May 13, 2023
I have been using Google for a few weeks now, and I can see it has massive potential from various perspectives (over Facebook and other tools):* The overall interaction model is cleaner, simpler and easier to use. It does help that I don’t need to go looking for my friends as Google makes suggestions based on my address book.
* Easier to filter out the noise (not from a person, but from a whole circle)
* Easier to publish using circles or even individual people.. very nice compared to Facebook.
And now, for the best feature of them all (and seems exclusively for mobile phones), Nearby. This feature alone has the ability to kill competition and also create a whole new market in itself. It is the first time I’ve seen a location aware service, that if used correctly, has the potential to actually make money for Google as well as businesses savvy and aware enough to use it as a marketing platform.
Here is how 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Nearby@Google works (as I understand it):
It uses the mobile handset’s location to show what people nearby are posting/sharing (public posts only) from their mobile phones (and only those public posts on which they have chosen to include their location). While I am sure Google has covered it’s behind on the privacy front, this is pretty cool.
Here is how Nearby@Google can change the world:
* Absolutely real time (and mostly accurate) traffic information: (create an analyser that understands the bitching posted about traffic at that location or the person reading it can anyways read it himself to see how much traffic is there)
I’m sure there are more uses possible, but I’d like to hope some of these do happen.
* Local offers and discounts: If businesses signup on Google and publish their discounts/offers/sales/whatever using their mobile phones, this could turn into a massive marketplace in itself, only local instead of online. Not sure about other countries, but this would take off bigtime in India, where online buying is still a luxury and not a mindset. People would love to be able to walk over and see a merchandise and buy it if needed.
* Seeking medical help: Local hospitals can advertise the need for certain bloodtypes, etc. Not sure how this would work in a massive emergency, but in countries like India, bloodbanks aren’t always available at hand and this may be useful.
I’m sure there are more uses possible, but I’d like to hope some of these do happen.
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