Is Google about to destroy the web? (www.bbc.com)
from m3t00@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world on 14 Jun 18:29
https://lemmy.world/post/31375607

mostly shit already. ymmv

#technology

threaded - newest

winni@lemmy.world on 14 Jun 18:42 next collapse

the web is already destroyed with all the spam, commercial crap, tracking and spying

Even_Adder@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 14 Jun 19:08 next collapse

But the people making money off of all of that are mad now, hence this article.

Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works on 14 Jun 20:31 collapse

Yeah. smallest violin plays in the distance

01189998819991197253@infosec.pub on 14 Jun 21:28 collapse

At this point, I’m pretty sure the violinist is on our side, and is no longer to playing for them.

CatsGoMOW@lemmy.world on 14 Jun 19:10 collapse

What is dead may never die.

Nay@feddit.nl on 14 Jun 18:59 next collapse

I called this one pretty early on. Let’s see if it catches on or tanks the Goog.

j4yt33@feddit.org on 14 Jun 19:10 next collapse

Cool, I’ll just ditch Google at work as well, then

queermunist@lemmy.ml on 14 Jun 19:15 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/1a8fce2f-3adf-48bf-ada8-495e41ca2151.png">

hydrashok@sh.itjust.works on 14 Jun 19:59 next collapse

“About to”?

Korkki@lemmy.ml on 14 Jun 20:24 next collapse

Google search engine has been shit for a decade or more. Wasn’t there some document that it was made so by purpose, because there was no incentive to improve it becuse there was no real competition or the competition was just a front-end to google.

hansolo@lemmy.today on 14 Jun 21:11 next collapse

2018-2019 is when they officially turned the corner and decided to focus only on ad revenue. But the SEO abuse dove it into the ground by 2014ish. They were making money enough to expand by orders of magnitude into other areas, so they simply didn’t want to tweak their search or strategy and kill their golden goose that funded things like Good Drive and their shit social network and loon, etc.

Womble@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 09:22 collapse

www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/

I’m not a huge fan of Ed Zitron generally, he leans towards histrionic too much for my tastes, but he makes a compelling case here.

utopiah@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 13:20 collapse

histrionic

True… yet nearly everybody else, maybe beside few like 404 media, seems to be either boot licking or access “journalism” so I get the “spicy” take.

seven_phone@lemmy.world on 14 Jun 21:20 next collapse

Not sure about the web but Google can for sure Yahoo themselves out of existence.

Kolanaki@pawb.social on 14 Jun 21:50 next collapse

I miss Yahoo games.

Google only has one game, and it’s not even multiplayer. :/

seven_phone@lemmy.world on 14 Jun 22:13 collapse

Yahoo games and clubs, groups and search, chat and messenger that had filesharing and video and allowed cross fertilisation between everything. It was becoming the internet, it was set to buy Google and then it just stopped and closed it all down.

imouto@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 02:04 collapse

Japanese people: oh not again

RaptorBenn@lemmy.world on 14 Jun 21:49 next collapse

Blaming google is like blaming the gun for killing someone, google gonna do what google gonna do, it’s up to the consumer to effect change through attention.

fodor@lemmy.zip on 14 Jun 22:18 next collapse

Well no, it’s not, because they have multiple monopolies. So we should blame them and blame government for not stopping them.

RaptorBenn@lemmy.world on 14 Jun 22:35 next collapse

Where do monopolies get their money?

ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk on 15 Jun 21:49 collapse

From the consumers of necessary services that they have wholly captured…?

RaptorBenn@lemmy.world on 16 Jun 00:50 collapse

I dont believe they are necessary or failing that are not available elsewhere, and i would call captured, handed to.

Joshi@aussie.zone on 14 Jun 22:58 collapse

Exactly, it’s counter-productive to blame individuals for doing the best they know how in a broken system.

stellargmite@lemmy.world on 14 Jun 22:20 next collapse

To a degree perhaps. It has also monopolised industries that feed into each other. Even if you choose not to use their consumer products, you are being used by them as the product in these industries if you use the web at all, which is most of their business model. That isn’t consumer choice. Political intervention is one hope, which in some countries I guess there is some consumer power over, if consumers were to collectivise to a degree more valuable than the lobbying power of this monster. The internet was turned into the yellowpages with sharp teeth by google .

