What is Digg?88 Comments
- deadlift, on 10/10/2007, -7/+37Whats up with this "taking over the world" meme? Seriously, stop. They can take over the digital world, yes, but the physical world can only be taken over by military force. Diggers, bloggers, economists, Internetists get the ***** outside and look around, kthxbai.
- knowyourrights, on 10/10/2007, -1/+24No, the only difference is Google is up front about it. While everyone else buries that information in a 2000 page privacy policy that you have to agree to.
Do you own a credit card? Good, because your buying habits, where you buy, when you buy, you think they keep all that to themselves? Who do you surrender your birthday, mother's maiden name, and your social security number to, Google or your credit card companies?
Think things through folks, and avoid the knee jerk reactions, we've been having this circular argument about Google being evil for half a decade now, you're starting to look bad. - ramong, on 10/10/2007, -6/+21Nothing to be scared about, Google uses this info to better streamline their advertising giving you what you want, when and how you want it, they WON'T take over the world and enslave the human race.
- strictnein, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14"a satellite image of their neighbour's garden"
Why would I be interested in that when I can just step outside and look at it? - TomK88, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11Wait, businesses are trying to make money? That's startling to say the least.
- Jordan117, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10The difference with Google is that they realize that the key to making money and staying on top is to respect the customers above everything else. So many other online ventures became crappy after sacrificing user experience for short-term financial gains. Google, OTOH, has consistently acted in the best interests of the customer, conducting itself openly and honestly. It also maintains a relaxed corporate culture that fosters innovation and creativity. People recognize that, and so Google wins.
- DroidBlender, on 09/18/2008, -0/+8Like I've mentioned once before on a previous "Google is big brother" type of post, that at the most basic level everyone agrees that Google understands the concept that to make money they have to respect their user base. IMO, however, I believe that google's commitment to their users goes even beyond that. People tend to forget instances where google has withstood government subponeas that violate user's privacy. Yes, I will agree that they could improve their privacy policy by reducing their retention time once they have collected the data they need.
- unrealmp3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8We are NOT in the Matrix, as deadlift said.
- Bricks, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9Black Hat SEOs
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7They have taken over the world of text-advertising on blogs and text-advertising on their search engine. That's it. That's where 100% of their money comes from.
All the rest of the free ***** is just to keep people distracted and wall street from valuing them as an advertising company. advertising companies, even ones that are growing as fast as google, don't get huge PEs like google does. - unrealmp3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6I don't know what you find exciting in looking at your neighbors yard through your computer monitor..
- rootstyle, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6shhhh don't say that, you are going to cause all my stock in the tinfoil companies to plummet
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6In a science fictiony, SkyNet sort of way I am afraid of Google and their bid to archive, store, collate, and control every piece of information and data on the planet. Documents, searches, patent archives, books, videos, a wireless spectrum. If you have a wild imagination (like I do) it's kind of scary.
- DarthTater, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5"they WON'T take over the world and enslave the human race"
Famous last words ;) - ronin691, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Google is just a tool to use to find stuff, send some mail, etc. If you are that worried about privacy, don't allow cookies, use a proxy server, whateves. Only the people that have built an entire industry around controlling information fear them...dinosaur broadcast TV and now, with the auctioning of the 700MHz spectrum, the big telcos too. Evolve or die.
- TomK88, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Gmail, Maps, Earth, etc. all seem to be doing pretty well. Plus, the stock is killing it despite the market downturn. I think Google has "figured out" a lot more than you're giving them credit for.
- mstoneburner, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3What company ISN'T in it for the money? Seriously.
- TomK88, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Like I said, they go about it differently than some other companies. They realize that going after short-term financial gains by sacrificing user experience will hurt them in the long run. They're not offering products like Earth, Gmail, etc. for free out of the kindness of their heart. They're doing it because it makes sense from a business standpoint. Many of these services will be monetized in the future, even if they remain free for the consumer.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3People who use google's search engine are not their customers.
Google's customers are ADVERTISERS and WEBSITE PUBLISHERS. Try asking that crowd what they think of google- when google has a 99% monopoly in the text ad market and has cut payments 90% over the last 3 years.
People that just use google as a search engine never see the bad, but people who are business customers of google see the underside all the time. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4in this day and age if you are doing anything you shouldn't someone will find out ~ so if you use their motto for yourself 'don't be evil' i don't see the problem ~ google supports the digital universe ~ its best interests in keeping the net open and free are in accord with my interests ~ now if i were in the tv broadcasting business i would have reason to worry ~ also the recording companies and such ~ they are history no matter how hard they try ~ entrepreneurship on the net is wide open ~ anyone can just jump in and google will help you because your success is their success ~
- davidrools, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4I can't help it. I like google. They've won me over with excellent free services (gmail, calendar w/ sms reminders, gtalk, picassa, earth, docs/sheets, 411, maps, and oh...the delicious food if you know a friend to bring you to lunch at the googleplex...) i'll tell them my deepest darkest secrets just don't take me out of my Gworld.
/slight sarcasm - TomK88, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Right now that is where 100% of the money comes from.
The thing that is so appealing to investors about Google is its potential. All of their products have ways of being monetized and leveraged in the future for huge profits. Take Google Earth for example. That has the potential to be the most extensive mapping system known to man. Archiving and organizing data is becoming increasingly important in today's society due to the vast amounts of data and the demand of it. Google is the leader in this market and that's why they're valued so highly. - TomK88, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4No evidence of greed? Please.
I love Google as much as the next guy, but EVERY coroporation is in it to make money. That is their legal responsibility. Some just go about it other ways than others. - waterdrop, on 10/10/2007, -6/+8The only thing scary about Google is that they have so much information about you based on your searches.
