Google vs Everyone who Knows Better
True geniuses get my sympathy. They have to put up with everyone doubting them, all the time, because they are not playing by familiar rules. If they are lucky enough to prove out their brilliance, their methods become the new rules. Our heroes will then be measured against a poor application of those rules, and criticized for not following them, rinse, repeat.
My heart goes out to the founders of google. A few years ago, Page and Brin were the laughing stalk of the sophisticated internet for their ignorance of the banner ad’s essential place in online advertising. Yes, boys, your technology is pretty good, but how do you expect to make money if you don’t clutter your homepage with CPM banners?
Well, google managed to teach us a thing or two about relevance. So much so that theirs is the model which virtually all CPC campaigns now adhere to. Companies have adapted their systems to try to outdo google in terms of relevancy, and still fail trying.
It has only been a few years since we insisted google would never even be profitable, and their $1.65 billion YouTube merger is all the rage in the admittedly rather-inbred online journals. $1.65 billion?! That’s what you get when kids who’ve never seen the great depression are making decisions. Copyright issues! How will google handle copyright issues? Have they ever even had a lawsuit? Now we’ll probably have to start paying to use YouTube. So long, glory days!
Dear google, I’m sorry. I believe in you.
