Finance Matters

Archive for July 1st, 2010

Google is preparing yet another attempt to crack the social networking market. The project is reportedly called “Google Me,” and it will be a Facebook clone.

What are the odds that Google finally gets it right with social networking? Not good. At least that’s what Silicon Valley’s tech insiders think.

There’s numerous people in Quora asking a variation of the question, “Can Google beat Facebook? Why or why not?” The answer is basically, “no.”

Here’s four interesting takes:

Craig Dos Santos, Head of Mobile Gaming, Playdom:

I’d say no.  Google tends to excel at projects that are, at their core, hard technical challenges, not product challenges.  Building a social network needs more product expertise at it’s core.  From what I know of the company’s internal workings… they are set up to excel at hard technical challenges, while strong product managers are still not the drivers of products.  

Can anyone think of Google projects (successes) that contradict this?

Aaron B Iba, Worked on the Orkut team at Google in 2005:

I worked at Google in 2005 and briefly on the Orkut team.  I encountered an environment that viewed social networking as a frivolous form of entertainment rather than a real utility, and I’m pretty sure this viewpoint was shared all the way up the chain of command to the founders.

At that time, hardly anyone at Google actually used Facebook, so they just didn’t understand what people were getting out of social networking products.  Incredibly, many people on the Orkut team did not use their own product (let alone Facebook) outside of work.  By contrast, everyone I know who worked at Facebook was a passionate user of that product.

Ultimately, I believe Google didn’t succeed at social networking because of this widespread misunderstanding of the value in social networking products.

1. Prioritization and determination.  I don’t think these big companies wanted to own this space as much as Facebook did.  Social networking didn’t fit neatly into Google’s mission of “organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible through search.”  In the case of Microsoft, I don’t think they saw social networking as something that would help “people and businesses will fulfill their potential.”  I’m not sure what Yahoo was doing — they seemed to lack focus all around.  

2. Approach.  When the big players finally decided to really compete in this space, their approach was wrong.  Social networking is very human.  Social interactions are complex, and building a good product requires a lot of attention to detail. As an outsider, it seems that these big companies thought, “How do we get people to use this?  How many features can we cram in?” instead of “What is the best experience for users?”  

3. Too much baggage. Most importantly, these big guys also had a lot of internal constituents to worry about.  I can imagine whenever someone at Microsoft had a new idea, they were asked to talk to the director of Windows Live to get approval and have a 3-year plan for integration.  Googlers probably needed to build on top of Orkut and work within existing paradigms even if they were wrong.  And of course, the big companies probably needed to make sure the advertisers were taken care of before launching.  Just build the damn thing and iterate.

I think this is generalizable into other companies/verticals as well; focused startups have an advantage over bigger companies that are less focused or have more baggage.  Move quickly and focus on the product. 

Disclosure: I currently work for Facebook.  These views are my own and are not representative of those of my employer

Keith Rabois, Internet entrepreneur:

Large companies only track revenue threats, which on the consumer web lags behind user adoption.  By the time the revenue impact is apparent, it is too late to compete with a consumer product with traction and network effects.

And here’s Keith on what Google should do in social:

…1.  Buy Twitter, definitely.  Acquire LinkedIn, probably.

Excluding Facebook, Twitter is the only product with proven ability to entice normal people to produce and share content on a broad array of topics in scale.  If Twitter were acquired by Microsoft or Apple and the license to use its data terminated, Google would confront a major challenge almost immediately.

LinkedIn has the proven ability to entice normal professionals in scale to create a professional profile.  The data on a LinkedIn profile is probably as valuable as the data on a Facebook profile.

Google cannot build a Twitter product nor a LinkedIn product internally.

2.  Acquire Quora (probably not possible at the moment)

3.  Consider building a more fun (read edgier version) of Facebook.  Facebook has morphed into a substantially more utilitarian product over the last three years and as a result has more impact on the World, but it has also diminished its appeal for stalking, flirting and other risque activities.  But sex sells (see Chatroulette).

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See Also:

• Google Rumored To Try ANOTHER Social Effort Called "Google Me"
• Google Wave Makes Me Feel Stupid And Angry
• Early Google Buzz Reviews

We’re one of the last to the party with this one, but here’s that CNBC footage of Equity Group Investments chairman Sam Zell (aka the guy who got the Tribune Co. into bankruptcy) talking about the future of the newspaper business.

Cutting to the chase, perhaps Zell is a bit confused when it comes to technology terms?

“The newspapers have historically suffered from being monopolies … Going forward, it’s going to require all kinds of different approaches, including probably most significant, is the elimination of home delivery and the replacement of it with PDFs,” Zell said on “Squawk Bow,” continuing, “and the iPad is the first real example of almost replicating a newspaper on an instrument. I think that is only the beginning of how that is all going to evolve.”

Watch the clip below:

 

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Swimming in oil slick and surfing a wave dotted black with tarballs? Gnarly.

Over a month of oil slick accumulating on the beaches of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida hasn’t stopped some bold tourists from hitting the beaches, even bringing their kids. Of course when receipts come in for the summer, everyone expects major losses for most businesses on the Gulf coast.

Meanwhile, we hope this is safer than it looks.

NOTE: The black specks behind surfer Mike Dangerfield are TARBALLS

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Why not take the kids for a swim?

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Go scuba diving

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Take a family photo

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Dramatically play an upright bass

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Do yoga

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Go for a run

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Or just hang out and watch the flow

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Don’t miss…

Cringeworthy Videos Of Alabama Tourism Rep Putting Positive Spin On Contaminated Beaches

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So we got a hold of the email Jamie Dimon sent the interns we just told you about.

Whichever intern was ballsy enough to send an email to Jamie asking for his books recommendations – nice.

Here it is:

From: Jamie Dimon 
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010
To: 2010 Summer Markets Interns – All
Subject:

 

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of you this morning at the town hall.

 

A number of you have already emailed me for my list of favorite books, which includes a variety of business and history books.  It’s attached for everyone to see.

 

Also, for those interested, I’ve attached a copy of my Syracuse commencement speech (you can also see the video on the school’s website) and the advice that Bill Gates gave at a High School graduation address.  And of course, I’d love for you all to read my Chairman’s letter, which is included below as a link.

 

I hope you all have a great summer,

 

Jamie

 

Here is the book list he attached, by the way:

 

Business

The World is Flat

Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors

Security Analysis – Classic 1940 Edition

The Intelligent Investor

Execution – The Discipline of Getting Things Done

Jack: Straight From the Gut Sam Walton – Made in America

Double your Profits in 6 Months or Less

Built from Scratch

Only the Paranoid Survive

Built to Last

 

History Bio

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

Autobiography of Ben Franklin

Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America

Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West Eisenhower: Soldier and President

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

Washington: The Indispensable Man

Lincoln Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant Jefferson

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

 

History Other

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos

A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future

The Clash of Civilization and the Remaking of World Order

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some are so Rich and Some so Poor

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The National Association of Realtors (NAR) today said its Pending Home Sales Index fell by 30% in May, after rising 23% between January and April.
The slump was attributed to the expiration of a Government incentive – which ended on 30 April.
While a fall in deals was anticipated, it was double the amount that analysts had [...]