Google Starting It's Own Version Of Stumbleupon, And Ebay Acquiring StumbleUpon Options

[storyspinner]

Andy Beal's got the scoop on Google's Own Version of StumbleUpon - although it's lacking the social media/networking features.....

It's all spawned because Ebay's just bought StumbleUpon

So, what are you thoughts?
Is Google feeling the sting of rejection here?

[kulpreet_singh]

Wow great move for Ebay.. a seriously suffering brand.. wonder if/how they will link?

The price of $45-75 million is relatively very low isn't it ?

I don't know if this would be good for the future quality of StumbleUpon though.. Ebay is losing trust and relevance day by day. Maybe because the corporate management has not been able to prevent the tons of fraud.

Google has so many resources allocated to certain fields, that when they try to compete in other fields they struggle. Examples include Google Answers and Urchin. A little "dice" button on the Google toolbar isn't really competition, maybe consolation.

This post has been edited by kulpreet_singh: Apr 18 2007, 09:09 PM

[SEOigloo]

I have to say, as an Ebay user, I sort of dread anything they undertake to manage. They have, bar none, the worst customer support/relations I have ever experienced. When things go wrong with their system, the nonsense they put the user through is maddening and almost funny, if you aren't experiencing it first hand. We've had a little store over at eBay as a side business for about a year now, and have been through hair-raising, nutty experiences with their support 'team' in that time that have come to make me picture a bunch of little clowns piling out of a circus vehicle when I hear the word 'Ebay'.

However, they may be better suited to supporting stumbling on websites for fun than they are to supporting professional business transactions. Thanks for posting this news!
Miriam

[kulpreet_singh]

If Google did offer to buy StumbleUpon and they lost to Ebay, I can't think of any other reason except for human error and incompetency. Some type of corporate politics.

Either Google did not present themselves well enough or there was some type of management conflict between the individuals on either side of the deal. It could not have been about money, brand recognition, brand power, technological advancement, etc. because Google clearly beats Ebay in all of those fields.

[eKstreme]

I must have missed something: are they using the toolbar to track where you go? I thought they didn't do that...

[JohnMu]

It uses personalized search

Perhaps something like sites that other people who have also visited sites that you've visited have ended up going to.

You can try it out without using the Googlebar (but you probably have to be logged into your Google account) by clicking on:
http://www.google.com/searchhistory/items?...d=ifb&hl=en
(thanks, Nathan)

For me, it picks out some sites that match what I have been searching for, I even found a few that I would like to have found the first time I searched. It also showed me that I logged in on my wife's laptop and forgot to log out .

John

[storyspinner]

eKstreme - i think it's even stated in G's ToS for the toolbar that you are essentially allowing the to track all information about you when you download, install and use the toolbar.

Apparently it is true that Stumble Upon rebuffed the big G!

[egain]

Wow, won't say its suprising, but glad to see them looking at the bigger picture, rather than what I would presume is a larger offer

[JohnMu]

When you use the Google Toolbar it automatically does PR checks on all pages you access. Theoretically they could use that data to track where you were. I am not sure how they would tie that into the Google Accounts though (you don't have to log in to use the toolbar, do you? Maybe I should install it ).

They could for instance use the pages that you visit, along with the duration of your visit (time until next page is opened) as a way of determining how far you liked that page. Who knows if they do it, but they certainly could. They could also just use that information to test algorithms.

John

[JohnMu]

What would they be buying for 40M? Just the user base? The software alone doesn't seem to be all that magical (unless I'm mistaken ... or it's patented). What would it take to build a similar site? What would it take to build a similar user base? Or will Google easily surpass them by letting the Googlebar users join in?

John

[eKstreme]

From my (very) limited knowledge of SU:

1. The community - very vibrant.
2. The toolbar - eBay ain't got one. Couple it to Skype, the new eBay ads, and paypal, magical sparks might start to happen. This will be eBay's foot in the browser window.
3. SU Videos - new addition, but a nice weapon to have. Suppose eBay signs distro deals with, ooh, say MS or Yahoo (remember the new anti-YouTube consortium announced a few weeks ago), then it could have the traffic AND the content - revenue central.

Pierre

[JohnMu]

eBay + Skype with a toolbar would be a great combination. Hmmm.... Imagine browsing Amazon and being able to check the eBay toolbar for the current prices on eBay for that product.... Cool.

Let's see, eBay has Skype + PayPal; PayPal just started some new things with Yahoo - is the next step eBay + Yahoo?

John

[eKstreme]

I doubt the eBay+Yahoo marriage. Maybe, if anything, a joint venture.

As things stand, eBay is positioning itself as shopping and communication. Yahoo is everything social. Google is 'we got search, but we're really an advertising agency'. MS is kinda lost, but I wouldn't ignore them. MS always looks lost when the enter a new market (browsers, XBox...).

Pierre

[storyspinner]

Apparently now, the ebay stumble upon merger is just rumors.... but mike arrington is usually pretty on target with these thing. i betting it will happen, just not today (remember mybloglog/yahoo)

but the big G, is still starting their own.

[eKstreme]

I wonder if this is the start of Bubble 2.0.

eBay + Skype.
Google + YouTube
Google + DoubleClick
(eBay?) + StumbleUpon

Think about it this way: lots of cash, lots of companies doing the same thing, strong competitive pressures to acquire access to eyeballs and advertisers. Could get very ugly.

I got the beer. Someone bring some popcorn

Pierre

[lyndoman]

It was only a matter of time befor Google dipped it's large hairy toe into the social media pond.

I don't think a stumble type concept is the way to go though.

What they could do is:

Take the data from Google Reader
Stick it on a Digg type-vote for me kinda of system.
Feed the results into the search algo.

The amount of influence on the SERPS should be tiny, something like 0.05%, but enough to get the online marketing crowd to salivate over.

It would be useful to see which feeds in my list get read the most, are the most popular.

Of course Google could connect the Feed data with the stumble system. Makes sense for everything to infulence everything.

Whatever happens it looks like it's going to be an interesting 2007

[JohnMu]

I guess it's official now: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/you...ice-of-web.html

Google let's you activate web-tracking in your Googlebar, it'll track the users through the PR queries, tied to your Google account. (actually, I'm not sure on that: do you activate it separately or is it activated on default when you're logged in?)

I don't use a Googlebar so I can't say much about how it works, lol. I don't like installing yet another toolbar when all I want is the PR display (which is easier to see with the Firefox plugin, in my opinion).

John

[storyspinner]

softplus - i agree with you there, plus i don't like how Google with change pages w/ the toolbar, things like the isbn number if it's not link will link to Amazon.

I actually use the Yahoo toolbar, as it's is much more useful - i can go to flickr, email, nascar. footbal and even the personals (yeah *lol* I have a yahoo personals account) all in a click.

I think though, without the social media piece, Google's just like their "I feel lucky" link on a search. I don't see honestly, how it could really compare Stumble Upon, but I guess in time we'll see how it shakes out.

[bragadocchio]

The software alone doesn't seem to be all that magical (unless I'm mistaken ... or it's patented).

It's patented (or pending patent).

But so is Google's.

Systems and methods for combining sets of favorites

The filing date is March 31, 2005, so I don't know if its deployment might be fairly said to be a reaction to a rumored sale of Stumbleupon.