Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Google's spam problem

This is a fascinating article about Google's ongoing issue with spam.  The fact that people are now turning to Twitter and other sites over Google is really troublesome for the company.  It shows that even the Google algorithm can't overcome the invasiveness of spam.  If you were in the PR department for Google, aside from fixing the problem, how would you frame this issue in the context of Twitter's dominance?

2 comments:

slade said...

That's interesting that people are starting to turn to Twitter, but I'm not sure I see it as a substitute. I've had a Twitter account for a year and a half and have amassed all of 54 followers. Unless one of them happened to have an answer to my question, it seems unlikely I'd get a worthwhile response that way. Perhaps I just need to build up my follower base, but right now it seems like asking questions to the Twitterverse is only an alternative to googling for an answer if you're a celebrity type with thousands and thousands of people out there listening to you.

Kate F said...

I completely agree with the last post. This may be the wave of the "internet searching" future but there are still many people without strong Twitter accounts who wouldn't get good (if any) answers. As for Google, once they fix the problem, they can promote the ease of accessibility and extensive search capabilities. You also don't need an account if you want to remain anonymous. However, as noted in Groundswell, if Google doesn't listen and fix the problem, customers will look elsewhere - including to Twitter.