4 ms·
"... companies grew determined to show that they prized their relationships with customers more than those with authorities" I've noticed that the words 'custo
by davidp 12y ago
"... companies grew determined to show that they prized their relationships with customers more than those with authorities"
I've noticed that the words 'customer' and 'user' are starting to draw my conscious attention when I see them used (and misused) in mainstream journalism.
Consider: For most of the companies listed in this article, the customer is exactly that -- someone who pays the company for something, e.g. a cable or internet subscriber.
But for Google, Facebook, et al, the customer isn't the user; the customer is the advertiser. The user is the product. Google's customers could care less about privacy and user notification, except insofar as it spooks the users away from the service.
The distinction is worth keeping in mind when trying to gauge just how far companies might take this newfound willingness to resist.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- skj 12y agoI'm not really sure about this customer/product distinction. Both the people who view the ads and the people who buy the ad placement give Google something they want in exchange for something they have. That is, Google has products and services that it gives to customers in exchange for their eyeballs. Then, Google is able to convert some of those eyeballs into clicks, which they sell to advertisers in exchange for money. The transfer of goods in exchange for value is not only possible when money exchanges hands. If Google was unable to create products that convinced one of its classes of customers to sell their eyeballs, they would not be able to resell the eyeballs for cash.
- qwerty_asdf 12y agoHmmm... Let's try on a different quote for size: "... companies grew determined to show that they prized their relationship with their product more than their relationships with paying customers, such as advertisers, as well as other non-paying, but similarly coercive entities, such as law enforcement organizations" Yeah... I'm not sure how I feel about that version... It kind of makes me want to crawl in a hole and die.