RaptorBenn@lemmy.world on 14 Jun 22:35 collapse

Oh yes, political intervention, that’ll work, no chance of that turning out worse than what we have now.

How about taking responsibility and just not using services that require it. And I dont care if that’s a disadvantage to some, that’s the cost.

Chulk@lemmy.ml on 14 Jun 23:24 next collapse

Political intervention is what started Google, so I don’t see the problem.

How about taking responsibility and just not using services that require it.

Google has shaped the web into what it is over decades so that they could maintain their position of power. This is the very essence and purpose of a monopoly. Yet here you are trying to blame anything but the monopoly for the monopoly’s existence.

Nothing like convincing hundreds of millions of people to abandon a company rather than put any pressure on the small group of greedy people who own it.

RaptorBenn@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 08:01 collapse

Listen man, if thats what you think is best, you keep using them and try to effect change, good luck, im just not going to use services like that and have the problem solved for myself. Let me know when you’ve made something happen and I’ll even apologise.

[deleted] on 15 Jun 17:52 collapse

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[deleted] on 15 Jun 18:02 collapse

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[deleted] on 15 Jun 18:35 collapse

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[deleted] on 15 Jun 20:40 collapse

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[deleted] on 15 Jun 21:24 collapse

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stellargmite@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 07:44 collapse

The two approaches you mention need not be mutually exclusive. I ditched google services more than 10 years ago, while loving somewhere they did some truly despicable antidemocratic things. but so what? They’re a corporation. There are political lobby groups, privacy foundations and advocacy groups you can contribute to. Despite being respectfully evangelical with those around me, most other than a fringe really don’t care enough about this. Doesn’t mean I’ll stop. I will still suggest alternatives. They’re my principles. you’re working in their interest if you tell your allies to give up. I understand and share the cynicism around political process especially in democratic nations with disappointing levels of corporate influence over legislation, we can only engage in it best we can, as well as exerting our rights as consumers. The critical mass required may seem insurmountable but negativity toward those effectively on your side is not going to help either.

Pirate@feddit.org on 15 Jun 08:14 collapse

No, it’s Google changing their algorithm to feed you AI slop.

The first page and a half of Google results now is just AI-generated comparison websites. That’s by design.

RaptorBenn@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 08:55 collapse

Use another search provider then, it’s what’s called consumer discretion and historically has the best chance of effecting an outcome.

Pirate@feddit.org on 15 Jun 09:00 collapse

Okay Bot.

RaptorBenn@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 09:21 collapse

#1 most butthurt response ever.

Pirate@feddit.org on 15 Jun 09:30 collapse

Nah, i just know a bot when I see one.

RaptorBenn@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 09:52 collapse

Beep boop butthurt.

EchoSnail@lemmy.zip on 15 Jun 23:30 collapse

Good bot

Crackhappy@lemmy.world on 14 Jun 21:50 next collapse

I haven’t used Google Search in quite a while. It’s frankly unusable for finding any useful information for someone like me.

TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works on 15 Jun 02:47 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://r72.cooltext.com/rendered/cooltext484658329549398.gif">

nebulaone@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 10:39 collapse

Damn, thats fuckin’ metal, bro. Also, the text to gif gave me a flashback of ~15 years ago.

A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 11:03 collapse

feels like its 1998 and I’m listening to MTV while browsing the web on AOL with that gif, lol

Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 04:52 next collapse

Google disagrees. In fact, the company tells the BBC that AI Overviews have been good for the web, and AI Mode will be no different. Google insists these features send users to “a greater diversity of websites” and the traffic is “higher quality” because people spend more time on the links they click.

However, the company hasn’t provided data to back up these claims.

This is how we know they are lying.

BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 06:59 next collapse

Google disagrees. In fact, the company tells the BBC “Trust us, bro.”

Non-AI summary.

sunflowercowboy@feddit.org on 15 Jun 10:49 collapse

More time per click is such a useless metric for the end user.

ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk on 15 Jun 21:45 collapse

I could spend a lot of time sifting through ads, nag screens and bullshit to find the actual detail I want on a webpage.

sunflowercowboy@feddit.org on 18 Jun 01:24 collapse

Or validating source, making sure it isn’t AI content which usually regurgitates the same talking points. Homogenizing the entire query and removing actual information variance of personal experience.

A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 10:54 next collapse

We’re soon going to end up back in the early/mid 90s where the only way to find something is via a internet yellowpages… only this time, not because search engines dont exist yet, but because they are completely worthless garbage.

ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net on 15 Jun 12:57 collapse

Don’t forget to put your website on a webring! 🕸💍.ws

A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 13:06 collapse

Man I miss the old internet…

ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net on 15 Jun 13:17 collapse

Someone posted this the other day: goodinternetmagazine.com/building-a-slow-web/

I really liked the idea so I quickly made my personal site and put it on the indie webring. It’s a tiny community but it’s there.

A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world on 16 Jun 13:05 collapse

its neat, but its not the same. old internet was more than a thing. it was an era.

TheodorAlforno@feddit.org on 15 Jun 11:31 next collapse

Unpopular opinion: The missing business model for websites is killing the web. If there was a platform that would distribute a monthly fee to the websites we visit, the web would be much better.

50% could be allocated through traffic, 50% by choice. I could pay 20€ a month for example. Some would go to lemmy, some to my local newspaper, some to my favorite YouTube channels, authors or bloggers.

If enough people did this, investigative journalism would be funded, product testers wouldn’t be reliant on sponsoring and hobbyists could gain serious funding without selling out.

raldone01@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 12:40 next collapse

I would love a if there was a standard websites would use to receive donations. An integrated browser addon that track what you visit and gives you a review before distributing funds after each month would be great. It should accumulate money to avoid transaction fees for tiny amounts.

utopiah@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 13:18 collapse

May I introduce you to webmonetization.org ?

raldone01@lemmy.world on 17 Jun 10:46 collapse

Very interesting. I hope this passes as an actual Standart. I looked around but couldn’t find information on how to enable it in the Webbrowser. It just says firefox is not supported.

Nevermind I found the extension will try it again.

utopiah@lemmy.world on 17 Jun 10:56 collapse

On Firefox (my default browser everywhere it’s available) I use the Coil extension but seems it’s now called InterLedger (Wallet) cf addons.mozilla.org/…/web-monetization-extension/

If you go on my web site fabien.benetou.fr you should see 3 hearts under the 3D model if it’s enabled.

DampSquid@feddit.uk on 15 Jun 12:48 next collapse

This sounds exactly like what Brave is/was supposed to be/could have been.

ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk on 15 Jun 21:43 collapse

Sounds like you want to nationalise the internet and all its services. :P

If only we could pay for a worthwhile internet via taxes.

TheodorAlforno@feddit.org on 16 Jun 09:18 collapse

All it would take would be a platform that handles the payment and supplies a tracking pixel. Websites could join and become part of it. At the moment, every single publisher has their own payment solution. If I want to read one local article from Houston today and one from Tokyo tomorrow, I won’t join two payment plans. I want them to be paid automatically, like when I play a song on Spotify or watch a video on YouTube. Just a decent amount of money instead of paying mostly middlemen.

Opisek@lemmy.world on 15 Jun 21:44 next collapse

I recommend Kagi. It is a search engine with absolutely no tracking or ads, AI slop filter, an in-house index and a cute doggo. It’s a paid search engine (which means you pay with money not with data), but you can give it a try with 300 free searches with no strings attached.

m3t00@lemmy.world on 16 Jun 00:31 collapse

peak internet; jpbtlorgy.ytmnd.com