It seemed like this week could finally be the week when Google didn’t make headlines for their decision to inject Google+ results right into Search. That hope lasted until Monday. Now the story is back — with a vengeance.
Earlier this week, Sarah Lacy argued that Google is no longer fooling anyone — they’ve now fully strayed from their early ideals, and they should admit it. She included several damning quotes to underscore just how far we are from the early, “pure” Google.
Combine those two arguments and you have it. Google’s real problem with Search+ isn’t actually evilness nor greed nor antitrust — it’s something much bigger: relevancy.
Many of us are stuck arguing the details. The details don’t actually matter. The destruction of the product is all that matters: Because they’re insisting on emphasizing their own social network, they’re destroying relevancy, and user trust in the process.
I’m going to go ahead and make a prediction: this does not end well for Google. I do think that over an extended period of time, whether users consciously realize it or not, they’ll start looking elsewhere for their information needs because Google has strayed from their foundation.
Or, more likely, I think Google will have to backtrack. I think they’ll end up killing off one or all of the new Search+ features. Or they’ll figure out a way to back into including Twitter, Facebook, and other data (while saying it was their plan all along).
I’ve had a love affair with Google. Many of us have. And that’s exactly why it’s so frustrating to watch Google purposefully destroy what they’ve built in the name of bolstering a product that doesn’t deserve it.
It’s a mistake. The question is: how long it will be until they realize it?
by MG Siegler