4 ms·

It is a little bit like that. It would probably be considered a problem if Wal-Mart paid the state/highway department to ensure that major town roads "flow nat

It is a little bit like that. It would probably be considered a problem if Wal-Mart paid the state/highway department to ensure that major town roads "flow naturally" to Wal-Mart and are better maintained than roads that lead elsewhere. This is definitely similar to major companies in a specific domain buying the top search result from google for any query within that domain.

jacobush 6y ago
Being America, I’d be stunned if Walmart didn’t grease the road bureaucracy in their favour.
root_axis 6y ago
Doesn't seem like a good analogy in either case. The highways are a shared public resource, the 1st page of google is just an ideal place to show an ad.
- shuntress 6y ago
  Google is the closest thing to a "shared public resource" for indexing/searching the Internet that we have. I agree with you that there are inherent properties of physical transit pathways that make them difficult to compare "one to one" with digital index searches. But I do not think these differences make the two completely incomparable. I completely disagree that the 1st page of google is "just" an ideal place to show an ad. While it definitely is an ideal place to show an ad it is also much more than that. That is like saying a supermarket that can give cash-back at the register is just an ATM.
  - root_axis 6y ago
    > Google is the closest thing to a "shared public resource" for indexing/searching the Internet that we have. Being the closest doesn't mean it's actually close. The 1st page of google is not a "shared public resource" and not just in the physical sense. The roads are collectively owned by society and are designated and maintained for the explicit prerogatives of the public good. The first page of google is a privately owned webpage that many businesses rely on for increased sales, but it isn't even close to the only resource for society to search/index the web. > it is also much more than that Like what? > That is like saying a supermarket that can give cash-back at the register is just an ATM. This analogy doesn't fit. Cash-back is a negligible ancillary function of a supermarket while serving up ads is the sole business purpose of google.com.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    Analogies might be useful to illustrate an idea, but they are useless as evidence or for supporting reasoning. I find that they weaken arguments, and sticking to the relevant facts keeps discussions on track.
wanderer2323 6y ago
you analogy seems questionable to me. The major telehealth bying google ads is Wal-Mart bying 10 large highway billboards. The indie therapist not being able to afford the auction is the mom-and-pop shop not being able to afford those buidboards. now if the major telehealth would get a dedicated bandwidth and the indie therapist's video calls were getting throttled we would be talking roads etc. For now it's the 'walmart moving into a small town' scenario but the bloomberg article blames the company that operates the billboards.
- shuntress 6y ago
  No, your analogy is inaccurate. A billboard ad is not an explicit and direct "physical" connection to the product the way that a search result is. Dedicated bandwidth and throttling, to extend my original analogy, would be like the roads going only to Wal-Mart or being difficult in some significant way to take anywhere other than Wal-Mart. It is the same problem only more pronounced. The first search result you encounter when executing some search is much more similar to the first store you encounter when searching for some store (by taking the easiest or "most natural" path into the shopping district) than it is to viewing a billboard. Edit -- To clarify what I mean about billboard ads: A billboard ad is something you see that is unrelated to whatever else you are doing. Yes, a digital "billboard" ad is still a direct connection to the product being advertised but it is also distinctly separate from whatever content or activity it displays alongside. A search result is the content/activity you have sought out by searching. There could definitely be a grey area if google's design made sponsored search results stand out more or be distinct in some way that causes them to read as some content other than a search result (either by position, border, size, color, etc) but that is very clearly not the case of their current design. Sponsored search results look exactly the same as non-sponsored search results apart from the "Ad" text displayed with the URL. They are clearly intended to look and function the same as the "normal" content of the page and not intended to be an incidental "secondary" experience alongside your search.

jacobush 6y ago

Being America, I’d be stunned if Walmart didn’t grease the road bureaucracy in their favour.

root_axis 6y ago

Doesn't seem like a good analogy in either case. The highways are a shared public resource, the 1st page of google is just an ideal place to show an ad.

shuntress 6y ago
Google is the closest thing to a "shared public resource" for indexing/searching the Internet that we have. I agree with you that there are inherent properties of physical transit pathways that make them difficult to compare "one to one" with digital index searches. But I do not think these differences make the two completely incomparable. I completely disagree that the 1st page of google is "just" an ideal place to show an ad. While it definitely is an ideal place to show an ad it is also much more than that. That is like saying a supermarket that can give cash-back at the register is just an ATM.
- root_axis 6y ago
  > Google is the closest thing to a "shared public resource" for indexing/searching the Internet that we have. Being the closest doesn't mean it's actually close. The 1st page of google is not a "shared public resource" and not just in the physical sense. The roads are collectively owned by society and are designated and maintained for the explicit prerogatives of the public good. The first page of google is a privately owned webpage that many businesses rely on for increased sales, but it isn't even close to the only resource for society to search/index the web. > it is also much more than that Like what? > That is like saying a supermarket that can give cash-back at the register is just an ATM. This analogy doesn't fit. Cash-back is a negligible ancillary function of a supermarket while serving up ads is the sole business purpose of google.com.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  Analogies might be useful to illustrate an idea, but they are useless as evidence or for supporting reasoning. I find that they weaken arguments, and sticking to the relevant facts keeps discussions on track.

wanderer2323 6y ago

you analogy seems questionable to me. The major telehealth bying google ads is Wal-Mart bying 10 large highway billboards. The indie therapist not being able to afford the auction is the mom-and-pop shop not being able to afford those buidboards. now if the major telehealth would get a dedicated bandwidth and the indie therapist's video calls were getting throttled we would be talking roads etc. For now it's the 'walmart moving into a small town' scenario but the bloomberg article blames the company that operates the billboards.

shuntress 6y ago
No, your analogy is inaccurate. A billboard ad is not an explicit and direct "physical" connection to the product the way that a search result is. Dedicated bandwidth and throttling, to extend my original analogy, would be like the roads going only to Wal-Mart or being difficult in some significant way to take anywhere other than Wal-Mart. It is the same problem only more pronounced. The first search result you encounter when executing some search is much more similar to the first store you encounter when searching for some store (by taking the easiest or "most natural" path into the shopping district) than it is to viewing a billboard. Edit -- To clarify what I mean about billboard ads: A billboard ad is something you see that is unrelated to whatever else you are doing. Yes, a digital "billboard" ad is still a direct connection to the product being advertised but it is also distinctly separate from whatever content or activity it displays alongside. A search result is the content/activity you have sought out by searching. There could definitely be a grey area if google's design made sponsored search results stand out more or be distinct in some way that causes them to read as some content other than a search result (either by position, border, size, color, etc) but that is very clearly not the case of their current design. Sponsored search results look exactly the same as non-sponsored search results apart from the "Ad" text displayed with the URL. They are clearly intended to look and function the same as the "normal" content of the page and not intended to be an incidental "secondary" experience alongside your search.