Lively.com? What the F**k Is Google Thinking?

July 8, 2008

Remember Orkut? The social network might be popular in Brazil, but it is a tiny fish when compared to Myspace or Facebook.

Now we have Lively, a new virtual reality site which, as Andy Beal puts it, will be the the Orkut to Second Life.

My question? WHY?

As Google posts in their blog,

A while ago, I looked around the social web and wished that it could be less static. Sure, you can leave a comment on a blog or write a text blurb on your social networking profile. But what if you want to express yourself in a more fun way, with 3D graphics and real-time avatar interactions?

This is a 20% time project.

My opinion is that virtual reality is destined for a small niche of the Internet. It is rather 2006, actually. And even if I am wrong on that point, one overriding point remains: Isn’t Google supposed to be a search company?

There are so many other truly useful things Google could be working on and releasing. I need a to-do list application, not a cartoon character.

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  • Hilary Rogers
    Just went to a conference about Human Resource issues, and some people use virtual worlds to recruit staff and to communicate with colleagues - anyone done this before?
    All seems a bit much....
  • David, innovation is not a linear process. After all Nokia started to make cell phones because rubber shoes were not selling that well. Looking at it from another point of view - Google is not a search, it is advertisement company (most of revenue is ad generated) and virtual spaces are great for advertising. Imagine how many ads could you show daily if your blog had a virtual room attached, where I could meet 'in person' your other readers.
  • Gaetano Caruana
    "My opinion is that virtual reality is destined for a small niche of the Internet."

    hmmm not necessarily - kids and teens are getting used to these virtual reality games - hence they expect that socialising/ chatting/ meeting new people should go in that direction too..
  • Jim
    Actually, you're so right!
    But on the other hand Google has to stay on the ball as "it" wants to keep the title "God Of Internet"... I mean it!

    It doesn't matter if we're talking about a video hosting site, a rss feed aggregator, a social platform or an ad platform (and yes, G will eat Y!), it's all about the traffic, gaining power and monetizing...

    "It's All About Results™"
  • agree
    i fully agree.
  • Nightmisterio
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