How SEO, Google, and Facebook Are Ruining The Web, And Ruining You
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on July 9, 2010 by admin in Technology
Friday, July 9th, 2010Has the web become a big Wordpress linkfarm driven by social networking?
I loved it the other day when Prince said “the internet’s completely over”. Like that statement, and the headline above, much of what I’m about to say will be hyperbole, opinion, and oversimplification. Which is ironic, because that’s kind of what the web has become as a result of some of what I’ll be talking about. Do you remember when there were more than three search engines? When grandma didn’t have a blog, and your mom didn’t ask you “how do I set up a Facebook?” Or when small business owners who can barely use e-mail didn’t ask their web developer questions like “we’ll be be implementing SEO and social media tools when you build my website, right?” I would argue that Google’s domination of search and the ease of installation of WordPress blogs have done nearly irreversible damage to the web. How? Back when there were a half dozen or so competing search engines – Lycos, Hotbot, Excite, MSN, Yahoo, Altavista, etc. -they would have ups and downs and shortcomings, but competition would drive their evolution. And perhaps more importantly, an interesting cycle would drive part of that evolution: a popular search engine would attract SEO experts, which would slowly erode the engine’s organic results, which would cause a migration to a new search engine, which would inspire the top dog to clean up their index, or fail. Then Google came along. They did so many things so well in the beginning that it was almost magical. And slowly their competitors faded into oblivion, so that now, according to stats like this, Google has about 70% of the market, Yahoo 15%, and Bing 9%. So why is that bad? Although a disruptive technology could always come along, for now, there’s little incentive for developers and VC’s to say “hey, let’s start a search engine“. And with Google as basically the only portal to the web for most people, their search results have become so “spammed out” and infested with WordPress-driven linkfarms in general results, and Yelp-like listings in local results, that random searches can often be utterly useless. And Google can care less about that for awhile, because where will you go? It’s sort of like if you were frustrated with your cable TV service. What are you gonna do, call the other cable company? Add to this mix an attempt to cash in on the myth of the wisdom of the crowd, and you get a real mess. Rather quickly, any site that is based on natural networks of user trust will fall apart. Think of something like Yelp. Who bothers to offer up reviews on sites like Yelp? Mostly either opinionated egoists, or angry people. Real experts are too busy doing whatever they do as experts. Which is an idea summed up nicely in this piece by Amber Naslund, which talks about “confusing ego with influence”. And when Facebook becomes the second most visited site on the web, you get an interesting new phase. Google vs Facebook. Google keeps going after Facebook, while Facebook enters the search market. I can’t wait ’til all my search results are based on “Like” buttons that were clicked in e-mail spam campaigns. How about you? Oh I don’t need to ask. Facebook’s Edgerank will keep me informed of what you’re thinking and doing if I need to know. Which is another piece of this e-pocalypse. We already know that Google is making us stupid, but once we’re stupid, is it really such a good idea to make Facebook the very first thing we do each day?
Google Wants Your TV
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on May 21, 2010 by admin in Popular Media
Friday, May 21st, 2010Google TV is coming. Are you intrigued, or repulsed by the idea of Google reaching its tendrils even further into your daily life?
 Yeah, yeah. Bad joke, but unavoidable. |
Google TV’s pitch is “TV meets web. Web meets TV”. But wait. Didn’t this already happen back in 1997? Hard to believe that it’s been over ten years since Microsoft sunk $425,000,000 into this idea, and failed so miserably. Although they’re still around. Sort of. Obviously the availability of broadband and Google’s brawn and brains can bring something new to this realm, right? We all know the future holds some kind of convergence of your computer screen and your TV screen; it’s just a matter of who can pull the partnerships together. Or is it? This PC World piece asks some good questions, including “how probable is that you’ll want to use your television for Twitter or Instant messenger chats?” and then goes on to answer one of the only problems I see with Internet on the telly, by suggesting that maybe you could turn your Nexus One, iPhone, or even iPad into a visual remote. It will be interesting to see where this all goes, given the corporate partnerships with Intel, Sony, and Best Buy, among others. I personally won’t be too enthused if the service is dependent on a cable or satellite subscription. I’ve been happy without that much TV for years. None of the partners are talking dates for a launch yet, saying that would be premature, but Google wouldn’t be pitching it if they didn’t have SOME idea what they’re planning. Or is it a HOAX? If you haven’t tried watching TV on the web before and don’t want to wait until BoobTube is launched, you could check out our Best Sites For Watching TV On Line piece from last fall. How about you though – are you intrigued, or repulsed by the idea of Google reaching its tendrils even further into your daily life? Read the rest of this entry »
Life After Facebook – The Open Source Project “Diaspora”?
