Google Kills Lively Quickly

from the that-didn't-take-long dept

Just a few months ago, when Google launched its "Lively" 3D chat offering, I questioned Google's strategy, as it didn't seem to offer anything different or compelling. Some people here disagreed, and believed Google would be able to turn the service into something compelling, but that appears not to be. Since the launch, to be honest, I can't recall ever hearing about Lively again -- and had pretty much forgotten it existed. And, indeed, less than six months after launching it, Google has killed off Lively, admitting that the experiment was something of a failure.

There seems to be a growing pattern in figuring out which Google projects are a success and which will fail. When it merely copies something others are doing, as with Lively, it tends not to do very well. When it changes the game, as it did originally with things like Google Maps (the first real AJAXy mapping solution) and Gmail (huge storage and AJAXy front end), then it gets usage. Google's success has always been in reimagining products that people seem to believe are mature, and completely reshaping how people think about those products. That was true with maps (which had been dominated by MapQuest and Yahoo Maps for years) and email... and it was even true in search. People thought the search market was too crowded when Google showed up, but its solution was so different and so much more compelling it got attention. Lively, on the other hand, was a pure me-too play. There are half-a-dozen other offerings that effectively do the same thing. Google didn't give anyone a real reason to use Lively... and, so it shouldn't be too surprising that Lively is now dead.

Filed Under: 3d chat, lively, virtual worlds
Companies: google

Google's Lively Seems Lifeless; Joins A Big List Of 3D Chat Providers

from the not-quite-a-virtual-world dept

We're running a little experiment here with our discussion on Google's new Lively offering. Two of us at Techdirt, Mike Masnick and Mike Ho, reacted quite differently to the announcement, so we're each posting our own take (after sharing them with each other) and we'll let everyone has out their thoughts in the comments. We're hoping to work on a few more "debates" like this one in the near future. This is Mike Masnick's post. Mike Ho's post is here.

Google's latest product launch, Google Lively is a 3D chat room offering that has plenty of people comparing it to Second Life, though in its initial version, it seems a lot closer to IMVU, a popular 3D chat solution that is apparently growing like mad. It's really no different than your everyday chat room other than the fact that your text chat takes place in a 3D animated room with avatars who can do a few different pre-designated actions. The Google version requires a software download, but after that apparently will appear in a browser, meaning that it can be included as parts of any site. It's still not clear what the actual advantage of such an offering is beyond traditional chat -- or what sort of advantage Google may have in providing a similar solution to what's already out there, beyond just the Google brand name. Perhaps there's more to this offering, but at a first pass, this seems like a me-too effort by Google without any significant advantage (yet).

This isn't say it won't get usage, but I'm having trouble figuring out what about this is really all that useful compared to other solutions out there. Google's successes all seem to be about a new and different take on something out there that makes is significantly more useful: Google search made search better, faster and cleaner. Gmail massively increased storage while providing a much cleaner, faster and more useful interface. Google Maps took the tired interface of internet mapping and made it (again) cleaner, faster and more useful. It's not clear that Lively really does any of that. It requires a download, and seems to merely copy what else is already out there without a significant advantage over any of them. Perhaps people will use this just because it's from Google -- but it still seems like it should be more compelling then just adding 3D avatars to chat.

As for Mike Ho's claims that this follows the same path as Gmail and Google Maps, I disagree. Both of those were instant sensations that attracted instant attention and usage do their differentiation. I also disagree with the assertion that Google is doing this just to add in contextual ads. While that may happen, contextual ads on chat seem a much more difficult proposition than on email, where there's a lot more content. Plus, it's difficult to see how ads would fit unobtrusively into such a scenario. Despite what some assert, Google doesn't try to stick ads everywhere, knowing that too many ads will often upset users. Finally, it's difficult to see how ads stuck into a synchronous process such as chat ad value. It would seem like they do more to detract value.

Filed Under: 3d chat, lively, virtual worlds
Companies: google

Will Google Cultivate Its Virtual Worlds To Make Them Lively? Definitely

from the me2.0 dept

We're running a little experiment here with our discussion on Google's new Lively offering. Two of us at Techdirt, Mike Masnick and Mike Ho, reacted quite differently to the announcement, so we're each posting our own take (after sharing them with each other) and we'll let everyone has out their thoughts in the comments. We're hoping to work on a few more "debates" like this one in the near future. This is Mike Ho's post. Mike Masnick's post is here.

Google has been working on virtual world environments for about a year, and now they've announced Lively -- which has an unfortunate moniker that could inspire lawsuits from Microsoft Live branding folks. The descriptions of Google's new service have made Lively sound like a watered-down version of Second Life, aimed at people who can't figure out how to install an application. I'm a Mac user, so I can't even try it out -- but I'll take a stab at justifying Google's "me-too" avatar project.

Obviously, the main difference between Lively and any other virtual chatroom is that Google has access to a nearly instant critical mass of global users. But that doesn't mean Lively will be an sure-fire success. What will help ensure a Google hit is the consistent development of features that cater to users -- and then some text analysis magic that will provide relevant virtual world advertisements based on the Lively chat discussions. This is basically the same game plan that Google has used for Google Maps and Gmail (and Gtalk, too) -- start off with a sort of lackluster service and then add features that are compelling -- while sneaking in ads to monetize the service.

I'm not really disagreeing that Lively seems a bit lame at its start, but I'm slightly more optimistic that Google will be able to cultivate Lively and bring contextual ads into the environment. It just has to be entertaining enough to attract people to use it -- and I guess I don't see extraordinarily high barriers to keeping a Web audience entertained (see Youtube). Additionally, Google can build upon Gmail and Google Maps and its other offerings to enhance Lively -- which is something that Second Life and other virtual worlds can't necessarily do. On the other hand, it is also entirely possible that Lively could follow Orkut -- and miss out on the G-branding (why isn't it called Glively? or Google Life?) and the popularity of Google's more successful products. But I think Lively has a very good chance of tying together many Google services and reaching out to a younger audience.

In response to Mike Masnick, it's mostly true that "you can't just stick ads everywhere" if you don't want to annoy your users. But several popular video games already incorporate subtle advertisements (and Second Life isn't exactly devoid of advertising). In fact, a visual environment for chat only enhances the ads opportunities. I assume Google is smart enough to avoid the simplistic keyword-based ads that might present a user with annoying irrelevant ads that seem creepy and to be spying on your conversations (Google doesn't seem to do that in Gmail, right?). I imagine that the contextual ads in Lively will be more attuned to automatically detecting demographics (eg. based on "OMG, LOLz" conversations) to present targeted, age-appropriate virtual billboards. That's exactly the kind of unobtrusive, contextual advertising that Google is developing and gives it an edge.

Filed Under: 3d chat, lively, virtual worlds
Companies: google