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Google is dead. Where do we go now?

circusscientist.com

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Re: Google is dead. Where do we go now?

#351

Post by eddythompson80 »

mmaunder wrote: post #299

Just trying to find out what this guy actually does is hard. It’s a page of links linking to another page of links, repeat. Where is the thing? The content? The product? It just feels a bit disconnected from patterns users expect and delivery mechanisms users are comfortable with in 2025. It’s almost a 1995 style pastiche of intent with no payoff.

?? There is one link that takes you to his business. It’s kids parties (birthdays, etc) entertainment (Or corporate events). Think performers doing magic acts, juggling, comedy, balloons, etc. it really wasn’t that difficult to find out.

Re: Google is dead. Where do we go now?

#352

Post by AuthAuth »

talentedcoin wrote: post #59
AuthAuth wrote: post #6

Please go anywhere but the platforms I use. Go fill Tiktok up with ads. Any of the "mainstream" platforms inbuilt ad posts are a good bet. Or a marketing agency that will disguse it as organic content.

Why hate on the guy with the kids’ entertainment business for placing ads? I don’t get it.

Its not specific on him Ads just drive me insane. I haven't really formed enough strong reasoning(to me) to say they shouldn't exist. So I'm at a halfway point of "advertise somewhere that isnt in front of me".

The platforms I use are very NOT local so it'd be pointless. Mainstream platforms are invasive with their data collection that would allow his ads to be specifically targeted and do well there, getting put in front of people who might actual use his service.

Re: Google is dead. Where do we go now?

#353

Post by pixl97 »

mgaunard wrote: post #287

The old decentralized Internet is dying out and being replaced by a few apps under the total control of a few companies. I'm not sure much can be done about this. At least the physical world is still the same.

> At least the physical world is still the same

You mean the physical world where businesses are signing up with companies to put AI enabled cameras all over their properties and sell your data? Why not some nice dynamic pricing on their digital price bars next (oops, we are already there).

Re: Google is dead. Where do we go now?

#354

Post by bawolff »

bookofjoe wrote: post #251
__turbobrew__ wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Discord is really where it is at these days. Discord servers with 50-100 people form the new social fabric of the internet where real community lies. In theory Reddit was supposed to be this but 1. Reddit communities tend to get too large 2. Subreddits overflow into each other too much through cross posting and brigading 3. Post history being public meant that you could get banned/brigaded for your comments on a tota…

99% of the population hasn't a clue what Discord is/does

The majority of the population has no idea what the trendsetters are doing before it becomes mainstream.

But if you include other group msg platforms as the same thing (whatsapp, fb messenger, etc) i imagine most people know.

Re: Google is dead. Where do we go now?

#355

Post by theshackleford »

hermitcrab wrote: post #188
fairity wrote: post #125

Surprised to see this upvoted because the takeaway is completely incorrect, and based on the anecdotal evidence of one advertiser. As someone who spends seven figures every month on Google ads, what’s much more likely to be happening here is that the individual advertiser is either getting outcompeted or they’re executing ads poorly. Google ads revenue in the US continues to grow every quarter. And, since advertisers…

I run a small software business and I know various other people who run small software businesses. We are all pretty much agreed that that Google Ads have been less and less profitable, year or year. Most of us have now given up on PPC ads.

And equally I know many people running non software businesses whose experience is the complete opposite of yours and Google ads has and continues to drive the majority of their revenue.

I expected them to start seeing a hit or significant decline by now, and even told them as such but in what I honestly find surprising, it’s not come to pass.

Re: Google is dead. Where do we go now?

