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Google Base Jumping
from the withholding-judgment dept
Well, the web is abuzz with the fact that the Google Base service has finally gone live after a few weeks of rumors. Looking over the service it seems to be both less and more than it promises to be -- and therefore it's tough to really come out with a detailed opinion about it just yet. Right now, honestly, it looks basically like an attempt to copy Craigslist. The folks at Google claim that's not their intent, and that's probably absolutely true. Google Base should be a lot more than a Craigslist clone, but the way it's set up, that's not going to be very clear to most people looking at it. In fact, it's not clear that it's even a very good Craigslist clone. The way it's set up seems likely to turn off less tech-savvy folks out there. With a bit of understanding how a database works, it's clear why they did certain things, but the average user doesn't care about those things. As someone just mentioned to me: "It's Craigslist without the community." Of course, hopefully it won't stay that way. As others have pointed out, the real value won't be clear until some time has gone by and we can see how people are really using it. With that in mind, it still seems pretty disappointing that, as it stands, this offering is a whole lot less than I originally expected. Offering an online database setup could be a great way to become a real platform for innovative apps developed by others. If Google was going for that, you'd expect them to be hyping up an API to plug into Google Base as a back end. They may eventually get there (you have to assume it's where they're going eventually), but initially, it's not really clear what Google Base wants to be -- and so they may need to do a little convincing to explain to people why they should use it. Of course, glancing over how it's set up right now, it's pretty clear that one group that will jump on the Google Base bandwagon quickly will be the spammers. It seems ripe for spam abuse, so it'll be worth watching how Google deals with that.
Reader Comments
(Flattened / Threaded)
When will there be Base with Class?
So we don't have to put up with the disgusting sex posts on craigslist, or the losers who defend such "freedoms"?
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Re: When will there be Base with Class?
If you stop reading them, dorkus, then you will not have to put up with them.
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Re: When will there be Base with Class?
Can't avoid them. Every section is full of the disgusting ad titles. I simply avoid craigslist.
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Google Basing
First thing that came to mind when hearing of Google Base was some huge underground tenement somewhere in California..
2nd thing that to my mind was the good old "all your base" thingie.
Finally, after actually RTFA it came to mind that it could be something useful
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Re: Google Basing
WTF..
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google strikes again
don't get me wrong, I love google as much as the next guy, but a lot of their projects/properties fail to impress. google talk was met with a resounding "meh". picasa, hello, and blogger just kind of seem reactionary to things that were already around. they could really do a lot with these, especially if they were better integrated, but for some reason or another, they just don't.
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Tech Dirt thinks like me
Read my comment on Siliconbeat! or Tech Crunch. I called the spammers thing first, by a whole 5 hours. But being an Opt-in system, I could imagine that Spammers will be the most active users.
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Re: Tech Dirt thinks like me
congrats Brad...
and thanks for spamming this comment section with your useless post!
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Craigslist clone
Amongst all the talk about Google Base, It seems people missed Ebay's new Craigslist clone: Kijiji.
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Re: Craigslist clone
Er. Maybe that's because it's not new?
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Casual Engoogle
I, for one, welcome the Google Casual Encounters Overlords.
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Comment
We are in a similar market as Google Base but our product gives structure (while still not imposing any set of predefined categories) to our index and therefore makes it possible for users to not only perform keyword search but also browse hierarchically with the ability to specify unlimited number of filters to refine their search.
Valnur
http://www.valnur.com
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