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gazette
Issue # 211 (06-25-2004)
A Life LessonWords of wisdom from a fallen President ... gMail ... scumbags galore ! |
| Diamond in the Rough |
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It must be fun to work at Google. Imagine the board meeting... "Hey I have an idea boss... we've been talking about doing a free email service for a while now. I know the developers don't have the programming done yet, but let's put a page about it on the Web site anyway, and people can watch it for a few months!". And so it is done. And like lemmings, the entire Internet wigs out, trying to get a sneak peak at YET ANOTHER free email service. But, because it's Google doing it, the lemmings are especially chipper and excited. They talk about it in every blog and forum, it's the topic of conversation at every NASDAQ listed water cooler, and it's the stuff that real dreams are made of. After a few months, another board meeting at the Googleplex must have went something like this... "I never figured people would go this bonzo over this. I know we're still not ready, but just for fun, let's cherry-pick a few hundred people to help us debug this thing, and let them invite a few of their friends along to help. That way, it won't look like 'vaporware,' and the chosen few will feel really special and probably buy more adwords from us. The best part is, we'll be getting loads and loads of feedback and ideas free. That should free up the developers and our own beta team for more important things like picking the new carpet, paint schemes, and building the Googleplex monorail we keep talking aboutout once all that IPO money comes in." And just like that, the very special lemmings are given special access to the most eagerly awaited internet application since Netscape 4.
So, what do the lemmings do now? Just like with the "dance" and the "IPO," there are actual Web sites springing up all over the place where the "Chosen Few" are BARTERING their Google mail invitations. Yes, the lemmings are an enterprising bunch. Everyone is so infatuated with having an @gmail.com email address, that they're selling, trading, and offering up their first born children for a gmail account. Don't believe me? Head over to http://www.gmailswap.com and see for yourself. Offer up your signed Barry Bonds home run ball, and you just might be able to get a gmail account... if the head lemming deems you worthy. You gotta hand it to Google. They've probably spent about $8.00 in marketing on this puppy. Put up a link on the home page, pay an intern to write up ONE PAGE of information about it, and presto, the marketing wheels are set in motion by everyone with access to a blog or a forum. The buzz about gMail is incredible... people are stepping all over themselves to get it, and Google did nothing to put the word out -- didn't buy a magazine ad, an Internet ad, and they didn't even put their own link into Adwords. They just let the lemmings do the work for them. Genius. Bill Gates... are you paying attention? Maybe I'm just bitter because I didn't get an invite from Google yet. I'm sure it just got lost in the mail. In all seriousness, there is some good coming out of all this. Some enterprising people have put together a gMail swapping service that doesn't require you to give up your goods. In fact, the service is set up to help some of the Troops fighting the war to have access to free email. Jennifer Laycock, our Administrator, has written an interesting piece about this over at Search Engine Guide. Give it a read, and share your invites with people that actually need them. http://www.searchengineguide.com/laycock/001552.html |
Read the Diamond in the Rough section from the Last Issue or in the Following Issue
JimWorld Member comments and feedback ...
Posted On: 06/25/2004 11:03
Posted By: bhartzer
Posted By: bhartzer
It is a pretty good marketing tactic, they've definitely created a need for their "product".
Posted On: 06/25/2004 12:29
Posted By: jcokos
Posted By: jcokos
Being in the Marketing Dept at Google has to be the easiest job on The Internet
Posted On: 06/25/2004 01:49
Posted By: naz
Posted By: naz
I've been using it for a little while it does not seem like "Vaporware"
but true the Hype is all over
but true the Hype is all over
Posted On: 06/25/2004 02:49
Posted By: saethyr
Posted By: saethyr
Took me about 1 day for the hype to end after getting the account, but, I figure I had the invites might as well give them away.
Posted On: 06/25/2004 09:00
Posted By: nameplace
Posted By: nameplace
It's far from just another free e-mail service. There are some innovative, smart features in there that many other providers could never have thought of while they remain focussed on themselves rather than the user. Add 1000MB storage and you have a product that is worthy of the free publicity. If it was just a Hotmail clone you would expect it to be boo-ed off stage.
