Why Google is Google
I have had, heard and read far too many conversations about Google not to share these thoughts. Many in the financial services industries and the associated press say repeatedly that Google is prone to competition from existing and future players.
Well, duh. Has been since day one. What's the point? The point is that any time they feel like it, Yahoo!, MSN, Ask.com or whomever can take the Google point-of-view and deliver products and services that mimic what Google is doing. (I feel like I'm in 2nd grade here, but I'm going somewhere with this.)
What's more, any of these organizations could have done this years ago. The important question is: Why haven't they?
The answer is simple: management.
For any company to compete with Google, they will have to unlearn everything about their corporate culture. Specifically, they will have to stop treating users like saps and start treating them like human beings.
As the obvious and dominant example, let's examine how these various players treat advertising. Immediately, we see two camps: Google and everybody else. If anybody ever wants to get fired from Google, they just have to suggest that the company implement "Road Block" ads.
((For those unfamiliar, Road Blocks are the ads that load instead of the page you clicked. No ads are more hated by users, and users hate virtually all ads.))
Yahoo!, where I first encountered this evil technique, must have thought it was a good idea. Trap users between the ad and where they're trying to go. An easy sell to the advertiser and, therefore, a good thing for the publisher.
This is how you have to think when you are subject to the Tyranny of the Marketplace.
Lucky for us, Google has developed a company that is, at least to a large degree, free from TotM.
At Google, the concept of a Road Block is completely anethema to the policies of the company. Google sees clearly that these techniques, while profitable in the short run, only drive users elsewhere. As if the prove the point, Google has grown to be the #1 internet company at the direct expense of Yahoo!.
There is a mountain of scientific research about what users like and what they hate. I've been reading Alertbox for a decade. People at Yahoo! or MSN could read it, too.
In fact, some of them probably do. But when they try to implement these ideas, management sees nothing but red ink.
So, yes, Google is prone to competition. The basic business model is very, very simple. So simple that an understanding of its value eludes virtually every Internet executive in the world.
Well, duh. Has been since day one. What's the point? The point is that any time they feel like it, Yahoo!, MSN, Ask.com or whomever can take the Google point-of-view and deliver products and services that mimic what Google is doing. (I feel like I'm in 2nd grade here, but I'm going somewhere with this.)
What's more, any of these organizations could have done this years ago. The important question is: Why haven't they?
The answer is simple: management.
For any company to compete with Google, they will have to unlearn everything about their corporate culture. Specifically, they will have to stop treating users like saps and start treating them like human beings.
As the obvious and dominant example, let's examine how these various players treat advertising. Immediately, we see two camps: Google and everybody else. If anybody ever wants to get fired from Google, they just have to suggest that the company implement "Road Block" ads.
((For those unfamiliar, Road Blocks are the ads that load instead of the page you clicked. No ads are more hated by users, and users hate virtually all ads.))
Yahoo!, where I first encountered this evil technique, must have thought it was a good idea. Trap users between the ad and where they're trying to go. An easy sell to the advertiser and, therefore, a good thing for the publisher.
This is how you have to think when you are subject to the Tyranny of the Marketplace.
Lucky for us, Google has developed a company that is, at least to a large degree, free from TotM.
At Google, the concept of a Road Block is completely anethema to the policies of the company. Google sees clearly that these techniques, while profitable in the short run, only drive users elsewhere. As if the prove the point, Google has grown to be the #1 internet company at the direct expense of Yahoo!.
There is a mountain of scientific research about what users like and what they hate. I've been reading Alertbox for a decade. People at Yahoo! or MSN could read it, too.
In fact, some of them probably do. But when they try to implement these ideas, management sees nothing but red ink.
So, yes, Google is prone to competition. The basic business model is very, very simple. So simple that an understanding of its value eludes virtually every Internet executive in the world.
posted by Frymaster Speck at 4:41 AM
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