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on May 13, 2010 by admin in Technology
Thursday, May 13th, 2010Yes, Facebook is beginning to show the signs of a dying culture. But does a brand that evokes images of translocated, beleaguered refugees stand a chance as a replacement?
If you’re at all in touch with the evolution of web trends, you can probably sense change in the air. One of the really great things about the web is that when something is really cool, people gravitate to it, and when it develops a high “suck quotient”, people just walk away and find the next cool thing. Google, for instance, has repeatedly done a masterful job of keeping the cool quotient just slightly ahead of the suck curve. Facebook? Not so much. The “information highway” is strewn with the debris of discarded innovation. Like the term “information highway”, for instance. And I’m confident that Facebook will soon be joining MySpace and Napster and IM and mp3.com and e-cards and a million other once-popular web doodads in that great wasteland on the web. So what’s next? Personally, I think it will still be a form of networked sharing, but someone’s going to figure out a way to make it work without constantly tinkering with it to try to monetize every user interaction. The browser you’re using to read this was free. Wikipedia is free. Your email program is probably free. So why not social networking? And by “free” I mean free of advertising. Or fees. Or freakish privacy issues. A project that’s generated considerable buzz in the tech press the last few weeks is Diaspora, an “open source Facebook”. These young developers are definitely on to something, but in spite of exposure that has reached even the New York Times and raising over 120 grand (and growing) in startup capital in just a couple of weeks, they may be missing it on a few beats. First of all, their idea requires the user to download software to connect. Maybe they can sell the idea that being a “seed” is somehow desirable, but this is the kind of territory that’s usually only broached by fairly tech-savvy users. Another biggy is the name. Do you really want a brand that references a permanently displaced and relocated collective? Who knows. Maybe it could work. One more significant hurdle is actually operating within the terms of use of all the sites (Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) that they plan to integrate into their idea. Whether this particular bunch of youngsters pulls it off or not, I wish them well, because they’re at least tapping us all on the shoulder and reminding us that there were fun times before Facebook, and there will be fun times after as well. Read the rest of this entry »
You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide From Human Flesh Search Engines & Your Cell Phone
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on March 5, 2010 by admin in Technology
Friday, March 5th, 2010You might as well come out come out wherever you are, because between Human Flesh Search Engines, cell phone GPS, social network analysis, and erosion of privacy rights, they’re gonna find you anyway. Unless of course you’re Osama Bin Laden.
 I wish this were a parody graphic. It’s from Google China’s Human Flesh Search page. |
If you’re not paranoid or have nothing to hide, things like the UK’s millions of security cameras, the TSA subjecting you to cavity searches, and Google tracking everything you do won’t bother you, and may even comfort you somehow. Personally, although I’m not doing anything particularly questionable with my time, and am not ashamed of the questionable activities I do engage in, I enjoy the ability to say “none of your businesss” and go off into the forest to sit on a rock and think for awhile. Back in 2002, the fact that cell phone providers were going to add the GPS-powered E911 feature to phones raised the question what do they plan to do with this information? Well the answers are finally in. If you’re the Iranian government, they’ll help you prosecute and arrest political protesters. If you’re the FBI or the White House, they’ll help you track callers without a warrant, because the current administration – much like the Bush gang – believes that cell phone users have “no reasonable expectation of privacy” when using a cell phone. “So”, you say to yourself, “I’ll just ditch my cell phone then”. Ha. Forget it. They (whoever “they” are) will still find you, either using social networking like they did with Saddam Hussein , or with the latest in reverse lookups, disturbingly referred to in China as Human Flesh Search Engines. Interested in working part time as a “Google Human Flesh Searcher”? Explore your options here. I wonder if this would work for catching Osama Bin Laden? Read the rest of this entry »
The Adobe Apocalypse
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on February 19, 2010 by admin in Technology
Friday, February 19th, 2010Why I hate Adobe, and how their products could bring down western civilization.
I’ve been deriving secret glee from Steve Jobs’ repeated slams against Adobe Flash. Although I have a lot of friends who are hard-core Adobephiles, I have to admit I’ve always quietly loathed the company’s products. I always found the interface of two of their flagship products – Photoshop