There's this thing called "Beta Testing" that you may not have heard of. "Beta Testing" is where you release the "product" to a small group of "users" to spot any remaining "bugs". (Note Doctor Evil-style air-quotes).
Far from being some short-cut to free up developer time it is a very useful step in the product lifecycle and requires considerable development resources to manage.
A few other dodgy, fly-by-night companies that use "Beta Testing" go by unheard of names like MicroSoft, Sun and Quicken.
"Maybe I'm just bitter because I didn't get an invite from Google yet." Maybe you're just bitter because your company didn't think of it first? And because your own AdWords clone is not bringin in the revenue you expected?
There's this thing called "Beta Testing" that you may not have heard of. "Beta Testing" is where you release the "product" to a small group of "users" to spot any remaining "bugs". (Note Doctor Evil-style air-quotes).
Far from being some short-cut to free up developer time it is a very useful step in the product lifecycle and requires considerable development resources to manage.
A few other dodgy, fly-by-night companies that use "Beta Testing" go by unheard of names like MicroSoft, Sun and Quicken.
"Maybe I'm just bitter because I didn't get an invite from Google yet." Maybe you're just bitter because your company didn't think of it first? And because your own AdWords clone is not bringin in the revenue you expected?
Posted On: 06/29/2004 12:56
Posted By: ewout
Posted By: ewout
What is all the fuzz about? 1 Gig of storage space for an e-mail account? You can get that on other places on the net too.
Just check www.spymac.com, for example...
Just check www.spymac.com, for example...
Posted On: 06/29/2004 07:58
Posted By: jcokos
Posted By: jcokos
nameplace ... you obviously missed my point.
This is not a slam on Google (nor am I really bitter, that was just a good one-liner). It's more an observation on how people out here in 'net land just go bonkers anytime google does anything.
I really cracks me up that there are websites setup by people to barter, trade, and sell gMail invites. That's just insanity.
Google is brilliant. Like I said, they're at a point now, where they really don't need a marketing plan or even marketing dollars. All they need is a good idea, a good "solution" (application, service, etc) to serve the idea, and we lemmings take care of making it huge [b]for them[/b]
As to your (50th?) personal attack on me ... I don't have an adwords clone. What I do have is a unique niche ppc which is doing quite well, thank you very much. As to me not thinking of "gmail" first. I think gMail is about 7000th in line as far as original ideas go. Luckily for those that will be using gmail, Google has enough capital and machinery to make free email actually "worth" the price.
This is not a slam on Google (nor am I really bitter, that was just a good one-liner). It's more an observation on how people out here in 'net land just go bonkers anytime google does anything.
I really cracks me up that there are websites setup by people to barter, trade, and sell gMail invites. That's just insanity.
Google is brilliant. Like I said, they're at a point now, where they really don't need a marketing plan or even marketing dollars. All they need is a good idea, a good "solution" (application, service, etc) to serve the idea, and we lemmings take care of making it huge [b]for them[/b]
As to your (50th?) personal attack on me ... I don't have an adwords clone. What I do have is a unique niche ppc which is doing quite well, thank you very much. As to me not thinking of "gmail" first. I think gMail is about 7000th in line as far as original ideas go. Luckily for those that will be using gmail, Google has enough capital and machinery to make free email actually "worth" the price.
Posted On: 06/30/2004 08:18
Posted By: nameplace
Posted By: nameplace
Here's my point:
Instead of pointing and laughing at people who are exhibiting an extreme response to a new service from a trusted brand, why not comment on WHY they are doing it and HOW your readers can learn something from it? How can the reader get the same sort of response to their products?
GMail has a fantastic proposition for the web-mail user:
"Switch to us for 1,000 MB of storage for FREE".
That's more space than any other service will even SELL you. Then they follow it up with some smart, original features in their product to keep the buzz going.
You lost the opportunity to make a real point instead of a shallow, obvious one. It's gone. You wasted the perfect chance to educate your readers about early adoption, beta testing, creating market buzz and the power of a trusted brand. Instead you insult our intelligence with some boring "aren't people dumb?" filler text.
