Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Ask.com's New Motto: Be Evil?:
"...At this point Diller was eager to turn the discussion back to the pragmatic side of search, suggesting an Ask slogan could be "use tools, be human," and insisting that as search evolved, the tools that are best for the job would evolve. "Search is an evolutionary process," he argued. "It's not simply ten blue links."...
...Sullivan asked about what Diller's team looked at when they considered a potential acquisition in search. At first, Diller admitted, "we spent a long time thinking of search engines defensively—could they disintermediate Expedia, etc.—but next, we asked, 'is there an opportunity?'"
The opportunity, Diller maintains, is that no media business in history has held at 30-40% market share. This analysis, though, depends on whether you accept that search engines or web services companies are like 'media' businesses (so, a media mogul like Diller or Semel logically descends from the heights to manage one), or whether they're more like technology standards (so better run by uber-geeks like Gates and Schmidt). If Diller's right in his characterization, Ask is poised for growth.
A further condition would seem to be admitting that IAC's properties must eventually be knitted together in a more self-conscious portal model with Ask as the glue. The "holding company" patter would need to be traded in for a self-consciously cohesive "media company" image. "Media company" or "portal" aren't quite the right terms for IAC, though. Given that they have a deeper focus in direct ecommerce plays in key fields than most of their competitors, and less focus in other areas, "The Ecommerce Portal" might be the best unofficial description for the group. Searchability is as integral to this group of web properties as it is for Amazon.com, so a vibrant search technology division can't help but improve operations. Perhaps not coincidentally, IAC is worth just a bit less than Amazon ($9.7 billion to $15 billion). Users need world-class navigation.
Whatever the grand plan, it's clear that Diller and the team (including Jim Lanzone, who demonstrated a few of Ask's new features for the audience) are fully engaged and enjoying the opportunity to directly influence one of the most exciting media(?) companies in the world today. For that ride, it seems, they wouldn't trade all the tea in China.
And he won't be cheap. Promises Diller: "Capital investment will support Ask in a way they weren't before." Search engines have always been better when not forced to monetize every pixel. As I like to say when a search engine is content to undermonetize in a bid for market share: enjoy it while it lasts, dear user..."
"...At this point Diller was eager to turn the discussion back to the pragmatic side of search, suggesting an Ask slogan could be "use tools, be human," and insisting that as search evolved, the tools that are best for the job would evolve. "Search is an evolutionary process," he argued. "It's not simply ten blue links."...
...Sullivan asked about what Diller's team looked at when they considered a potential acquisition in search. At first, Diller admitted, "we spent a long time thinking of search engines defensively—could they disintermediate Expedia, etc.—but next, we asked, 'is there an opportunity?'"
The opportunity, Diller maintains, is that no media business in history has held at 30-40% market share. This analysis, though, depends on whether you accept that search engines or web services companies are like 'media' businesses (so, a media mogul like Diller or Semel logically descends from the heights to manage one), or whether they're more like technology standards (so better run by uber-geeks like Gates and Schmidt). If Diller's right in his characterization, Ask is poised for growth.
A further condition would seem to be admitting that IAC's properties must eventually be knitted together in a more self-conscious portal model with Ask as the glue. The "holding company" patter would need to be traded in for a self-consciously cohesive "media company" image. "Media company" or "portal" aren't quite the right terms for IAC, though. Given that they have a deeper focus in direct ecommerce plays in key fields than most of their competitors, and less focus in other areas, "The Ecommerce Portal" might be the best unofficial description for the group. Searchability is as integral to this group of web properties as it is for Amazon.com, so a vibrant search technology division can't help but improve operations. Perhaps not coincidentally, IAC is worth just a bit less than Amazon ($9.7 billion to $15 billion). Users need world-class navigation.
Whatever the grand plan, it's clear that Diller and the team (including Jim Lanzone, who demonstrated a few of Ask's new features for the audience) are fully engaged and enjoying the opportunity to directly influence one of the most exciting media(?) companies in the world today. For that ride, it seems, they wouldn't trade all the tea in China.
And he won't be cheap. Promises Diller: "Capital investment will support Ask in a way they weren't before." Search engines have always been better when not forced to monetize every pixel. As I like to say when a search engine is content to undermonetize in a bid for market share: enjoy it while it lasts, dear user..."
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