Sign of the times

[redbird]

Seen from a bus on I-95: a billboard reading, in large letters, "Aging
parents? Google us."

In smaller type the billboard gave the name of the company that was
advertising, and a telephone number.

No URL: just "Google us."

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Interesting. That is new; I haven't seen it before.

It makes much more sense; it's much easier to simply Google for a name than remember a URL. I regularly tell people to Google my name to find my website, even though my URL is my surname. People remember it more easily.

B

[beginning.livejournal.com]

First thought: Googlebomb!

[janetmk.livejournal.com]

In its attempt to protect its brand/trademark I've heard that Google wants us to stop "googling"--I wonder if they'll go after this company?

Here's an old BBC story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3006486.stm) that I found with a quick Google search :-) but I recall a Washington Post story a few months ago written by a Post columnist who got one of those letters from Google asking him to please reform his usage.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Bizarre. I would have thought the pinnacle of success for a product was to have its name become the generic for its kind. Google has joined the proud ranks of Kleenex, Jello, and Band-aid of things that we take so much as a staple of our life that we stop even worrying about what the neutral word would be in every-day conversation. That billboard is *advertising* Google - they could be saying, "Look us up on Yahoo, Alta Vista, Google, or your favorite search engine!"

There's probably a good, obvious reason, I suppose. Capitalism mystifies me, anyhow.

[liv]

If the brand becomes too successful, it loses its protected status. If the word google were ruled to be generic, not an irrational decision given actual usage, Google the company would no longer have any rights to control it. So for example, an unscrupulous spammer could set up a site called Bettergoogle or g00gle or whatever, and Google wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Then, if those sites were shoddy and unprofessional and infected everyone's computers with viruses, the reputation of the real Google would suffer.

That's why Google are being so aggressive about protecting their brand; it is their major asset. And yes, the free advertising, the product becoming so successful that the brand name becomes an English word, are good things up to a point. But if allowed to go too far, it would harm Google in the end.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

That's... still bizarre. Understandable, from Google's point of view, but just strange that the rules are set up so obliquely.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Of course, they have to know how to spell your name first.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I do what I can.

B

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Kleenex, Scotch Tape and Post-it-Notes, Xerox, Band-Aid -- Kimberly-Clarke, 3M, Xerox, and Johnson&Johnson have been hurt by the fact that they're not associated with them any more.