People subscribe to the Gazette so they can learn and understand, not to be preached at and definitely not to be insulted. You CAN do that with some humour and levity, if you have the skill. From what I've read, you don't have that skill.
Instead of pointing and laughing at people who are exhibiting an extreme response to a new service from a trusted brand, why not comment on WHY they are doing it and HOW your readers can learn something from it? How can the reader get the same sort of response to their products?
GMail has a fantastic proposition for the web-mail user:
"Switch to us for 1,000 MB of storage for FREE".
That's more space than any other service will even SELL you. Then they follow it up with some smart, original features in their product to keep the buzz going.
You lost the opportunity to make a real point instead of a shallow, obvious one. It's gone. You wasted the perfect chance to educate your readers about early adoption, beta testing, creating market buzz and the power of a trusted brand. Instead you insult our intelligence with some boring "aren't people dumb?" filler text.
People subscribe to the Gazette so they can learn and understand, not to be preached at and definitely not to be insulted. You CAN do that with some humour and levity, if you have the skill. From what I've read, you don't have that skill.
Posted On: 06/30/2004 08:05
Posted By: nameplace
Posted By: nameplace
"I don't have an adwords clone."
I noticed - did you can it due to the bad click-through rate?
I noticed - did you can it due to the bad click-through rate?
Posted On: 06/30/2004 08:35
Posted By: nameplace
Posted By: nameplace
"What is all the fuzz about? 1 Gig of storage space for an e-mail account? You can get that on other places on the net too.
Just check www.spymac.com, for example... "
So why isn't it being promoted like the blazes? Why no word of mouth? Because the brand is unknown and the features are unclear.
GMail offers clear benefits and smart features. It puts one, good product in front of the consumer and describes it in simple, elegant language. www.spymac.com is all over the place - I looked at that site for a couple of minutes and I can't see what exactly they DO. Google.com does search. Gmail.com does webmail. And they do it well, with fast, clean and clear interfaces.
Just check www.spymac.com, for example... "
So why isn't it being promoted like the blazes? Why no word of mouth? Because the brand is unknown and the features are unclear.
GMail offers clear benefits and smart features. It puts one, good product in front of the consumer and describes it in simple, elegant language. www.spymac.com is all over the place - I looked at that site for a couple of minutes and I can't see what exactly they DO. Google.com does search. Gmail.com does webmail. And they do it well, with fast, clean and clear interfaces.
Posted On: 07/22/2004 02:52
Posted By: nameplace
Posted By: nameplace
"Since the weekend, Gmail -- the for-free web-based email service that Google is still testing -- has offered a way for users to import contacts from address books in Yahoo Mail, Microsoft's Hotmail, and AOL's Mail. Gmail also now can import addresses from Microsoft's Outlook client.
Other new features rolled out by Gmail include the ability to create and append a signature to outbound messages, and support for Apple's Mac OS X-native Safari browser."
http://www.resellernews.com.au/
Other new features rolled out by Gmail include the ability to create and append a signature to outbound messages, and support for Apple's Mac OS X-native Safari browser."
http://www.resellernews.com.au/
Posted On: 07/22/2004 07:58
Posted By: Webmaster-Toolkit.com
Posted By: Webmaster-Toolkit.com
Well, I like their spam filtering but their method of referencing emails is taking a bit of getting used to.
Posted On: 07/22/2004 11:13
Posted By: StupidScript2
Posted By: StupidScript2
Hunh.
Apparently the "targeted ad" issue is a non-issue.
Does any gMail user mind having their email infiltrated in that manner? Are you all that unconsciously-willing to sell your demographic data to Google for a measly 1GB storage space? Proprietary (hah) address book importing aside, of course. And geez...that signature thing is SO cool! (Why hasn't anyone else thought of that?) Wow. I guess my data must be worth it.
Enjoy!
Apparently the "targeted ad" issue is a non-issue.
Does any gMail user mind having their email infiltrated in that manner? Are you all that unconsciously-willing to sell your demographic data to Google for a measly 1GB storage space? Proprietary (hah) address book importing aside, of course. And geez...that signature thing is SO cool! (Why hasn't anyone else thought of that?) Wow. I guess my data must be worth it.
