What's it like to build for non-customers?
Companies like Google or Facebook that build services free to use but supported by ads: What's the culture like in these environments? As a regular person, I realize great value in products like Gmail, Keep, Facebook events, LinkedIn, etc etc. But I haven't clicked on an ad in decades. They're just never relevant. I've never downloaded adblocker because I don't even see ads. Growing up with the internet, my brain is trained in selective vision and automatically filters them out. I know there's that saying that says if you're not paying for the service, then you are the product. I get that for something like LinkedIn which is just a recruiting database that costs money to access. But for others, they can't be making money off me unless they're selling my personal information. G/FB doesn't do that right? (Serious question) I ask because for other companies (like Amazon) we build things for people who give us money directly. So the whole customer obsession thing makes a lot of sense. But if I get grumpy about the latest Gmail update, do I have a leg to stand on? I pay nothing for it. I'm a user, not a customer. It's probably the same attitude regardless, but there have to be nuances. Right? Thoughts?
G and fb certainly do sell ur personal data and info.
Source?
G/FB would never sell personal data, much of their value is in having a monopoly on this data (though most value is actually in eyeballs)
You still need customer traffic and they wouldn't visit your site unless it's satiates their requirements. So as always customer experience takes priority
Yep. If your product isn't useful people won't be around to click on the ads.
What's your question?
It started out as a culture-fit probe, turned into introspection, and ended with a rant about consumers not having the right to complain about a free meal. π