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I think it'd be illogical for Google not to in some ways compete with alternatives, like Blekko in this case. Google's core business is search, and in the early
by Shank 14y ago
I think it'd be illogical for Google not to in some ways compete with alternatives, like Blekko in this case. Google's core business is search, and in the early days, it was this very naive behavior that allowed Google to sneak right under places like Inktomi. Just because a search engine starts small doesn't mean it can't gain traction or market, and if it has compelling enough features, it'll happen in a heartbeat.
I suggest reading "I'm Feeling Lucky" by Douglass Edwards - the early chapters describe a lot of Google's anxiety of being killed by other search engines for one reason or another. It helps to explain why they'd be quick to adopt new strategies to keep results fresh.
- incongruity 14y agoI'm not sure google is even clear about what its core business is, these days. It really seems quite clear that they've abandoned much of the approach and focus on being the information finder to now being the social-network wannabe. It's as if something flipped 180 degrees - they went from being the company that wanted to help you find out about everything to being the company that wanted to find everything about you.
- just2n 14y agoMight the leadership change have anything to do with that?
- jacquesm 14y agoGoogle's core business is advertising.
- jacques_chester 14y agoAnyone who disagrees with this other Jacques is invited to take a squiz at Google's annual reports. Any of them since the introduction of adwords and adsense. It doesn't matter which. They all basically read the same.
- incongruity 14y agoIndeed – perhaps I was wrong to say that they don't currently know what business they're in – rather, they haven't known and recently, they've re-aligned around a singular strategy focused on that. The problem is that for so long, they built their public facing brand on a completely different premise and image. Therefore, as they've re-aligned, they're facing a bit of cognitive dissonance in the minds of their products (err, the public).