5 ms·

The new schema.org actions: What they mean for personalisation on the Web

54 points by ziodave 12y ago

opendomain 12y ago
I think Schema.org is a great website for everyone to learn how to classify their content and outgoing links. Most organizations should follow their suggestions to improve their search rankings. My only problem is that I gave the domain schema.org to Google as part of my OpenDomain project. They originally offered to buy it for $20k, but as we are not for profit and do not sell domains, I gave it to the for free. All I asked was for a press release and a link on the main page of the website, but they still have not done either. Is this how Google shows how they support Open Source? </end rant>
- buro9 12y ago
  There is no conflict in a non-profit selling something. Simply invest the proceeds in the goals of the non-profit. I help a non-profit (UK CIC - Community Interest Company) and we certainly take every penny that comes our way and just re-invest it. One thing I've learned from that is that companies who feel they can benefit from association to us (or some service we provide) will only be positive towards us until they get whatever they came for. It's important to make sure that whatever you're getting you acquire in advance and isn't promise based. All goodwill tends to evaporate on the other side as soon as their needs are fulfilled. Reality is, most companies don't care, so take what you can when you can to further your project's goals. Good luck with persuading Google to now play nice, perhaps the HN mention might make them do so.
  - opendomain 12y ago
    I understand that people have bills so making a profit in not inherently evil. For OpenDomain, the whole goal was to make sure the domains went to the best open source projects, so any thought of selling them could corrupt the vision. I must tell you though - someone approached use years ago for one domain and had offered to pay for it, but instead I gave away for FREE, only to get SUED afterward. That made me really question my project. The only thing that kept it going was that I have been doing this for 15 years. Now Google screwed me - I should just quit the project and sell all the domains and go on with my life.
- AznHisoka 12y ago
  Ha, that'd be ironic though. Asking a company that forbids directly asking others for a link.. to give you a link to your site. But the lesson here is never give anything for free to a for-profit corporation.
  - opendomain 12y ago
    Google is for profit, but their support open source is awesome, so I do not understand why they do not hold their promise.
bergie 12y ago
For an idea how actions could be used, see what GMail is doing: https://developers.google.com/gmail/actions/ https://developers.google.com/gmail/actions/
- username223 12y ago
  Ugh -- "punch the monkey" animated GIFs for the 21st century. There's a reason most email clients block images by default. I'm glad I don't use gmail.
  - icebraining 12y ago
    Uh, there are no images defined by the sender, just text that appears in a button or card. Are you confusing the Google Now cards with Gmail actions? (If it's because of the picture of the plane, that's also put there by Gmail based on the schema type - "FlightReservation" - not sent with the email)
    - username223 12y ago
      I wasn't very clear in the above post, but tracking and "calls to action" in the form of "click the annoying thing" are the main reasons most email clients don't load images by default. This seems like another way of adding "rich," interactive content to email, and therefore similarly open to abuse.
ScottWhigham 12y ago
I'm trying to understand Google's thinking here. The first thing I thought was, "If I'm sending mass emails, I already have tracking URLs set up through whatever mass email company I'm using, right? So what's the value to me, the company sending my customers emails?" But then I read their page [1] and I think I get it. This is how you get your company emails to show up on a Gmail user's Google Now cards. They list a few other reasons but, ultimately, that's it, right? [1] https://developers.google.com/gmail/actions/overview https://developers.google.com/gmail/actions/overview
- Raphael 12y ago
  I can't wait for Google Now card spam.

54 points by ziodave 12y ago

I think Schema.org is a great website for everyone to learn how to classify their content and outgoing links. Most organizations should follow their suggestions to improve their search rankings. My only problem is that I gave the domain schema.org to Google as part of my OpenDomain project. They originally offered to buy it for $20k, but as we are not for profit and do not sell domains, I gave it to the for free. All I asked was for a press release and a link on the main page of the website, but they still have not done either. Is this how Google shows how they support Open Source? </end rant>

buro9 12y ago
There is no conflict in a non-profit selling something. Simply invest the proceeds in the goals of the non-profit. I help a non-profit (UK CIC - Community Interest Company) and we certainly take every penny that comes our way and just re-invest it. One thing I've learned from that is that companies who feel they can benefit from association to us (or some service we provide) will only be positive towards us until they get whatever they came for. It's important to make sure that whatever you're getting you acquire in advance and isn't promise based. All goodwill tends to evaporate on the other side as soon as their needs are fulfilled. Reality is, most companies don't care, so take what you can when you can to further your project's goals. Good luck with persuading Google to now play nice, perhaps the HN mention might make them do so.
- opendomain 12y ago
  I understand that people have bills so making a profit in not inherently evil. For OpenDomain, the whole goal was to make sure the domains went to the best open source projects, so any thought of selling them could corrupt the vision. I must tell you though - someone approached use years ago for one domain and had offered to pay for it, but instead I gave away for FREE, only to get SUED afterward. That made me really question my project. The only thing that kept it going was that I have been doing this for 15 years. Now Google screwed me - I should just quit the project and sell all the domains and go on with my life.
AznHisoka 12y ago
Ha, that'd be ironic though. Asking a company that forbids directly asking others for a link.. to give you a link to your site. But the lesson here is never give anything for free to a for-profit corporation.
- opendomain 12y ago
  Google is for profit, but their support open source is awesome, so I do not understand why they do not hold their promise.

bergie 12y ago

For an idea how actions could be used, see what GMail is doing: https://developers.google.com/gmail/actions/ https://developers.google.com/gmail/actions/

username223 12y ago
Ugh -- "punch the monkey" animated GIFs for the 21st century. There's a reason most email clients block images by default. I'm glad I don't use gmail.
- icebraining 12y ago
  Uh, there are no images defined by the sender, just text that appears in a button or card. Are you confusing the Google Now cards with Gmail actions? (If it's because of the picture of the plane, that's also put there by Gmail based on the schema type - "FlightReservation" - not sent with the email)
  - username223 12y ago
    I wasn't very clear in the above post, but tracking and "calls to action" in the form of "click the annoying thing" are the main reasons most email clients don't load images by default. This seems like another way of adding "rich," interactive content to email, and therefore similarly open to abuse.

ScottWhigham 12y ago

I'm trying to understand Google's thinking here. The first thing I thought was, "If I'm sending mass emails, I already have tracking URLs set up through whatever mass email company I'm using, right? So what's the value to me, the company sending my customers emails?" But then I read their page [1] and I think I get it. This is how you get your company emails to show up on a Gmail user's Google Now cards. They list a few other reasons but, ultimately, that's it, right? [1] https://developers.google.com/gmail/actions/overview https://developers.google.com/gmail/actions/overview

Raphael 12y ago
I can't wait for Google Now card spam.