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Larry Page to Googlers: If You Don’t Get SPYW, Work Somewhere Else

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Re: Larry Page to Googlers: If You Don’t Get SPYW, Work Somewhere Else

#61

Post by querulous »

apg wrote: post #5

This all makes no never-mind to me, as I'm going to turn that right off (you can do that, right?). I prefer to evaluate on my own what information is relevant and what isn't. Happy accidents, you know. Did Google ever announce what the rationale for this is, from a revenue perspective? Is a link with content that a person is likely to recognize also likely to generate extra revenue?

The rationale is clearly to drive traffic to their own products at the expense of competitors like twitter and facebook. SPYW is just more advertising, except for now it's limited to google properties. They're obviously banking that people won't notice or care that most search results are now paid placements.

Re: Larry Page to Googlers: If You Don’t Get SPYW, Work Somewhere Else

#62

Post by veyron »

libraryatnight wrote: post #31
Kylekramer wrote: post #20

It is quite the jump from “This is the path we’re headed down – a single unified, ‘beautiful’ product across everything. If you don’t get that, then you should probably work somewhere else" to "Agree with SPYW or GTFO". One is an admirable goal for a whale of a company and the other is a stubborn denial of contrary opinions. I thought Pando Daily was suppose to be a "different" tech news site.

I don't think Sarah Lacy is capable of producing a "different" tech news site, really. The article read like a tabloid.

what qualifies as a "different" tech news site?

Re: Larry Page to Googlers: If You Don’t Get SPYW, Work Somewhere Else

#63

Post by robryan »

libraryatnight wrote: post #31
Kylekramer wrote: post #20

It is quite the jump from “This is the path we’re headed down – a single unified, ‘beautiful’ product across everything. If you don’t get that, then you should probably work somewhere else" to "Agree with SPYW or GTFO". One is an admirable goal for a whale of a company and the other is a stubborn denial of contrary opinions. I thought Pando Daily was suppose to be a "different" tech news site.

I don't think Sarah Lacy is capable of producing a "different" tech news site, really. The article read like a tabloid.

Tech news does tend to head towards this kind of article. I think they will have some in depth long form pieces mixed in with the standard stuff. I think the problem is that to really drive page views you need a lot of this stuff, many posts a day. Going in depth will earn you some different readers at the cost of some others and people won't revisit nearly as often.

Re: Larry Page to Googlers: If You Don’t Get SPYW, Work Somewhere Else

#64

Post by lsb »

pg wrote: post #53
lsb wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like the perfect time to relaunch "Larry and Sergey won't respect you in the morning." http://ycombinator.com/ad.html http://www.flickr.com/photos/martindavidsson/96160482

Hmph, I'd forgotten that. Interesting that we wouldn't do that sort of thing now. It would seem too rude to mention Google explicitly. Whereas when we first started YC we were so obscure we couldn't successfully be rude to anyone.

It also dates it, in the same way that "Bill and Steve won't respect you in the morning" would make it uniquely a thing of ten years prior. Whereas making it generic makes it more timeless, and timelessness is good design in general.

Re: Larry Page to Googlers: If You Don’t Get SPYW, Work Somewhere Else

#65

Post by redthrowaway »

I'm seeing a whole lot of hyperbole around here for what still seems to be pretty much a non-issue. Don't like SPYW? Don't use it. It's one button. Click it, and move on. Between the Don't Be Evil script stunt from facebook/twitter and the content-free blogspam from Sarah Lacy/pandodaily, it seems like there are a few people out there who really, really want this to be an issue.

It isn't. Get over it.

Re: Larry Page to Googlers: If You Don’t Get SPYW, Work Somewhere Else

#66

Post by adgar »

Kylekramer wrote: post #20

It is quite the jump from “This is the path we’re headed down – a single unified, ‘beautiful’ product across everything. If you don’t get that, then you should probably work somewhere else" to "Agree with SPYW or GTFO". One is an admirable goal for a whale of a company and the other is a stubborn denial of contrary opinions. I thought Pando Daily was suppose to be a "different" tech news site.

That's because eyeballs are what matter, not accuracy or responsible journalism.

TV journalism's decline in America took decades before we got to the current trash; the exact same process happened to journalist blogs over a couple years in the mid-to-late 2000s.

Re: Larry Page to Googlers: If You Don’t Get SPYW, Work Somewhere Else

#67

Post by DanBC »

staunch wrote: post #23

I would be much more interested at working at the new Page dominated Google than the old Schmidt one. At least he's trying to do what Steve Jobs did so well: make big leaps forward. Apple found it necessary to own more and more pieces of the stack to innovate. Google is finding itself in the same position. Almost all of the best products are restricted/closed/proprietary systems. Macs, OSX, iPhone/iPad, Facebook, Twi…

Why are big leaps good? Why not small iterative steps?

Re: Larry Page to Googlers: If You Don’t Get SPYW, Work Somewhere Else

#68

Post by thought_alarm »

rhizome wrote: post #4

SPYW: "Search Plus Your World"

If you google it, it's currently the 3rd and 4th search results.

Now, if you google SPYW on Bing then it's nowhere to be found, and that's ultimately why I continue to use Google for search regardless of whatever nonsense they put in the side bar.

Re: Larry Page to Googlers: If You Don’t Get SPYW, Work Somewhere Else

#69

Post by mnoire »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #57
pg wrote: post #3

You don't have to get a job at another company. You could also start your own.

I certainly agree with this. Back at the beginning of this century there was speculation that Google was so lavish with their perks because they didn't want those smart people going off and competing with them. Not as worried about that I guess. Larry certainly does seem to have take Steve Jobs admonishment to heart. Which can give a company tremendous focus. Its an interesting time. I used to remind people at the Go…

Leave Google, kill Hollywood, AND Start something new.

Re: Larry Page to Googlers: If You Don’t Get SPYW, Work Somewhere Else

#70

Post by moocow01 »

bishnu wrote: post #43
moocow01 wrote: post #26

Ah yes... and everybody thought Google was immune to the tech company lifecycle. My guess is this is where the downslide begins (which will probably be decades for a company of Google's size). I've seen this play out in small and large companies alike ... once the business model gets solidified and turns into a cash cow all the execs go into defense mode which manifest itself in a number of ways but my way or the hig…

Well in this case they're sacrificing their cash cow (search) for a social network that is optimistically 1/10th the size of Facebook. I would argue the precise opposite is happening here - SPYW represents an effort to innovate, and nobody is getting "complacent". Whether or not it's too radical is another story.

SPYW may have some hints of efforts toward innovation in search but its much more predominantly a defensive move by Google as was Google+ against leading social networks (obviously most notably Facebook and Twitter). Defensive moves are necessary and good in business terms but honestly when you start playing defense all the time your getting to be on the other side of the hill. Its just part of the natural evolution of successful companies.
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