[Sigia-l] Google IM,my.google.com(was Scholar)

[Stewart Dean]

>From: b0b d0n <bobdon at gmail.com>
>Reply-To: b0b d0n <bobdon at gmail.com>
>To: Stewart Dean <stew8dean at hotmail.com>
>CC: andrew_db at bigpond.com, sigia-l at asis.org
>Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Google IM,my.google.com(was Scholar)
>Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 21:10:03 -0800
>
>Stewart Dean  wrote:
> > Andrew doth say..
> >
> > >it is news today because Google is doing it... if Google put out their 
>own
> > >brand of cat food, this would also make the news
> >
> > Never underestimate the power of brand. The question is is it any good.
>
>..IM is always good :)
>http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/gwm/2004/0927msg2.html
>
>What next? >my.google.com<
>http://www.yeald.com/Yeald/a/13131/will_google_personalize.html

The eternal misplaced desire to own the customer!  One of the common 
mistakes of bad IA :)

Customisation - I woud grossly generalise, hardly ever work. It's too time 
consuming from a users perspective and assumes the person has the same needs 
on each visit.  Also it should be 'your' not 'my' as it is a service being 
offered by someone else. The customer never owns that page as such. I have 
had the joy of killing many 'my' sections clients have proposed. For example 
a my section on a printer manafacturing site that remembers what printer the 
client has so it can recommend the right media / ink.  Obvious point here - 
the user can usual remember what printer they have but not yet another user 
name password combination.

Personalistion, on the other hand, is good (if done well). Google already do 
it in their groups offering and of course in Gmail.

Anyway - all off topic. Google have very difficult times ahead of them. 
There is a huge danger in doing to much to soon and falling into the myth 
that company growth is always good. But that's easy to say as an outsider.

I was just wondering how long before Google buy Flickr.

Stew Dean
User Experience Type Person