#356

Post by pixl97 »

dataviz1000 wrote: post #93
HawtAds wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google ads are the cheapest yes, but depending on your audience they may not be looking on Google now. For ChatGPT (and similar) you need to have a strong FAQ page and lots of content marketing to increase the likelihood of being the suggested answer when a user asks ChatGPT a relevant question (it's a highly probabilistic system, look up AEO/GEO). CloudFlare for example offers an option to block AI scraping bots by…

Facebook ads were the cheapest for me ten years ago. We were marketing a product that many people were happy to know existed. The dashboard gave us tools to really delve into demographics. Of all the ridiculous personal data Facebook collected, the best demographic filter was allowing me to narrow in on pages someone liked or interacted with. We were selling things related to cruising sailboats, and we could target a…

>when ads benefitted everyone, the buyer, the seller, and Facebook

As others have stated in this thread, it's called the acquisition phase. Get people hooked, build the network, make it be the place that people have to be at.

After that comes the exploit phase where said network effects make it hard to leave. You can rake in billions (trillion?) of dollars this way. Who cares if it eventually kills the company, you've made more money than god at this point.

Re: Google is dead. Where do we go now?

#357

Post by [deleted] »

mmaunder wrote: post #299

Just trying to find out what this guy actually does is hard. It’s a page of links linking to another page of links, repeat. Where is the thing? The content? The product? It just feels a bit disconnected from patterns users expect and delivery mechanisms users are comfortable with in 2025. It’s almost a 1995 style pastiche of intent with no payoff.

[deleted]

Re: Google is dead. Where do we go now?

#358

Post by imoverclocked »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #305
egypturnash wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone who was on Livejournal before G+ “invented” “Circles” had absolutely no problem with locking posts to “friends” (people they followed) or various “friends groups” that were subsets of their friends. It was fucking hilarious to see everyone say it was too hard on G+. Just two dropdowns right there on the new post page next to the main text field. Super simple. Creating and editing the groups was a pretty simp…

I still mourn G+. It was clearly put together by somebody who thought first and foremost about privacy. It made deciding who to share what with the central, most visible part of how it worked. And that's probably part of why it failed. Was it hard to choose? Nope. But I guarantee you that if Facebook added a little "hey, are you sure you want to share this post publicly with the whole world under your real name? Yes/…

> It was clearly put together by somebody who thought first and foremost about privacy.

Except that they worked for a company that clearly wants all of your data. Privacy and Google are often at odds with each other… and for the folks that understood privacy at the time, it was a hard sell unless they worked at Google.

Privacy to me means that even Google doesn’t get to peek in whenever they feel like it.

Re: Google is dead. Where do we go now?

#359

Post by bawolff »

spoaceman7777 wrote: post #181
nostrademons wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my anecdotal experience, it's moved to private, trust-based channels: iMessage, WhatsApp, email, face-to-face interactions. Our 30-year bender of putting our lives online and blurring the public and the private has finally ended: people don't want to be online, don't trust social media, don't really trust any media, and are living simple local lives with a small circle of friends that they get together with regula…

None of the numbers I've seen on web usage, platform usage, etc. indicate people are significantly pulling away from online lives. Though, there has been a slight dip in daily social media browsing time in the last couple of years (of course, it also follows the end of the pandemic, and it hasn't ceded back to where it was prior). That does sound like a rather charmed life though. Could also be a sign that people are…

I think the platforms have changed. FB used to be 100% posts by people you know. I opened it today, and maybe 1 out of 50 posts were by someone i know, the rest was "trending" content.

Its essentially an entirely different website now.

Re: Google is dead. Where do we go now?

#360

Post by firecall »

Sharlin wrote: post #256
bsimpson wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting to see how much of a behemoth Discord has become. Seems like there's a Discord for everything - from open source projects to hobbies and games to individual groups of friends/family. It's occupying the segment that subreddits historically have. However, it's perhaps-intentionally search-opaque. You can't Google to find a message/link/download that's gated by Discord. And it also gives a sense of comm…

If only Discord weren't so incredibly bloated and full of stupid features aimed at 14-year-old gamers.

I'd actually flip that and suggest that people stop trying to use Discord for things that aren't aligned with Discord's product UI/UX priorities!

Discord is what it is, and my teenage kids love it. However I'm constantly baffled by it LOL.

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