Facebook: Dating Effloresces
November 18, 2010
The Facebook announcement triggered a flood of posts, punditry, and pandering. I quite liked “Locked in Paradigms.” Most of the other posts I did not like so much. Venture Chronicles struck me as coming closer to the Facebook email-instant messaging-kitchen sink communications service. The write up said:
It’s easy to see why Facebook is keeping Google executive up at night… they are innovating at the edge and at the core simultaneously, have complete control over users social graphs while Google has to piece it together, and have a distribution capability that is only rivaled by Google. Most significantly, Facebook doesn’t seem restrained by the way that common applications, like messaging, have always worked and their ability to lever into 3rd party applications gives them an enormous advantage just at the moment.
Facebook is riding a wave and generating buzz. Google lost the wave and people turned down the buzz. Dating has effloresced at Facebook. Membership versus generic services seems to have the magic. How long will Facebook’s momentum persist? Google’s run up was quick. Facebook’s may be quicker. Microsoft’s trajectory suggests that we are talking years. But the Facebook social Swiss Army knife will probably gut AOL and Yahoo. Collateral damage in my opinion. Oh, and if you want to know why some folks wax enthusiastic over Facebook, read this article. No comment about this percentage for the Math Club.
Stephen E Arnold, November 18, 2010
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A Real Jab at Google: Facebook and Artificial Intelligence
November 18, 2010
I know that the poobahs swarming around the various summits and “numbered” conferences are excited about the future presented through Dollar General eye glasses. Not me. I am warm and comfy at the goose pond, reading “DST CEO Yuri Milner: Facebook Will Help Power Artificial Intelligence In Ten Years.” In my opinion the comments about Facebook and artificial intelligence are more important than the Beatles on iTunes, the wacky predictions of a bubblicious venture firm, and the last gasps of companies ready for the rest homes.
Here’s the passage I noted:
Milner believes that Facebook could be one of the platforms that drives the development of Artificial Intelligence over the next decade or so. AI probably isn’t the first thing you think about these days when it comes to Facebook, but he has a point — that the site processes an incredible amount of data, and it has the potential to develop powerful filtering tools using both this content and social signals.
Please, read the original write up. I want to offer three observations and then paddle back to the shore for a evening snack of day old bread.
First, the remark underscores the importance of “member” input where the crazed postings are complemented by whatever data the “member” provides. Data with these characteristics are likely to be better than numerical recipes that try to build data sets and fill in the blanks. Google is better at the numerical recipe work; Facebook is a leader in the crazed postings and “member” provided data. Facebook has an advantage.
Second, the comment adds another example of Google’s inability to regain the momentum the firm had in brute force search prior to 2006 or 2007. Until thee pivotal years, it was Google’s world. The emergence of Facebook as a player in a key technical activity is like an aging athlete who finally hears, “You can’t do it any more, bud.” Ouch.
Third, Facebook is now officially a technical problem for Google. The Xooglers at Google know the weak spots and I think Facebook will exploit them. After I learned about the Facebook “permanent distraction” approach to communication, the flaws of Google’s offerings become much more obvious.
Check out the interview.
Stephen E Arnold, November 18, 2010
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Google Gives Advice to Facebook
November 15, 2010
No, really. Googlers are telling Facebook what to do to become more social. This comes from the outfit that rolled out Orkut to the delight of certain interesting user communities in Brazil and Buzz to the annoyance of many users. Google had to pay a fine for its social sensitivity over that “Buzz” saw.
This is a metaphor for the Facebook parade. Why doesn’t Google have a band or a float or some twirlers in this spectacle?
Not surprisingly, Google executives continue to amuse this silly goose. Usually former English majors and mid-tier consulting firms crank out management malarkey. But Google is playing this game as well. I think it may be construed as further evidence that Google has begun to show its shrewish side, navigate to “Apps Must Be More Social, Says Google’s Barra.” The main point of the write up is that Google wants applications to be more social. This from the Math Club! Here’s the passage about the Googler’s presentation that caught my attention:
Social media should be an integral part of any app, and personalization will be a key to success, says Hugo Barra, Google director of mobile product management. At this year’s Monaco Media Forum, he refuted speculation Google would be launching its own social network platform, adding, “But we do think social is an ingredient for success for any app going forward. So we’re seeing social more as an ingredient rather than a vertical platform play.” He said personalization would be “absolutely huge” and “being able to relate the different signals that users give you, whether on Facebook or Google, will be a key to success”.
I need to waddle from the goose pond to the shore to think about this.
First, isn’t Google the company that is paying employees to refrain from quitting their job at Google. The numbers I recall are $1,000 and a 10 percent raise for the average wizard and 30 percent raise for the ultra wizard to stay. But the ultimo wizard was offered $3.5 million. Now that’s a management decision that warrants consideration? Google seems to believe that money buys happiness or at least keeping people from abandoning ship? Here’s a question, “Is purchased “love” the same as “real” love?”
