By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data Analytics instagram stories
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Make the Most of Instagram Stories
    15 Min Read
    analyst,women,looking,at,kpi,data,on,computer,screen
    What to Know Before Recruiting an Analyst to Handle Company Data
    6 Min Read
    AI analytics
    AI-Based Analytics Are Changing the Future of Credit Cards
    6 Min Read
    data overload showing data analytics
    How Does Next-Gen SIEM Prevent Data Overload For Security Analysts?
    8 Min Read
    hire a marketing agency with a background in data analytics
    5 Reasons to Hire a Marketing Agency that Knows Data Analytics
    7 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Search and the social graph
Share
Notification Show More
Aa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Big Data > Data Mining > Search and the social graph
Data Mining

Search and the social graph

ChrisDixon
Last updated: 2009/12/14 at 4:50 PM
ChrisDixon
4 Min Read
SHARE

Google has created a multi-billion-dollar economy based on keywords. We use keywords to find things and advertisers use keywords to find customers. As Michael Arrington points out, this is leading to increasing amounts of low quality, keyword-stuffed content. The end result is a very spammy Internet. (It was depressing to see Tim Armstrong cite Demand Media, a giant domain-name owner and robotic content factory, as a model for the new AOL.)

Some people hope the social web — link sharing via Twitter, Facebook, etc. — will save us. Fred Wilson argues that “social beats search” because it’s harder to game people’s social graph. Cody Brown tweeted:

On Twitter you have to ‘game’ people, not algorithms. Look how many followers @demandmedia has. A lot less then you guys: @arrington @jason

These are both sound points. Lost amid this discussion, however, is that the links people tend to share on social networks – news, blog posts, videos – are in categories Google barely makes money on. (The same point also seems lost on Rupert Murdoch and news organizations who accuse Google of profiting off their misery).

More Read

google ai technology

Understanding Google’s AI SERP Algorithms is Key to Successful SEO Strategies

10 Tips on Getting More Out of Google Analytics
Google Uses Machine Learning To Combat Low Quality Link Spam
BigQuery Service: Next Big Thing Unveiled By Google on Big Data
5 Key Takeaways for Businesses from Google I/O 2015

Searches related to news, blog posts, funny videos, etc., are …



Google has created a multi-billion-dollar economy based on keywords. We use keywords to find things and advertisers use keywords to find customers. As Michael Arrington points out, this is leading to increasing amounts of low quality, keyword-stuffed content. The end result is a very spammy Internet. (It was depressing to see Tim Armstrong cite Demand Media, a giant domain-name owner and robotic content factory, as a model for the new AOL.)

Some people hope the social web — link sharing via Twitter, Facebook, etc. — will save us. Fred Wilson argues that “social beats search” because it’s harder to game people’s social graph. Cody Brown tweeted:

On Twitter you have to ‘game’ people, not algorithms. Look how many followers @demandmedia has. A lot less then you guys: @arrington @jason

These are both sound points. Lost amid this discussion, however, is that the links people tend to share on social networks – news, blog posts, videos – are in categories Google barely makes money on. (The same point also seems lost on Rupert Murdoch and news organizations who accuse Google of profiting off their misery).

Searches related to news, blog posts, funny videos, etc., are mostly a loss leaders for Google. Google’s real business is selling ads for plane tickets, dvd players, and malpractice lawyers. (I realize this might be depressing to some Internet idealists, but it’s a reality). Online advertising revenue is directly correlated with finding users who have purchasing intent. Google’s true primary competitive threats are product-related sites, especially Amazon. As it gets harder to find a washing machine on Google, people will skip search and go directly to Amazon and other product-related sites.

This is not to say that the links shared on social networks can’t be extremely valuable. But most likely they will be valuable as critical inputs to better search-ranking algorithms. Cody’s point that it’s harder to game humans than machines is very true, but remember that Google’s algorithm was always meant to be based on human-created links. As the spammers have become more sophisticated, the good guys have come to need new mechanisms to determine which links are from trustworthy humans. Social networks might be those new mechanisms, but that doesn’t mean they’ll displace search as the primary method for navigating the web.

Link to original post

TAGGED: google, social networks
ChrisDixon December 14, 2009
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

ai low code frameworks
AI Can Help Accelerate Development with Low-Code Frameworks
Artificial Intelligence
data Analytics instagram stories
Data Analytics Helps Marketers Make the Most of Instagram Stories
Analytics
data breaches
How Hospital Security Breaches Devastate Local Communities
Policy and Governance
analyst,women,looking,at,kpi,data,on,computer,screen
What to Know Before Recruiting an Analyst to Handle Company Data
Analytics

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

google ai technology
Exclusive

Understanding Google’s AI SERP Algorithms is Key to Successful SEO Strategies

9 Min Read
google analytics guideline
Analytics

10 Tips on Getting More Out of Google Analytics

6 Min Read
combat low quality link spam
Big DataExclusiveMachine Learning

Google Uses Machine Learning To Combat Low Quality Link Spam

6 Min Read
bigquery
Big DataCloud ComputingData Management

BigQuery Service: Next Big Thing Unveiled By Google on Big Data

6 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

AI and chatbots
Chatbots and SEO: How Can Chatbots Improve Your SEO Ranking?
Artificial Intelligence Chatbots Exclusive
AI chatbots
AI Chatbots Can Help Retailers Convert Live Broadcast Viewers into Sales!
Chatbots

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?