Enjoy!
Posted On: 07/22/2004 02:24
Posted By: sophiebags
Posted By: sophiebags
I think maybe a little too much caffeen in this group...
Google releases new free mail service.
Many like new mail service.
Some don't like new mail service.
Yawn...
Google releases new free mail service.
Many like new mail service.
Some don't like new mail service.
Yawn...
Posted On: 07/26/2004 06:43
Posted By: nameplace
Posted By: nameplace
Other free e-mail services pump their sites full of graphics, in their navigation and as banners. They already have your 'data'. What sort of sensitive info is in your free e-mail account anyway?
Gmail gives targetted text ads. They're not getting anything more than any other company doesn't already have access to. I'd prefer they knew what sort of ads interested me and gave me unobtrusive text ads than the slow-loading, buggy crud Hotmail and Yahoo put in their products.
Gmail gives targetted text ads. They're not getting anything more than any other company doesn't already have access to. I'd prefer they knew what sort of ads interested me and gave me unobtrusive text ads than the slow-loading, buggy crud Hotmail and Yahoo put in their products.
Posted On: 07/26/2004 06:24
Posted By: nameplace
Posted By: nameplace
Anyway John, when you're ready maybe you can respond to my points on 6/30 8:18. When you have the time. No rush.
Posted On: 07/26/2004 08:19
Posted By: jcokos
Posted By: jcokos
[quote]Instead of pointing and laughing at people who are exhibiting an extreme response to a new service from a trusted brand, why not comment on WHY they are doing it and HOW your readers can learn something from it? How can the reader get the same sort of response to their products?[/quote]
Aside from a few nifty javascript tricks, and the 1GB (which is a big thing), there's nothing to separate this service from any other free email service.
The point that I was trying to make serves the purpose of the Gazette very well. Here at VP, most of what we talk about is search engines and SEO, but the large picture is marketing, and how best to reach your audience, especially if you don't have a lot of money with which to do so.
It's an interesting study how Google is able to do that with very little (in fact, almost zero) effort by simply putting up a page on the site, and then letting the "Buzz" do the work for them.
I think it makes good food for thought for the rest of us. How can we become so big and cool in our own niche's that the same sort of thing can happen for us. Is your own community of users so vehemently supportive of you, that the very mention of your next product sends them out there to spread the word for you?
That's a very interesting marketing "tactic" .... do such a good job serving your users that as you come up with new ideas, your users become part of your marketing machine. It's definitely a sign of respect, and of something that you've done well coming back to do well for you. Google's obvioiusly done it, what would take for you, me, or any other regular Joe to achieve the same sort of vehement loyalty?
As to your other points, no comment ;)
Aside from a few nifty javascript tricks, and the 1GB (which is a big thing), there's nothing to separate this service from any other free email service.
The point that I was trying to make serves the purpose of the Gazette very well. Here at VP, most of what we talk about is search engines and SEO, but the large picture is marketing, and how best to reach your audience, especially if you don't have a lot of money with which to do so.
It's an interesting study how Google is able to do that with very little (in fact, almost zero) effort by simply putting up a page on the site, and then letting the "Buzz" do the work for them.
I think it makes good food for thought for the rest of us. How can we become so big and cool in our own niche's that the same sort of thing can happen for us. Is your own community of users so vehemently supportive of you, that the very mention of your next product sends them out there to spread the word for you?
That's a very interesting marketing "tactic" .... do such a good job serving your users that as you come up with new ideas, your users become part of your marketing machine. It's definitely a sign of respect, and of something that you've done well coming back to do well for you. Google's obvioiusly done it, what would take for you, me, or any other regular Joe to achieve the same sort of vehement loyalty?
As to your other points, no comment ;)
Posted On: 07/26/2004 11:50
Posted By: StupidScript2
Posted By: StupidScript2
"They already have your 'data'. What sort of sensitive info is in your free e-mail account anyway?"
What sort of sensitive info is in your "free" snail mail account, anyway?