- capnkid, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Great: google knows I like porn. Now you do too.
- drakethegreat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Since when do people care what the broadcasting industry thinks? Do people think wow I love the media. They are so truthful and the six companies that run it all are so great and they produce such great movies like Die Hard 4.
- fuzzmeister, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Without any examples, that is a pretty useless comment.
- fkr3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Email and mapping are highly competitive and Google's not a dominant marketshare. Gmail specifically has almost no marketshare compared to AOL, Yahoo and Hotmail. I'm not saying their products are bad, just that they've failed to convert their search engine users into users of their other offerings.
- FredFredrickson, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Didn't Google guy up DoubleClick, or at least, want to? Would you buy an OS or a phone from them?
I'm not saying they are completely evil, in fact, I don't think they are at all, as they stand now. I am just afraid of the sleeping giant, and what it will mean for people's privacy. - unrealmp3, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I'm not afraid of Google. They offer excellent services for free, but offer paid services for those who needs more.
If you don't like it, why use it ?
The only thing would be afraid is losing my data (ie: Gmail) but I am currently thinkinf of creating a backup of my mail on CD with the POP3 functionnality (I would prefer MAPI instead, there's always place for improvement). This way I will have a backup if Google cease their services (which I highly doubt at the moment) - Jordan117, on 10/10/2007, -3/+5>> Cooperation in restricting free speech in China, as well of examples even in the US.
Cooperation with censorship was required for them to operate in China. They knew that, from the POV of a Chinese consumer, it would be better to have access to a censored Google than no Google at all. Besides, both Google and the web-savvy in China know that there are some fairly easy ways to bypass the Great Firewall.
>> Crushing smaller startups.
Buying out != crushing. There's an entire mini-economy of folks dreaming up great start-ups in the hopes of being acquired by Google.
>> Monopolistic behavior.
Why, because Microsoft says so? Besides, Google only has a monopoly as long as people want them to have a monopoly. Unlike Microsoft, Google can't force people to use their apps and advertising programs. They have the best services, so people choose them overwhelmingly. Google knows how precarious their top-dog position is, which reinforces the respect-the-consumer mentality.
>> DRM'd videos.
Required by the content providers, just like iTunes. And like iTunes, Google is partnering with some companies to offer DRM-free material. And when DRM restrictions forced them to cancel Google Video's subscription service, they completely refunded customers and offered an apologetic bonus payment.
>> Massive collections of private personal information.
Collected voluntarily, vigorously protected, and used only to serve ads. Nothing scary there.
>> Building data centers directly next to power plants because they consume enormous amounts of electricty (yet at the same time oddly everyone thinks of them as "green").
"Google plans to go carbon neutral by 2008
By Bridget Botelho, News Writer
18 Jul 2007 | SearchDataCenter.com
Last month the search engine company Google Inc. announced plans to become carbon neutral by 2008 by maximizing the efficiency of its data centers around the world, subsidizing environmentally friendly transportation for employees and other energy-efficient strategies."
Read the whole article @ http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid80_gci1264703,00.html
>> "Google desktop" is a festering POS.
Google Desktop is great. I have it running right now. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2 "Don't be evil . . . . . . . . until you're unstoppable"
- davidrools, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2and it's not even from a satellite...its either from an airplane or a chevy cobalt
- elementop, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Reminds me of the Final Encyclopedia from Gordon Dickson's Dorsai books.
- MindStalker, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Googles PE is 43. I've seen MUCH MUCH higher PEs. Sure a healthy PE is closer to 20. But didn't Google just make something like 4 billion profit last year, and thats after loosing a crap load to over hiring. One of the few companies that have been consistently meeting profit expectations.
- TomK88, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Since when are those "truth" videos? Those videos have been proven to be complete garbage.
- sundancekid503, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Check your profile and make sure it isn't set to sort by "most diggs" by default?
- DroidBlender, on 09/18/2008, -2/+3The truth and accuracy of those videos are debatable.
- tunapez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1And when they do, nothing you did/do will be private. Read their EULAs, that DB is in the hands of a Public corporation to profit by any means available to them.
- thailand1972, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well said - mention click fraud, MSA (Made for Adsense) websites and you will start to understand the true nature of Google - i.e. just like any company, trying to make a buck, cutting corners, treating companies like dirt when they have to, putting on good PR to the general public. What I don't get is the almost North Korean-style fanaticism here on Digg about Google. Get over yourselves - supporting a popular and ruthless company won't make YOU any better a person.
- broeks, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1And circumvent my privacy fence? I think not!
- HonoredMule, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I'd rather that than a sales person identify me by name by similar means.
I feel no remorse about being rude to or ignoring bots. Humans are so annoyingly demanding of attention and much better at disingenuous behavior. - DroidBlender, on 09/18/2008, -2/+3I don't think they should be censored, but notheless "9/11 truth videos" is still debatable
- sunshinelife, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Delete
- chadell, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Expecting Google to be perfect is wishful thinking. You can't fault Google for their effort to make information universally accessible. This inherently brings up crucial challenges and problems. As the saying goes, you can't please them all.
- fuzzmeister, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2If they were that concerned about them, don't you think they would just ban them in the first place? The burden of proof is with you.
- myills, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I also enjoy google, its helped spread a wealth of knowledge to billions of people. Its apart of the culture we feed off of - hell Google has even added to our language - we google things now.
- VSLOATHE, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2I don't mind anything about Google except the fact that they think they own the internet. That pisses me off.
- sundancekid503, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3The truth and accuracy of CNN is debatable at times, but that doesn't mean it should be censored.
- PeeCee, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Who do you trust more, Google or Facebook?
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