3 ms·
RSS cuts out the middleman. I remember sometime around 2007 I noticed people around me started using Google to visit websites they knew the URL of. Websites t
by gamepsys 3y ago
RSS cuts out the middleman.
I remember sometime around 2007 I noticed people around me started using Google to visit websites they knew the URL of. Websites they visited frequently and could have been bookmarks. I thought it was incredibly lazy at the time. Google took advantage of this phenomenon to show more ads and to continue to train users on using their products. Often the user clicks on the ad purchased by the website they wanted to visit! Google has become the defacto middleman for the web.
- a_gnostic 3y agoBookmarks also cut out the middle man. Just think how bland a curated predigested net is, and use what you have, to individualize instead. Seize the means of production!
- glenstein 3y agoIt's fascinating to think of what alternative norms could have emerged. I think people forget how significant delicious was to its particular time on the internet. I think it was every bit as influential as Reddit during its heydey, but unfortunately was catastrophically mismanaged into the ground by Yahoo. I do think delicious could have normalized social bookmarking in different circumstances.
- crabmusket 3y agoThis is also a big driver of needing to purchase ads for yourself on your own brand name. If your users are searching for your site on Google in order to log in (which is depressingly common), you don't want to cede the top search result to a competitor in case someone is feeling adventurous that day. It's a real racket. A search provider that had its users' interests at heart would reserve the top result spot for the best organic search result, not an ad. Even if ads are #2-5, the top result should be what the user searched for.