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Alphabet Becomes the Most Valuable Public Company in the World

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Re: Alphabet Becomes the Most Valuable Public Company in the World

#51
post #11

Paid clicks up 31% overall, on Google’s own sites, up 40%. That's a bit concerning to me, especially when you consider: a) That growth is outpacing internet traffic growth, and has for many years now. Internet traffic CAGR is 23%[1] b) The shift from desktop to mobile should have the effect of reducing clicks. c) Since some of the growth is video, I would expect a decrease in click growth related to this as well. Vid…

>the shift from desktop to mobile should reduce clicks

We're not shifting from desktop to mobile. Mobile is increasing while desktop stays about the same.

We are shifting from print media, TV, excercise, talking, driving, academic studies and paid labor... To mobile.

Re: Alphabet Becomes the Most Valuable Public Company in the World

#53
post #35

The comparisons between Google and Apple aren't as apples-to-apples as everyone in the media seems to think. If we're talking about the future of these companies, and their earning power, they are situating themselves very differently. Apple is really a consumer electronics company, Google is an artificial intelligence company. And investors think more money will be in the future of AI instead of consumer hardware an…

Nerds have known for years that Google is really an AI company, but do investors really see things that way yet? The stock didn't go up with the announcement of AlphaGo, though that could just be because they think that particular AI work won't give Google any competitive advantage in future revenue...

Re: Alphabet Becomes the Most Valuable Public Company in the World

#55
post #32
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is any of that concerning? I'm not seeing the link.

Sergey/Larry explain it better than I would. http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html Scroll down to "Appendix A: Advertising and Mixed Motives"

What does that have to do with this news though?

Re: Alphabet Becomes the Most Valuable Public Company in the World

#56
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...or Google is just getting better at serving the right advertisement at the right time?

They are getting better, every single year, over more than a decade, in a way that click growth outpaces traffic growth. Despite circumstances that would counter the effort. It seems unlikely it's just targeting, without spilling over into something that's bad for consumers.

I think your concerns raise an interesting point but I would like to know what, specifically, is "something that's bad for consumers."

There might be something to dig into here. I'd like to learn more. Can you expand on your previous point?

Re: Alphabet Becomes the Most Valuable Public Company in the World

#57
post #51
post #11

Paid clicks up 31% overall, on Google’s own sites, up 40%. That's a bit concerning to me, especially when you consider: a) That growth is outpacing internet traffic growth, and has for many years now. Internet traffic CAGR is 23%[1] b) The shift from desktop to mobile should have the effect of reducing clicks. c) Since some of the growth is video, I would expect a decrease in click growth related to this as well. Vid…

>the shift from desktop to mobile should reduce clicks We're not shifting from desktop to mobile. Mobile is increasing while desktop stays about the same. We are shifting from print media, TV, excercise, talking, driving, academic studies and paid labor... To mobile.

Semantics. The context is that the growth is higher in the area that has a naturally lower CTR.

Re: Alphabet Becomes the Most Valuable Public Company in the World

#58
post #16
post #11

Paid clicks up 31% overall, on Google’s own sites, up 40%. That's a bit concerning to me, especially when you consider: a) That growth is outpacing internet traffic growth, and has for many years now. Internet traffic CAGR is 23%[1] b) The shift from desktop to mobile should have the effect of reducing clicks. c) Since some of the growth is video, I would expect a decrease in click growth related to this as well. Vid…

> b) The shift from desktop to mobile should have the effect of reducing clicks. Can you clarify this statement?

I referenced this higher up, but here it is: we aren't shifting from desktop to mobile, because desktop has leveled off. We're taking time out of literally all the other stuff we do in life, and shifting that to mobile.

Re: Alphabet Becomes the Most Valuable Public Company in the World

#59
post #51
post #11

Paid clicks up 31% overall, on Google’s own sites, up 40%. That's a bit concerning to me, especially when you consider: a) That growth is outpacing internet traffic growth, and has for many years now. Internet traffic CAGR is 23%[1] b) The shift from desktop to mobile should have the effect of reducing clicks. c) Since some of the growth is video, I would expect a decrease in click growth related to this as well. Vid…

>the shift from desktop to mobile should reduce clicks We're not shifting from desktop to mobile. Mobile is increasing while desktop stays about the same. We are shifting from print media, TV, excercise, talking, driving, academic studies and paid labor... To mobile.

Exactly. And possibly not even that---there are quite a few of those activities that can operate in conjunction with mobile. Exercise, talking, and TV for starters.

Re: Alphabet Becomes the Most Valuable Public Company in the World

#60
post #50

Interesting that Apple's net profits last quarter was greater than Alphabet's revenue.

many explanations for this but really at bottom the answer is that the two businesses are not comparable and this comparison is meaningless.
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