Is Google Squandering Its Biggest Asset?
from the alarm-bells-should-be-going-off... dept
One of Google's biggest assets is trust. The company's founder has admitted that adopting the "Do No Evil" mantra purposely set a very high bar against which to judge every company action -- often making it impossible to take the easy way out, even when the "right" solution was more a lot complex. However, over the past few years, the company has repeatedly distanced itself from that mantra, and we've all been seeing it in certain actions the company has taken. Earlier this week, we noted that it would be a mistake for anyone to trust Google to look out for the best interests of users, but you need to admit that Google often made that explicit promise, with both its mantra and actions, that it would, in fact, look out for the best interests of users over its own short-term goals. The company's execs clearly stated that its own long term advantages would be best served by watching out for its users best interests, even if it sometimes went against short term advantage.Yet, with actions such as Google caving on its book scanning project and other decisions such as paying newspapers to scan their headlines, Google seems to have compromised its core principles a few too many times -- and it appears that users are starting to notice. A recent survey of the top 20 most trusted companies in the US shows that Google has fallen off the list entirely from its spot at 10 on last year's list. Of course, these sorts of lists will always fluctuate, but it still should be setting off alarm bells in Mountain View.
Much of Google's success is based on that implicit trust. People stick with Google because of that trust. They use products like Gmail, desktop search, and Google Docs because of that trust. If people are starting to lose that trust, it creates tremendous opportunities for someone else to step in to put a serious dent into Google's online dominance. The guy who did the study claims that Google's fall is probably just due to "big company syndrome," where people just start trusting big companies less, but that doesn't make much sense. Plenty of the other companies on the list are quite big as well, and have no trouble staying on the list.
Even if it's just as blip, Google should be extremely concerned with such an early warning sign that one of its biggest assets is quickly losing value.
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Google --> Microsoft 2.0
trust has definitely fallen off the map. Google has become a necessary utility, but not something that entrepreneurs are actively admiring.
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Really?
This is not the reason I use google, I use google products because they work. I couldn't care less about their corporate policy.
From what data do you make the assertion that google is a leader in because its users trust it? Or is this just one of those classic masnick assertions, "Well I think its true so it must be, right?"
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Re: Really?
First of all, I said much of their success, not ALL of the reasons why EVERYONE uses it.
And it's not their overall corporate policy that anyone cares about, it's the fact that they feel comfortable trusting Google with storing their email and their documents and their search history and their calendar... etc. That's a lot of private info.
There are plenty of companies that have come and gone and failed in those markets -- and a reason often cited is that they're uncomfortable trusting all that info to a company they know little about.
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Re: Really?
I've stopped using Google products because, not only will they screw, they'll try to be all self-righteous about it and act like they're the ONE company that doesn't screw people.
I'd rather be honestly screwed than raped in the dark...
Just saying.
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Google is simply better
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A reason often cited
Can much of their success come from multiple aspects? Is it really 'much' then?
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Trust a different way
But what they provide. I trust that when Google makes something, IE. G1 or Chrome. They will make it right and when they find the bugs, they will fix the bugs.
The product they make I will buy even if it is beta because It'll work.
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Re: Trust a different way
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Just a shame, that's all
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copyrights are not the issue
I am concerned about your approach. Techdirt is concentrating more on copyright issues (good or bad? I dont know. I will stop visiting this site when I am bored). Your sole aim seems to be to drumming up "copyrights and patents are evil and responsible for all the world's problems".
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Greatness comes in waves
MS gradually rose, became a bunch of oversure and unresponsive "stuffed shirts", losing a large business share to, among others, a creative bunch of rapscallions in the cloud called Google.
Now Google has risen...and on, and on. If one watches Google Groups, one may see many instances in which Google has not only failed user trust but failed disappointingly in response to user needs. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
The moral? Don't put all your eggs in one cloud, lest you be purely dependent upon the whims and moral turpitude of the stirrer of that cloud.
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Re: Greatness comes in waves
Probably better this way, for them otherwise we'd have a monopoly on our hands.
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eBay
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paypal not trusted?
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Overreaction
Remember when Obama began his run for Presidency, and all the news stations adored him. And then half-way through they flipped and started criticizing him because they got made fun of on SNL.
Do companies have to be saints for us to think they are good.
And Microsoft has done a lot more good than bad in this world.
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Motto
The decline is unfortunate, but was to be expected when Google went public.
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Re: Motto
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NO NO NO
3. IBM
NO
6. Hewlett-Packard
NO
8. Apple
NO NO NO FUCK NO
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Re:
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I think more people decided Google moved away from that "no evil" bullshit motto when it decided to do business in China - remember the moral indignation, the huge uproar in the media decrying Google's move. Was there so much hand-wringing in the Youtube, scanning and AP affairs? I don't think too many people think Google's decision to actually pay copyright holders was somehow against "Don't be Evil"!
"Much of Google's success is based on that implicit trust. People stick with Google because of that trust. They use products like Gmail, desktop search, and Google Docs because of that trust."
Yet again, no evidence. But then again, it's difficult to garner enough evidence because the number of people who use Google's services is too vast. I'd wager much of Google's success comes from the ease of use and its solidity as a profitmaking company.
Actually, I'd like to know what percentage of those 6,500 people surveyed make use of Google products. The fact that they find other companies more trustworthy than Google needn't mean they don't use Google products.
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Natural Progression of Google Mantra
Google: Evil is Okay, For the Right Price
Google: Evil is Good
Google: Welcome to Hell
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Look at the actions, not the words
Install Google Chrome and it will also install a background process without permission, that sends data to Google without permission, updates silently without permission and enforces a globally unique id. Of course it searches Google by defaut without asking, which is funny because when IE7 came out Google was whining about the possibility of it using Microsoft by default. Hypocrisy much?
Not to defend Microsoft, but at least their products usually ask before sending out data or performing updates, and they typically tell you exactly what data is being sent.
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They're still good.... for now.
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