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Google earns most of their money through ads.

jerf 10y ago
That's why I called them a salesman. They sell things. Their interests are not simply your own. It seems to be a theme here today... a company can't serve both advertisers and customers. In the end, one of them has to win, and given the monetary flows, it's not even remotely a contest which it will be. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12644507 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12644507
- Ph0X 10y ago
  They don't sell things. They forward you towards people who do sell things which you may be interested with. You're free to ignore it, and if you're not interested in what they're showing you, that means they failed at their job. It's funny how bad of a stigma ads have gotten, but at the core, if you think of it, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Think of a friend recommending you a restaurant, a new game to play, a movie to go watch. In that case you'll be super interested, but now if this AI who probably knows your taste better than your friend suggests you something, you are instantly turned off and annoyed. I think the root cause of this is that there is so much mediocre ads out there that ruin it for all. Your mind just blindly blocks all ads now.
pjlegato 10y ago
Yes. Google is selling you, to advertisers, quite literally. When you aren't paying anything for something of value, YOU are the product.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > Google is selling you, to advertisers, quite literally. No, that would be slavery, which is illegal. Google is selling advertising space on various channels that you provide in exchange for Google services to advertisers. > When you aren't paying anything for something of value, YOU are the product. No, when you aren't paying money for something of value, you are probably paying something else of value for it; often, something that the person with which you are trading is then selling for money, making you a supplier of an input to the good or service they are selling for money.

jerf 10y ago

That's why I called them a salesman. They sell things. Their interests are not simply your own. It seems to be a theme here today... a company can't serve both advertisers and customers. In the end, one of them has to win, and given the monetary flows, it's not even remotely a contest which it will be. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12644507 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12644507

Ph0X 10y ago
They don't sell things. They forward you towards people who do sell things which you may be interested with. You're free to ignore it, and if you're not interested in what they're showing you, that means they failed at their job. It's funny how bad of a stigma ads have gotten, but at the core, if you think of it, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Think of a friend recommending you a restaurant, a new game to play, a movie to go watch. In that case you'll be super interested, but now if this AI who probably knows your taste better than your friend suggests you something, you are instantly turned off and annoyed. I think the root cause of this is that there is so much mediocre ads out there that ruin it for all. Your mind just blindly blocks all ads now.

pjlegato 10y ago

Yes. Google is selling you, to advertisers, quite literally. When you aren't paying anything for something of value, YOU are the product.

dragonwriter 10y ago
> Google is selling you, to advertisers, quite literally. No, that would be slavery, which is illegal. Google is selling advertising space on various channels that you provide in exchange for Google services to advertisers. > When you aren't paying anything for something of value, YOU are the product. No, when you aren't paying money for something of value, you are probably paying something else of value for it; often, something that the person with which you are trading is then selling for money, making you a supplier of an input to the good or service they are selling for money.