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Google is about to learn a tough lesson

blog.calbucci.com

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Re: Google is about to learn a tough lesson

#91

Post by camus »

r00fus wrote: post #80
mcintyre1994 wrote: post #22

The right way to respond to this backlash would be to make Reader a paid app and tell people it'll stay while enough pay for it (and of course be transparent about user count etc). I can't see Google going that way though, it was free and if they don't want to pay to support it there's no reason to expect them to.

Reader is getting the axe because it's getting in the way of the new protege project, G+. They can't have anything holding Google from becoming what they think Facebook should be. In fact, they don't just want to become/defeat Facebook, but also Apple (see Nexus/Chromebook) and Amazon (see Shopping Express), not to mention Groupon (see Offers). By trying to be all things, they will become none. They are on the path t…

    >    By trying to be all things, they will become none.
I just agree 100% they are an advertising company ,that's all they will ever be. The rest is bull. And i'm not going to use any of their vaporware anymore. But it's a great wake up call against all this Saas bull* , i guess journalists had a taste of what the implications of cloud computing are.

Re: Google is about to learn a tough lesson

#92

Post by kevinalexbrown »

I love the idea of loss-leaders aimed at a specific, influential segment of the entire market. I'd never really thought of services like that.

I'm curious what uses there are for this specific type of loss-leader (as in not the Dropbox freemium type). Ethics aside, for instance, Google could have tried to steer conversation among an influential group toward certain topics, by more aggressively suggesting certain Google blogs to follow, or specific stories relevant to Google.

I'm also very curious what other such loss-leading services exist. One example is this forum. It advertises to potential founders with the small banner ad at the upper-left-hand corner of the screen. It also provides an ecosystem for the discussions about and (indirect) promotions of organizations or ideas YC invests in (like Watsi, or job postings).

The other example I can think of is "high-brow" political magazines like The National Review. Often, parties dedicated time and money on promoting ideas there, even though it's a very small segment of the entire market of voters.

Has anyone here designed a service or product with this specific aim in mind? How did you use it to further some broader agenda?

Re: Google is about to learn a tough lesson

#93

Post by stcredzero »

panacea wrote: post #64
giblfiz wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wait... your saying that because they are discontinuing a product? I'm not suggesting that google is/isn't evil these days, but I would suggest that there is absolutely no moral aspect to discontinuing a feed reader.

"discontinuing a product" I guess you need to unpack what that product was. It was loss-leading free product that killed the ecosystem that proceeded it. That whole 'embrace, extend, extinguish' thing is what many people are decrying as a tad 'evil'.

> That whole 'embrace, extend, extinguish, extinguish' thing

Re: Google is about to learn a tough lesson

#95

Post by stcredzero »

r00fus wrote: post #80
mcintyre1994 wrote: post #22

The right way to respond to this backlash would be to make Reader a paid app and tell people it'll stay while enough pay for it (and of course be transparent about user count etc). I can't see Google going that way though, it was free and if they don't want to pay to support it there's no reason to expect them to.

Reader is getting the axe because it's getting in the way of the new protege project, G+. They can't have anything holding Google from becoming what they think Facebook should be. In fact, they don't just want to become/defeat Facebook, but also Apple (see Nexus/Chromebook) and Amazon (see Shopping Express), not to mention Groupon (see Offers). By trying to be all things, they will become none. They are on the path t…

> By trying to be all things, they will become none. They are on the path to becoming Microsoft.

Sounds more like Yahoo to me.

Re: Google is about to learn a tough lesson

#96

Post by stcredzero »

andr3w321 wrote: post #45

Meh, I don't use google reader or really care, but I am pissed they plan on ending igoogle in November. It's insane to me that they will do this. It's my homepage and I'm sure millions of other people's homepages. Setting your homepage to an internet company's site is pretty much their whole goal. It's insane to me that they will give this up.

> Setting your homepage to an internet company's site is pretty much their whole goal.

That always felt hokey to me. I was always more likely to "homepage" a website that just gave me great content and proportionately less likely to "homepage" a site that wanted to be my home page. This is why HN/reddit are basically this for me.

Re: Google is about to learn a tough lesson

#97

Post by stcredzero »

sbmassey wrote: post #90
jQueryIsAwesome wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Yep. And it never figured out how to handle high-vol and low-vol blogs together in any meaningful way". What I always thought but was never able to articulate so well (hi again fellow twitter user).

How would you expect it to handle high and low volume blogs together "meaningfully"? I guess I'm not really sure what the problem is: it's pretty easy to put all your high volume stuff into a single category so you can mark everything read at once, if that is the issue.

> How would you expect it to handle high and low volume blogs together "meaningfully"?

An app that would let me dump all high volume blogs and Twitter into the same bucket would be awesome!

I guess a unified service that usefully filtered low S/N ratio feeds of all kinds would be awesome.

Re: Google is about to learn a tough lesson

#98

Post by samspot »

RSS was a literal life changer when I first discovered it. Instead of going to the 5-10 websites I frequented to look for new stories throughout the day, I could check my reader when I took a break and stay up to date on everything. It probably cut my surfing time by 90% or more.

Additionally RSS allows me to follow far more things than would normally be possible. Instead of 10 I have 100, including things that don't update even every month.

Previously the discussion was always about how to make RSS usable for the masses, but I suppose this problem was never solved. Social media seems to work for some people, but it isn't the same. I can only count a handful of times in the last decade that I site I was interested in didn't have an RSS feed. It is practically universal. Facebook does indeed have a lot of people, but there is also the constant friend spam, and the algorithmic filtering to worry about.

When I look at the alternatives to Google Reader, it is clear that many of them don't get me. They are focused on content discovery, but i want to do is Keep Track. I don't want to miss a word from my favorite sources, and I need my reader to hold on to their words until I get to them.

I really hope RSS doesn't die. It is my handle on the internet, and without it I would still be refreshing sites all day.

Re: Google is about to learn a tough lesson

#100

Post by danilocampos »

xaa wrote: post #76
danilocampos wrote: post #28

So, what's going to happen, exactly? "Influencers" who liked Google Reader, now jilted, are going to use their magic influence beam to halt the growth of Android, to erode the dominance of Google in search, and prevent the regulatory approval of self-driving cars? Google has quite a few heavy responsibilities on their hands. They have to manage growth and competition in hugely complex, emerging fields. The lesson the…

Search, which provides the majority of Google's revenue, is precarious because there are very low costs for someone to switch to another service. To combat this problem, Google started providing all these associated services -- Finance, Reader, Blogger, etc, etc -- so that people would begin to use their Google ID as a significant component of their online identity. These services were never supposed to be profitable…

They built Gmail. People need it desperately. So far, no one distrusts it or has any reason to. That's their identity moat.
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