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A theory of google fuckups
Aug. 4th, 2015 05:08 pmThis is a really good article about how google keeps fucking up social media strategy.
Namely, it keeps forgetting that "what users actually like" is the most important part. It keeps trying to succeed by being evil and then is astounded when people object.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/08/google-minus-google-keeps-backing-all-the-wrong-social-products/
I have a theory about this.
I think that google, as an institution, is extremely scornful about social media and resentful about its success and importance.
Thus, when they have successful or innovative projects in the social sphere (reader, hangouts, wave), they tend to kill them or sideline them, because, obvious, that isn't the really important stuff.
Thus also, when they are called upon to produce a social service, they make the crappiest bullshit possible (Buzz, and, sorry, G+). It's sort of like when an art snob tries to make popular art, lots of skill but less-than-no thought into what people actually like. "Well, people like utter crap like [facebook/age of ultron/whatever], so I'll just make some utter crap since people like that, right?"
(To be clear, I'm not saying this is the uniform opinion of google employees, I'm saying that people who do care about doing this stuff have their projects sidelined and cancelled.)
Regardless of the reasons, though, it's really annoying. I find myself hoping that google will continue to ignore hangouts simply because it's such an important part of my life, and every time they try to improve one of their social services, they utterly gut it.
Namely, it keeps forgetting that "what users actually like" is the most important part. It keeps trying to succeed by being evil and then is astounded when people object.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/08/google-minus-google-keeps-backing-all-the-wrong-social-products/
I have a theory about this.
I think that google, as an institution, is extremely scornful about social media and resentful about its success and importance.
Thus, when they have successful or innovative projects in the social sphere (reader, hangouts, wave), they tend to kill them or sideline them, because, obvious, that isn't the really important stuff.
Thus also, when they are called upon to produce a social service, they make the crappiest bullshit possible (Buzz, and, sorry, G+). It's sort of like when an art snob tries to make popular art, lots of skill but less-than-no thought into what people actually like. "Well, people like utter crap like [facebook/age of ultron/whatever], so I'll just make some utter crap since people like that, right?"
(To be clear, I'm not saying this is the uniform opinion of google employees, I'm saying that people who do care about doing this stuff have their projects sidelined and cancelled.)
Regardless of the reasons, though, it's really annoying. I find myself hoping that google will continue to ignore hangouts simply because it's such an important part of my life, and every time they try to improve one of their social services, they utterly gut it.
