5 ms·

My ad-hoc monopoly test has always been customer service. And who exactly is Google’s customer? The Gmail user, or the ad buyer?

lhorie 6y ago
I've heard a bunch of horror stories from ad buyers over the years, FWIW.
- perardi 6y ago
  Fair. And you’d think Google would care more there, as there’s a direct paying relationship.
TigeriusKirk 6y ago
The gmail user is a customer. They may not be paying directly, but they are still a customer.
- cmorgan31 6y ago
  If you aren't paying directly then aren't you the product? You may be a consumer of a service but the customers are primarily other businesses who are trying to get your attention so you'll buy something they think you might really enjoy like the coffee maker you just bought from Amazon a hour ago.
  - TigeriusKirk 6y ago
    Pithy saying aside, if you use a free service, you're still a customer.
  - srtjstjsj 6y ago
    No, that's just an HN iamverysmartism. A product is a something produced. Google provides services to users in exchange for their attention to ads. It's a barter of value.
- leptons 6y ago
  "If the product is free, then you are the product"
  - leptons 6y ago
    Downvoted for this comment? I swear this place is worse than reddit.
ballenf 6y ago
The now-trite "if you're not the customer, you're the product" distinction just isn't helpful anymore. Youtube is a great example where creators, subscribers (both Premium and ad-watching) and advertisers are all Google's customers. Google profits by providing a platform for all those parties to come together and engage in commerce. And yet none of those parties are really buying anything directly from Google -- even for ads Google is just facilitating the placement of ads on creators' content. Premium subscribers are paying creators with Google divvying up the payment and taking its cut.
- pdonis 6y ago
  > Youtube is a great example where creators, subscribers (both Premium and ad-watching) and advertisers are all Google's customers. Google profits by providing a platform for all those parties to come together and engage in commerce. That makes them users, not customers. As you note, none of them are paying Google. A user who does not pay for the service is not a customer, because they don't have the most important capability that a customer has: taking your money elsewhere if you are not satisfied. That means Google itself does not know how much its services are worth to their users, because it has prevented those users from telling it what the services are worth by paying for them. And that is why Google is notorious for killing services that are valuable to users but don't generate enough ad revenue.

lhorie 6y ago

I've heard a bunch of horror stories from ad buyers over the years, FWIW.

perardi 6y ago
Fair. And you’d think Google would care more there, as there’s a direct paying relationship.

TigeriusKirk 6y ago

The gmail user is a customer. They may not be paying directly, but they are still a customer.

cmorgan31 6y ago
If you aren't paying directly then aren't you the product? You may be a consumer of a service but the customers are primarily other businesses who are trying to get your attention so you'll buy something they think you might really enjoy like the coffee maker you just bought from Amazon a hour ago.
- TigeriusKirk 6y ago
  Pithy saying aside, if you use a free service, you're still a customer.
- srtjstjsj 6y ago
  No, that's just an HN iamverysmartism. A product is a something produced. Google provides services to users in exchange for their attention to ads. It's a barter of value.
leptons 6y ago
"If the product is free, then you are the product"
- leptons 6y ago
  Downvoted for this comment? I swear this place is worse than reddit.

ballenf 6y ago

The now-trite "if you're not the customer, you're the product" distinction just isn't helpful anymore. Youtube is a great example where creators, subscribers (both Premium and ad-watching) and advertisers are all Google's customers. Google profits by providing a platform for all those parties to come together and engage in commerce. And yet none of those parties are really buying anything directly from Google -- even for ads Google is just facilitating the placement of ads on creators' content. Premium subscribers are paying creators with Google divvying up the payment and taking its cut.

pdonis 6y ago
> Youtube is a great example where creators, subscribers (both Premium and ad-watching) and advertisers are all Google's customers. Google profits by providing a platform for all those parties to come together and engage in commerce. That makes them users, not customers. As you note, none of them are paying Google. A user who does not pay for the service is not a customer, because they don't have the most important capability that a customer has: taking your money elsewhere if you are not satisfied. That means Google itself does not know how much its services are worth to their users, because it has prevented those users from telling it what the services are worth by paying for them. And that is why Google is notorious for killing services that are valuable to users but don't generate enough ad revenue.