“I think Google is the most successful attention merchant - profitable attention merchant in the history of the world, most successful advertising-only based company - most profitable. They started a very idealistic, beautiful company in many ways, but they didn't have a business model.” ThinkingWorldWayBeautifulAttentionCompanySuccessfulModelsAdvertisingGoogleWorld HistoryProfitableMerchantsIdealisticBusiness Models Author:Tim Wu
“The most interesting thing about Google is its founders hated advertising.” InterestingAdvertisingHatedFoundersGoogleMost InterestingInteresting Things Author:Tim Wu
“I think, year in, year out, Google is starting to get worse instead of better. I think this is happening to a lot of the web companies, is as their demand to increase the payload they deliver in ads increases, they end up degrading and corrupting their own services. And you can see it with Google Maps, you can see it with Google Directions, where somehow Uber is, you know, always one of the options. And it's becoming exactly what they said was what they never wanted, which is a pay-for service where the highest bidder gets the best results.” ThinkingKnowsYearsSaidEndsWantedResultsPayCompanyBecomingDemandHighestHappeningsIncreaseStartingMapsAdsGoogleThey SaidDegradingUberGoogle Maps Author:Tim Wu
“I do think the best thing for companies like Google and Facebook, if they are afraid of this ethical trap of advertising, is they should start letting people pay who want to pay and avoid some of the advertising.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantShouldPayCompanyAdvertisingBest ThingsEthicalGoogleTraps Author:Tim Wu
“Google has you at a very specific mental state that is, looking for something. And what they've always been able to say is, we deliver your message at the exact time someone is, say, looking for fishing hooks or looking for marriage counseling or looking for a lawyer for a particular problem. And here we have our customers telling you what is in their heart and soul. It's something that, you know, advertisers have wanted for decades.” KnowsHeartSoulStatesProblemAbleWantedParticularMessagesCustomersDecadesLawyerFishingGoogleHookHeart And SoulCounselingAdvertisers Author:Tim Wu
“When you think about normal advertising, it's just like, hey, here's a car and, you know, we don't know if you're looking for a car or not. So Google promised that mental state, and then were able to prove that delivering the message at the exact right moment would make someone click on something. So they pioneered the idea that advertising could be profitable on the internet, that a specific, very micromental state could be targeted. And they established the primacy of the click, which has haunted us ever since.” IfsThinkingKnowsIdeasStatesMomentsAbleCarInternetProveNormalMessagesAdvertisingHeyGoogleProfitableClicksDeliveringRight MomentPrimacy Author:Tim Wu
“Google's AdWords, they allow you to bid on words that people will type into the search engine, and they cost more or less. For example, I think mortgage refinancing can cost - now, it's probably hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars. So, in other words, they are allowing you to bid on what people are going to type, and that is the AdWords program. So you own certain terms, and then your ads show up as opposed to someone else's.” PeopleThinkingShowsCertainTermExampleTypeCostProgramDollarsAllowingEnginesAdsGoogleMortgageSearch Engine Author:Tim Wu
“Google has - at least at this point - maintained the line where it keeps organic results separate from the advertisements. But over time - so in other words, you still get the - there still are honest to goodness results which are based on an algorithm which is based on how important or how many people link to that particular site, so there's that. At the very beginning, there were unobtrusive advertisements on the side that sort of showed up when you typed in certain phrases. Over time, the amount of real estate that those ads take up has increased.” PeopleStillsImportantRealCertainSidesLinesResultsHonestParticularAmountGoodnessPhrasesLinksAdsGoogleSiteEstatesAdvertisementsAlgorithms Author:Tim Wu
“I don't think anyone at Google feels happy about it, but they've been in some sense, you know, enslaved to their business model, and so they have to satisfy their advertisers.” ThinkingKnowsFeelsModelsGoogleBusiness ModelsAdvertisers Author:Tim Wu
“I am the most concerned that we end up in a situation where your - everything is known about you and so therefore, not only Google, but Google, Facebook, Twitter - the whole set of companies - essentially knows all your weaknesses and therefore how to manipulate you in subtle ways in order to have you do things you might not otherwise do.” KnowsWayEndsWholeMightOrderCompanySituationKnownWeaknessConcernedSubtleGoogleManipulate Author:Tim Wu
“I'm kind of concerned the combined effect, not only Google, all these companies is kind of to make us more boring and that seems the opposite of what the Internet was supposed to be.” KindSeemsCompanyEffectsInternetConcernedOppositesBoringSupposed To BeGoogle Author:Tim Wu
“Wikipedia, a nonprofit, is an enormously popular website but has managed to operate without advertising. And, you know, maybe it's a little simpler than Google and YouTube, but it does show there's another way.” KnowsWayLittlesDoeShowsAdvertisingGoogleAnother WayWebsiteYoutubeWikipediaNonprofits Author:Tim Wu
“Facebook, when it began, like Google, was very resistant to advertising. They knew, like all - Mark Zuckerberg, like all good engineers, knew that advertising makes the product worse. But, you know, over time, they've been forced to increase the advertising load more and more and more. And the way they advertise is they - it's subtle but they know everything, you know, about everybody on the site.” KnowsWayProductsIncreaseMarkAdvertisingSubtleEngineersLoadGoogleSiteZuckerberg Author:Tim Wu
“Google - and some of the other sites, YouTube and, you know - Google has an amazing search engine. The map product is incredible. So there's a sort of exchange when you put up with a bunch of ads. Facebook basically gives you access to your friends who, in theory, you had access to already. So sometimes I don't really understand the deal, but I guess it makes it slightly easier. So that's their contribution.” KnowsGivingSometimesDealsProductsTheoryEasierIncrediblesAccessBunchContributionMapsEnginesAdsGoogleSiteYoutubeSearch Engine Author:Tim Wu
