Google has an identity problem – a few actually. One problem is how they handle identity on their network – through the use of gmail addresses – each of which has it’s own identity or profile with no way to consolidate. But I covered that last week. This week’s identity problem is Google’s strategy and how customers view them.
To be successful, most companies come up with a business strategy which involves figuring out what their competitive advantage is – how they differentiate themselves from their competitors. Key to this competitive advantage are the benefits to the customer. Google’s original strategy was pretty straightforward – providing the best search experience possible – access to all sorts of information – and this is really encapsulated in their “Ten Things we know to be true” philosophy. Revenue derived from search through advertising, which is still where Google makes almost all of it’s money.
What about now? Search (and the related ads) are still their major focus and what they do better than anyone. They’ve made updates recently to include more real time search results – which was necessary to stay relevant. Does Google Buzz fit into this strategy?
I think my answer is yes and no. Google Buzz is a way for google to tap into more of the real time search world since users add their various feeds. Google also gets a sense of what’s important by the “buzz level” or how many times a post has been shared, liked and commented on. This certainly plays into their strategy of providing the best information, especially since trending topics on Twitter were becoming a valued source for what was going on.
What about from the customers point of view? Do customers think of Google as a place for information? I’m not as sure. I think Google provides great online services – gmail, Apps, etc., which I use daily (as a paid Apps subscriber). How does Buzz fit into that productivity world? What benefit does it provide me? If the interface was better and Buzz was enabled on my Apps account (which its not – only on my regular, personal gmail account), I could see Buzz as an addition that allowed me to keep track of what was going on. This would be pretty valuable addition to Google Reader with my feeds and alerts.
I’m not convinced that this is really what Google was going for – mostly because of how little testing happened and how annoying the current interface is. I think Google felt they had to have Buzz as a competitor for Twitter & Facebook – partly because of search, but also because of eyeballs and time on site. Facebook has one of the highest times on site – with something like 20mins average per day. In search, Google only has your eyeballs for as long as it takes you to find what you’re looking for.
I have no problem with Google adding Buzz or whatever applications they think are useful. I’d just like to see them use a bit more thought into the customer side and how an app fits into their overall strategy (which maybe needs to be updated from just search).
What benefits and value do Google’s services provide for you? What do you think is their strategy?
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Technorati tags: Google, social media, identity, marketing, business strategy, business