Google: Greed Killing the Golden Goose

2025-05-16 20:59:10

scott@loves.tech

Scott M. Stolz wrote the following post Fri, 16 May 2025 18:53:08 +0200

I remember when Google Ads limited websites to three ads per page. That was tolerable for most users, and did not distract from the content. But then they made a huge change, and their default mode (which they wanted you to use) would automatically place dozens of ads or more throughout your content. And if your website had infinite scroll, there were infinite ads.

This change, plus the realization that Google was tracking you and building a profile, lead to the the popularity of ad blockers.

The popularity of ad blockers reduced revenue to websites, including news outlets. Content websites started putting up paywalls and selling premium content instead of giving it away for free.

Google is basically killing the very thing that makes them money and it is affecting the entire internet. A perfect example of greed killing the golden goose.

2025-05-16 21:12:26

phani00 (hubzilla)

phani002242@hub.phanisvara.com

@Scott M. Stolz in one word: enshitification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification

2025-05-17 10:07:16

Scott M. Stolz

scott@loves.tech

This is one of the many reasons why I think decentralized social media, nomadic identity, and federated single sign on are the answer.

One of the causes of enshitification is that the platforms are between two competing interests, and are themselves a third competing interest. Typically, business, consumers, and the owners of the social media network.

Decentralized social media solves this by allowing consumers and businesses to be on their own websites, or a provider of their choice. No one in the middle controlling everything, and providers have to compete with each other.

Another cause of enshitification is monopolies and lock in. They can treat you like crap because they know that you need them. And even if you can download your data, you can't transfer it anywhere.

Decentralized social media, nomadic identity, and federated single sign on solve this by giving people a choice of where their account is. They can self-host or choose a provider, and then move if they don't like how they are being treated.

I know a lot of people loath the idea of commercial entities coming to decentralized social media, but it would prevent entification, and give users the choice to follow or block commercial websites. The power would be transferred back to the people (users, consumers, members, etc.), which is where it should be.