Google Tagging - Zzzzz.....
So what exactly have Google done recently that's new or innovative? Not much by my reckoning, we've had..
- GTalk - Yawn...
- Blog Search - Yawn...
- Google Reader, well i'd Yawn... but it's not even a damn alpha release..
And now we have yet another "lets chase everyone else" thing to get all excited about. Yep, Google are finally doing tagging in search history - you can tag and save sites, woohoo!
Oh give me a fucking break - sheesh, that shit was boring when jeeves did it, it was only kinda interesting when Yahoo did it, and it's dull as sodding dishwater now GOOG are doing it.
Really, who gives a fuck?
Well, maybe Aaron does a bit...
I believe Google will eventually find ways to trust Google accounts more the same way they trust domains more as they age. The tags surely can be abused, but so can links. Just like link anchor text, the tagging could be used by Google to help understand the aboutness of a page or site.
It would take a good bit of knowledge to create a variety of random Google accounts that had regular and unique search habbits over time. Google does not need to try to stop all search spammers, they only need to make search spamming so complex or expensive that most people would just rather put in the effort to create something of high quality.
Well, at least that gives us an angle to ponder, but as a feature? Pull the other one, it plays fucking jingle bells - Im too deeply commited to delicious to use MyWeb2.0, i wouldn't touch Jeeve's offering for similar reasons, so why should i care that GOOG are last in line again?
so why should i care that
you probably wont care, but the millions of people that are way behind you in terms of internet/search/technology stuff may care. most people havent heard of delicious, but most people have heard of google -- and i think this could lead to aaron's point being spot on.
re: so why should I care that
I consider myself a veteran on the net... I've seen delicious, I've even registered for it... but I never found it interesting and simple enough to use on a daily basis... integrating google search, search history and tagging/starring may be the way to bring social bookmarking to the masses
there's value in watching "the masses"
I agree this will be interesting to watch. It may reveal just where tagging actually has value for "the masses". The folksonomy stuff requires you to be tuned-in with the 'folks'.... the masses most certainly aren't in tune with the users of delicious.
I kinda like MyJeeves. I
I kinda like MyJeeves. I use it all the time as a temporary bookmark area to examine stuff later at my leisure. I've looked around the edges of delicious but can't see what it would give me that Jeeves does not.
As for MyWeb2.0 or Google's entry - too late to the party, I'm already using myJeeves and I am to lazy to change.
>> the masses most certainly
> the masses most certainly aren't in tune with the users of delicious
Very True ,If you need proof just compare the active/popular tags on del.icio.us with google zeitgeist.
I will change my view on the day when "paris hilton" or "sex" becomes the #1 tag on delicious :)
the masses most certainly
that's why i view a lot of what google does as important, as it suggests the possibility that lots of stuff the mainstream has not yet adopted (and some say never will) -- like RSS readers, blog search -- will begin to get significant user adoption.
I'll conceed the point that
I'll conceed the point that it's important :) but i still thinks it's about as exciting as watching paint dry...
Maybe not exciting (yet), but VERY important
Nick, have you ever tried Spurl or Furl? These services were around way before Y! MyWeb, and are still much more feature rich. Comparing them to delicious... well, that's like comparing a ferrari to a model-T :P
Why does tagging matter so much?
Find stuff fast...
Lots of people now use search engines as their bookmarking system. I have chatted with many folks that -- to my surpise -- gave up on IE Favorites and Firefox Bookmarks ages ago, and simply do a Google search to find a site they access regularly. The ability to add tags will make that process much more efficient; when you search on "Deb" you'll find your friend Deb's homepage. When you search on "Budget" you'll find your local Budget Rental car place... first hit!
Share stuff easily without the annoyance...
I think people are increasingly growing weary of having their e-mail boxes filled up with 'forwards' from friends that are merely links to entertaining sites, etc. By forming groups (your college dorm, your soccer friends, whatever) and simply tagging stuff as "funny" or "sexy" to share or whatever, it's pull, not push. Less annoying, less clutter.
As others have pointed out above, this could also help with SERPs stuff, especially if it's tied in with Google accounts. Undoubtedly there'll be ways to abuse the system (there always are), but I see it getting much harder to game when it's based upon social tagging / karma stuff.
Oh, and one more thing: full-text archive. I already get this with Google Desktop nowadays, but... with Spurl and Furl and MyWeb (and, ultimately I figure with G Bookmarks), a full-text cache is saved from each bookmark, letting you quickly search for a page you saw simply by typing in a few words from the page body... even if the page is no longer on the Internet, or has changed substantially. IMHO, that's hugely valuable.
P.S. -- It's bollocks (bullocks?) that your system doesn't understand < b >.
Google does nothing as a
Google does nothing as a 'feature'. They do everything to gather information to use to make money. So, I believe Aaron is correct in saying this is yet another linking scheme on which to base their algo.