Second, hasn’t the Google demonstrated that its interpersonal skills have annoyed some government procurement professionals and the US television broadcasters?
Reflections on Ask.com
November 13, 2010
Ask.com used to be the premier search engine for the Internet. According to the article, “IAC’s Barry Diller Surrenders to Google, Ends Ask.com’s Search Effort” they don’t even break the Top Five. Because of this backslide, Diller’s corporation will be laying off 130 engineers and letting the competition take most of its brute force, Web search business.
In the era before Yahoo and Google you could type in any question and your trusty guide, Jeeves, would take you anywhere you needed to go. Not anymore. It seems that Ask.com can no longer keep up with the Jones’s or, in this case, the Google. The write up asserted:
It’s become this huge juggernaut of a company that we really thought we could compete against by innovating. We did a great job of holding our market share but it wasn’t enough to grow the way IAC had hoped we would grow when it bought us.
Google has grown to be the world’s top search engine, and it seems to control 65 percent of the searches performed in the United States.
Some observations:
- How long will Google be able to sustain brute force indexing? The more interesting services use human input to deliver content.
- Who will be the next Google? Maybe it will be Facebook?
- With the rise of “training wheels” on search systems, will most users fiddle with key words? Won’t “get it fast, get it good enough” may become the competitive advantage?
Google is now the old man of search. I see the company moving clumsily. There was the “don’t go to Facebook” payoffs earlier this week. There is the Facebook game and Google watching from the cheap seats.
Changes afoot. I fondly recall the third tier consultant who told me that Ask.com was a winner. I assume that young person is now advising the movers and shakers about search and content processing. Maybe Google needs an advisor to help the firm move from the cheap seats to the starting line up?
Stephen E Arnold and Leslie Radcliff, November 13, 2010
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Forrester Expert Dings Zuckerberg
November 10, 2010
I don’t know the Facebook wizard Mark Zuckerberg. I haven’t seen the movie about Mark Zuckerberg. I don’t have much stock in the baloney that appears on Web sites—especially when that baloney includes executive biographies. Look at my bio at www.arnoldit.com/sitemap.html. Baloney. Look at the Google executive bios. Baloney. Look at consulting firms’ executive bios. Baloney. Look at a 20 something’s bio. Baloney.
Solid, fat filled, nutritional black holes. Baloney. Thus it is and thus it will ever be.
Picking apart a 20 something and criticizing his management expertise is pretty much a waste of time and indicative that an Angry Bird bone is stuck in one’s throat. Navigate to “Perspective On Zuckerberg”, written by one of the mid-tier consulting firms. Read it closely. Make up your own mind about what it is saying.
For me, grousing about a 20 something is like my quacking at a crow who wants the same chunk of bread this goose does. The crow doesn’t speak goose, doesn’t want to learn, and doesn’t want much more than the chunk of bread.
A mid tier consulting firm wants billable projects. When I read criticism of a high profile company and its top gun, I say to myself:
I think that a certain firm did not get a certain engagement. The best defense is a good offense. Let’s use the handy dandy blogosphere to point out why a certain company / person / product is deeply flawed.
Yes, this is how one 66 year old, addled goose in Harrod’s Creek thinks. My hunch is that there is a deep subtext in this consulting firms’ blog post. Will Mr. Zuckerberg care? Probably not. Will Facebook attorneys care? Maybe. I know Alexander the Great was a good manager despite some personal oddities handed down over the centuries. Does anyone in a history class care? Nah. Alexander conquered the world. Too bad he caught the sniffles and died. Bad luck, not bad management.
Do I expect a 20 something to combine the polish of a McKinsey partner, the insights of a Peter Drucker, and the financial acumen of a Warren Buffet? Not in a million years.
One thing about Mr. Zuckerberg is clear. He knows how to hire Xooglers. I don’t know how many mid tier consultants, former English majors, and wanna be techno-poobahs he has on his staff. I do know the 20 something has got the Google behind a social eight ball and Microsoft close to a side pocket. Not good enough for a mid tier consulting firm? Okay. Good enough for 600 million users, a growing base of banner ad customers, and some investment bankers? Yep.
Oh, and an important point: Mr. Zuckerberg is still alive, seems healthy, and appears to have the cash to hire some advisers. Maybe Forrester has found a magic sales method?
Stephen E Arnold, November 9, 2010
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Face-Oogle or Goog-Book?
October 9, 2010
I found the information in this write up fascinating–“Facebook Stealing Google’s Staff.” And consider this factoid, which may or may not be spot on, “12.5 percent of Facebookers are ex-Googlers.” Why fiddle around with a personnel or human resources function? Those Googlers know that there may be a pot of gold in the Facebook parking lot. I found this take on the Xooglers different from my reaction:
All we know for sure is that the exodus to the social networking site represents less than one percent of Google’s estimated 22,000 staff, and Google can really afford to lose a few people here and there when it’s rolling in such vast sums on money.
