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> why is Google's search engine a monopoly? It's not a monopoly. However, it has a massive network effect that has made it so far impossible for anyone to mak
by jacques_chester 12y ago
> why is Google's search engine a monopoly?
It's not a monopoly.
However, it has a massive network effect that has made it so far impossible for anyone to make a successful frontal assault on the two core businesses of AdWords and AdSense.
- krapp 12y agoI think some people have redefined "monopoly" to mean "successful business."
- jacques_chester 12y agoPeople are also giving Thiel credit for this insight. Michael Porter was probably the first to look over the fence of the Economics department, find out what the abusive behaviours of monopolists are, and to begin to teach them as strategy to be emulated.
- krick 12y ago> impossible for anyone to make a successful frontal assault on the two core businesses Well, it's kinda definition of monopoly, which Google of course is.
- jacques_chester 12y agoExcept that there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of niche advertising platforms, markets, middlemen, services, systems, technologies, clearinghouses, inventories, sellers, buyers, brokers, verifiers, subverters ... The advertising ecosystem is actually very complex and diverse. Nobody is quite sure how big it actually is. But Google definitely has the two biggest chunks of it and nobody else is able to, for example, place keyword-based ads into Google's search results without Google taking their cut.