3 ms·

Let’s just go back to what we were saying a year ago: Google+ users are not Google’s customers, they are Google’s product. The pictures and text you put on Goo

Let’s just go back to what we were saying a year ago: Google+ users are not Google’s customers, they are Google’s product. The pictures and text you put on Google+ are free content that you give to Google so that Google may in turn sell that to an advertiser who is Google’s customer. All Google are trying to say is that sorry, this piece of free stuff you are giving us so that we can make money is not something we wish to resell to our advertisers. Never forget: Your job is to make content that Google can sell to advertisers. Pictures flipping the bird are unsaleable according to their business model, it’s that simple. p.s. and/or Given a critical mass of bird-flippery, the kind of people who enjoy hanging out in a rough, crude places are less valuable to sell in the marketplace than the kind of people who don’t enjoy a critical mass of bird-flippery. But it’s roughly the same reasoning: You are a product, the stuff you give them for free is a product, and they don’t think the bird-flipping product suits their business.

blurbytree 15y ago
This isn't anything to do with advertising. Try posting objectionable comments on HN, and you'll be banned. If you don't like the rules, don't use the website.
robrenaud 15y ago
I work at Google, but I am not speaking for them, I am just an engineer, not a PR guy. If you pay attention to Vic Gundotra (the guy leading the G+ effort), you'll know that he just wants to make G+ an inviting, friendly place on the web. He wants to avoid G+ becoming like the cesspool of hostile idiocy you see in youtube comments. The ban on offensive pictures is consistent with his vision. It's the same reason he doesn't want fake names on G+. Personally, I strongly dislike the censorship. A profile picture with just middle finger by itself is lame, sure, but if you are giving the finger to Rick Perry after his horribly anti-gay comments, that is important speech that (IMO) Google shouldn't censor. I'd vastly prefer people be able to make potentially offensive gestures, and censoring 100 idle middle fingers of idiot rage is not worth suppressing 1 middle finger to crazy political candidate. Google still has a spine, it doesn't do everything for the advertising dollar. Pulling out of China could cost Google a lot of money, but it's the right thing anyway, and I am absolutely proud that the did. But "you are the product" is overly jaded and misses the simple explanation. The G+ leadership believes censoring offensive gestures is best for G+ users and for the health and growth of the G+ network.

blurbytree 15y ago

This isn't anything to do with advertising. Try posting objectionable comments on HN, and you'll be banned. If you don't like the rules, don't use the website.

robrenaud 15y ago

I work at Google, but I am not speaking for them, I am just an engineer, not a PR guy. If you pay attention to Vic Gundotra (the guy leading the G+ effort), you'll know that he just wants to make G+ an inviting, friendly place on the web. He wants to avoid G+ becoming like the cesspool of hostile idiocy you see in youtube comments. The ban on offensive pictures is consistent with his vision. It's the same reason he doesn't want fake names on G+. Personally, I strongly dislike the censorship. A profile picture with just middle finger by itself is lame, sure, but if you are giving the finger to Rick Perry after his horribly anti-gay comments, that is important speech that (IMO) Google shouldn't censor. I'd vastly prefer people be able to make potentially offensive gestures, and censoring 100 idle middle fingers of idiot rage is not worth suppressing 1 middle finger to crazy political candidate. Google still has a spine, it doesn't do everything for the advertising dollar. Pulling out of China could cost Google a lot of money, but it's the right thing anyway, and I am absolutely proud that the did. But "you are the product" is overly jaded and misses the simple explanation. The G+ leadership believes censoring offensive gestures is best for G+ users and for the health and growth of the G+ network.