Oh, I how long for those words!
Google is beginning to rub me the wrong way.
Lately, I've been getting a few emails from them dictating changes that we must all follow. That's what happens when one entity corners and controls everything - they get to act like dictators. Without competition, they get to run with their elbows up knocking who they want out of the way.
Now, an argument can be said, relative to its power, Google is rather "benign." However, that's not comforting. When it wants, it can do as it pleases.
Too often, the emails I get from them are way too long and complicated to follow. It goes something like: do this, do it by this date or be gone. For more details go here (at which point it raises more questions) and oh by the way, was this page helpful? And don't get me going about those help pages. I have a better chance outdoing a mouse in a maze.
Dealing (and I use the term loosely since they may as well be HAL-9000 at this point) with Google is like going through an impersonal telephone directory only to be cut off once you click on the service you need. More to the point, you feel like you've fallen through a trap door shooting you through a tube that spits you out into a river.
Google's detachment from people is eerie. And it's unacceptable. For a company of its size and seemingly unlimited power potential, pressure should be put on Google to at least have a 1-800 number. The reality is that millions of people don't understand what the heck they're talking about. In the privacy of their Mountain View walls it's fine but they need to learn to connect and communicate with people better.
Google is far from complicit on this matter. Many social and traffic sites are founded by kids who have no clue what it means to establish a business/social contract with users and customers. Too often, my emails go unanswered. I come from a corporate and personal thinking where I must do everything in my power to help and answer people's queries. When I was a broker no phone call or email EVER went unanswered - no matter how difficult or displeasing. NEVER.
I expect the same kind of respect and service in return in anything I do. Some people are better at tolerating it. Good for them. It's not so easy for me.
I have no idea what will happen to me or this blog after this post.
If something happens ple.........
Funny you should write this post. I've been thinking the same thing recently. I was even going to write a post titled "Overthrow Google". They are simply getting too powerful.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if Google doesn't like you for some reason, they can manipulate where you end up in their search results. This would be tolerable if Google didn't control 70% or more of the search engine market. With "google" now nearly synonymous with "search", the problem becomes obvious, and so does Google's enormous power.
The same thing is happening with YouTube (owned by Google), and again, when people go looking for videos, it's YouTube, not some other service.
I recommend using Yahoo search and others more frequently now, just to increase the competition somewhat.
I haven't being doing a lot with my blogspot.com blog lately for these same reasons. When you're on Blogger, Google ultimately owns you, which is why I've been been thinking of moving my blog and domain name to a self-hosted site using Wordpress as my blog platform. I don't want to ever be under any one's thumb.
I plan to do the same thing - move out of blogger - down the road. It annoys me how defenseless I am against Google.
ReplyDeleteCuil is another one.
Yahoo needs to work harder but I agree - a message has to be sent.