Google’s Velvet Rope

No, I haven’t been granted any GoogleVoice invitations yet, so quit asking. But I will admit that all the requests gave me the idea for this week’s column on Daily Beast:

Ubiquity ain’t what it used to be.

For Google, the problem with being a free, abundant, and rather infinite set of services is that it’s hard to create much of a stir about anything. There are so many major software service options under the “more” menu on the Gmail page that they’ve had to go and add a final item called “even more.” Blogger, Calendar, Docs, Earth, Health, YouTube, Chrome—it’s all there, all the time, for everyone.

While that may be great for a 21st-century technology movement dedicated to offering the infinity of the info-sphere to the masses, it’s not necessarily great for a 21st-century technology company looking to increase value for its shareholders. To do that, a company needs some mystique, some barriers to entry: a virtual velvet rope that—just like the one used by a nightclub—has less to do with any real threat of overcrowding than the need to create the illusion of exclusivity. If you block them, they will come.

more…

Posted on 15 October '09 by Douglas, under Uncategorized.

4 Comments to “Google’s Velvet Rope”

#1 Posted by szul (15.10.09 at 11:28 )

Agreed. I’m experiencing the same “issue” with Google Wave. Here I’m a developer and I can’t seem to get my hands on an invite because of their strange roll out system. In fact, I was informed by a friend that he sent me an invite, but it’ll take a while before it gets to me. Huh?

It’s this type of artificial hype that manipulates the market and gets speculation running wild, causing artificial bubbles. Apple does it a lot too. How can Apple hype the 3GS so much? A video camera, copy/paste and MMS should have all been in the phone from the beginning. Why is it such a big event when Apple does it?

Marketing has severely gotten out of control.

#2 Posted by mason (15.10.09 at 12:09 )

Fascinating perspective szul! Tho i am no programmer, it opened for me what would otherwise have been a very closed (perhaps even?) guarded piece.

Marketing has always been puzzling to me, like, “Who in the heck do they think i want to be?” But my studies in capitalism and introduction to Douglas eventually cleared up the mysteries. Nonetheless, i don’t think i will ever understand why so many English Majors poured into Madison Avenue around the early 80′s. I suppose it was because Business Administration was just a flicker in somebody’s eye at the time….

I suppose Apple get’s more “heat” because (as Douglas said) the devices are so touchy feely in our hands. That really goes to one’s head…..

I overheard a guy waxing poetic about Google last weekend and i was impressed. It was not like the other fellow three weeks earlier who took out his cutting edge apple device and stroked it for me. But over all? Not much difference.

Meantime, a graduate student i know is anguishing over whether she should buy that new Apple thing. Given the nature of the work required, it was from the get go obvious to me that she should buy one. And after two months, maybe, she’s made a decision.

O, sure i am interested in watching the stocks and the presidents, but talking with her about her work is much more satisfying.

I hope you get an invite soon and turn that access into gold for the human species!

-mason

#3 Posted by Eddie (15.10.09 at 15:19 )

From the title, I thought this was going to be an article about how Google sucked you in by offering everything for free, then made you dependent on their many services. Apart from the ‘jack up the price’ part it seemed to be a lot like a drug dealer. After reading the excerpt and the comments, I guess it’s working.

#4 Posted by mason (15.10.09 at 20:03 )

szul

TerpLaw8 wrote @ The Daily Beast

You can request an invite on the Google Voice page. I did it a week ago and was emailed a link to create an account last night.

I suspect that Google’s invite program is some sort of social marketing drive.

Depending on where the google voice service is in terms of beta testing and bug fixing, google probably wanted to limit use of the program to those who actively show an interest in it, and are thus more likely to provide feedback to them.