Facebook Competitor, Emphasizing Privacy

#15
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Who in their right mind would use the social services of a company like this: > "Google settled with the Federal Trade Commission over charges of deceptive privacy practices related to Buzz and agreed to 20 years of audits."

Doesn't that mean they're going to be more trustworthy than anyone else? They've got direct supervision from the federal government.

Sure, like a drug dealer is more trustworthy because he's on parole and has to meet with a parole officer once a month.

Re: Google Introduces Facebook Competitor, Emphasizing Privacy

#16
post #12
post #4

Count me as one of the folks that believes Google ought to fix search before it takes on the juggernauts of the consumer web. But that could just be the SEO in me talking.

isn't a lot of the future of search potentially tied into social?

No question. But part of why a lot of searches & recommendations are happening through social to begin with is because there are still so many algorithmic flaws in organic search. Issues that have plagued search for the better part of 15 years that are just now are starting to be addressed at a high level, I.E. content farms, differentiation between content owners & borrowers/duplicators, etc.

Re: Google Introduces Facebook Competitor, Emphasizing Privacy

#17
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

isn't a lot of the future of search potentially tied into social?

How so? How will knowing what my friends and contacts "like" help Google not respond to my searches with content farm-ed crap?

> How will knowing what my friends and contacts "like" help Google not respond to my searches with content farm-ed crap?

If your friends "like" a Stack Exchange post but not Experts Exchange, isn't it obvious how this would help them filter out the bad ones?

Re: Google Introduces Facebook Competitor, Emphasizing Privacy

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't that mean they're going to be more trustworthy than anyone else? They've got direct supervision from the federal government.

Sure, like a drug dealer is more trustworthy because he's on parole and has to meet with a parole officer once a month.

That doesn't seem like an accurate analogy to me. Google was being investigated for what were basically accidental breeches of privacy, not for anything that was actively malicious.
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