Regardless of the "free" service, unless you specifically allow (opt IN) a provider to develop programming that is responsive to the text of the messages in your mailbox, they are violating all sorts of ethical practices re: customer privacy. And, yes, subscribers to a "free" service are customers.
So I guess you don't mind the intrusion, nameplace? Okay, that's one vote for letting the megaliths determine your web experience using your personal information sent to you with a "reasonable expectation of privacy". It looks like your reasoning is "Why not? Other companies do." Very profound.
Anybody else?
What sort of sensitive info is in your "free" snail mail account, anyway?
Regardless of the "free" service, unless you specifically allow (opt IN) a provider to develop programming that is responsive to the text of the messages in your mailbox, they are violating all sorts of ethical practices re: customer privacy. And, yes, subscribers to a "free" service are customers.
So I guess you don't mind the intrusion, nameplace? Okay, that's one vote for letting the megaliths determine your web experience using your personal information sent to you with a "reasonable expectation of privacy". It looks like your reasoning is "Why not? Other companies do." Very profound.
Anybody else?
Posted On: 08/02/2004 05:43
Posted By: nameplace
Posted By: nameplace
I see your point but I have trouble seeing how someone who signs up for the service, knowing full well what will happen to their data, has a leg to stand on. Plenty of other sites now offer the same or more disk space so there is choice in the market.
It might be an issue with people sending into GMail accounts, but who owns that material in the end? The sender or the recipient?
I think the biggest fact people should start to accept about privacy is that you no probably longer have any. The horse has bolted. Some would advocate catching the horse while others can't see that it's possible now.
It might be an issue with people sending into GMail accounts, but who owns that material in the end? The sender or the recipient?
I think the biggest fact people should start to accept about privacy is that you no probably longer have any. The horse has bolted. Some would advocate catching the horse while others can't see that it's possible now.
Posted On: 08/02/2004 05:35
Posted By: nameplace
Posted By: nameplace
At last, a glimmer of thought. Pity you didn't put that much effort in when you wrote the first opinion piece ;)
I may yet re-subscribe!
Only one disagreement:
[quote]Aside from a few nifty javascript tricks, and the 1GB (which is a big thing), there's nothing to separate this service from any other free email service.[/quote]Leaving aside the complete dismissal of the "nifty js tricks", how about Google search on your e-mail? Threaded messages? Other features to come?
Like I said, your name can only get you so far. It can only get people interested and get them to approach the product in a positive, trusting frame of mind. If the product stinks you'll hear about it. Burn your loyal followers and you'll be savaged more than if you were just a new kid on the block.
Why? Because you've messed with the person's world, a world where [insert brand] makes good products, and the customer can feel safe in trying out new products from [insert brand]. Turn that upside down and many loyal followers will become your biggest critics, sometimes even becoming marketplace competitors. They see an abandoned class of consumers, of which they are a member, waiting for someone else to provide what [insert brand] can no longer be trusted to provide.
Definitely food for thought, eh John?
I may yet re-subscribe!
Only one disagreement:
[quote]Aside from a few nifty javascript tricks, and the 1GB (which is a big thing), there's nothing to separate this service from any other free email service.[/quote]Leaving aside the complete dismissal of the "nifty js tricks", how about Google search on your e-mail? Threaded messages? Other features to come?
Like I said, your name can only get you so far. It can only get people interested and get them to approach the product in a positive, trusting frame of mind. If the product stinks you'll hear about it. Burn your loyal followers and you'll be savaged more than if you were just a new kid on the block.
Why? Because you've messed with the person's world, a world where [insert brand] makes good products, and the customer can feel safe in trying out new products from [insert brand]. Turn that upside down and many loyal followers will become your biggest critics, sometimes even becoming marketplace competitors. They see an abandoned class of consumers, of which they are a member, waiting for someone else to provide what [insert brand] can no longer be trusted to provide.
Definitely food for thought, eh John?
Posted On: 08/02/2004 07:13
Posted By: jcokos
Posted By: jcokos
Is that a threat ?
;)
;)
Add your own comment ....
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