My hunch is that the zest of the Google is waning. “Zest” in this case includes dough or the hope of dough, birds of a feather, and some of the ethos of the pre 2007 Google. Make up your own mind. Anyone care to speculate on what impact the Xooglers will have on Facebook’s marketing methods?
Stephen E Arnold, October 9, 2010
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Facebook Shuns Google, Not too Social
October 7, 2010
The questions surrounding Google and the release of a new social “Facebook Killer” network continues to keep the world buzzing. Google’s Vice President Marissa Mayer in Venture Beat’s “Google’s Mayer Criticizes Content “Locked” Inside Facebook” expresses her feelings about the social leader Facebook. In her question and answer segment the VP expresses concerns about Facebook. Mayer states “her concern about social networks, particularly Facebook, was the fact that so much of their content is hidden from Google and other search engines.” Google wants individuals conducting searches to have access to relevant non sensitive information on Facebook. Google does currently pull information from some social sites, but Facebook gives them access to very little information. With the popularity of Facebook it is clear, if granted access, the available content would add to the overall quality of Google’s search results. With the Facebook and Microsoft partnership still taking shape perhaps that means Google is the odd man out. Facebook is not behaving in what one might describe a “social” manner.
April Holmes, October 7, 2010
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Google TV: I Deplaned and
October 6, 2010
I had to hunt for information about the Google TV. My trusty sources about 6 pm Eastern touted Facebook’s announcement of a Facebook user now being able to download his/her information. I had to navigate to Google News and run a query for Logitech to find out about the $300 gizmo and its pricey accessories. I am not a TV goose, so the key point for me was that Facebook was the big news. Set aside the price difference between the $100 Apple TV Version 2.0 gizmo and the soon-to-ship Logitech device. For me the big news was that Facebook stole the headlines. That’s the take away from my post flight news check. Does that represent a one time twitch or is the focus on Facebook the new normal?
Stephen E Arnold, October 6, 2010
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Discovering Facebook Pages
September 30, 2010
Short honk: If you are a Facebook user, you may find the official Page Browser useful. The tool makes it easy to look at thumbnails and “discover” Facebook pages. Our thought was a StumbleUpon.com for Facebook. You view may be different. Point your browser at “Page Browser Officially Launched : A Perfect Way To Discover Interesting Facebook Pages.” The write up said:
Discovering Facebook Pages of your interests are very easy, just head towards Page Browser where you will find an array of thumbnails representing Facebook communities. If you feel something is of your interest, just hover over the thumbnail and a like button will pop up. Click it and you will get all news from that community incorporated in your News feed. If you want to know more about the community, just click the title under the thumbnail.
Why fiddle with a query when you can look at pictures? It is the 21st century way.
Stephen E Arnold, September 30, 2010
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Facebook, Likes, and Search: Important Now?
September 29, 2010
“Facebook Likes Just Officially Became More Important to Search” calls attention to the “Like” function. The little button is turning up on quite a few Web sites. Part of its charm is that each button and the attendant clicks pump useful data into the maw of Facebook. Google may think Bing.com is its number one competitor, but I think the Xooglers at Facebook are a growing challenge. Nothing works like the scent of a big payoff and knowledge of what the Google can and cannot do refracted through the filter of “been there, done that” folks.
Here’s the passage that caught my attention:
The second one is in line with a feature the company was testing that we mentioned recently. “Consistent with how we treat other Open Graph object types, we’ve introduced the ability to see articles shared by your friends in the search typeahead,” says Facebook’s Namita Gupta. “For instance, if your friend clicks ‘Like’ on an article at a news site, the article will appear in your News Feed and can now also surface in the search typeahead.” The results, as AllFacebook described upon finding the feature being tested, showed content based on the number of likes and the number of friends who liked the particular object. “The search results have now become dramatically more relevant with the inclusion of recent news articles, something that previously wasn’t accessible via Facebook’s open graph search results,” AllFacebook’s Nick O’Neill had said. “Currently, the search results only appear within the drop down from Facebook’s search box, however I’d assume that this will eventually shift to Facebook’s search area, which has yet to undergo a significant overhaul.” Either way, there is clearly a direct connection between likes and search now. It’s essentially Facebook’s version of PageRank.
You will want to read the full Chris Crum write up. We want to offer three search-ilicious observations:
- The Facebook approach generated curated information, which is a good thing for most Facebook users. Who wants to be a Boolean query expert when “friends” provide the info?
- The advertising value of these tiny bits of data are quite interesting. Toss the Likes data in with the profile data and you have a direct marketer’s dream: digital direct marketing to a very tight demographic.
- Facebook is going to be able to offer an index of curated (member identified Web sites) and now curated content (member selected stories). Oh, oh. The world of the commercial database producer has just been put on wheels and trundled over to Facebook.
In short, hello, disruption. So it is not just Google who will feel some pressure. Like the good old days of 2006 for Google, other seemingly unrelated business sectors get the evil eye.
Stephen E Arnold, September 29, 2010
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