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Google Users more Wealthy, Net Savvy
evil_breeds writes "A study by S.G. Cowen & Co. says that Google users tend to be richer and have more Internet experience than users of the other search engines, including Yahoo!, AOL, and Microsoft's search, according to an article on Infoworld."
AOL and MS's Search are places you're directed to by your OS or ISP. Google is independent, so going there requires a bit more independent thought.
Actually, Yahoo! is also independent, so apparently there's a hole in my theory. Can anyone explain why Yahoo! users are less intelligent than Google users? Has it something to do with that exclamation mark?
I suppose you have some citations for this claim? I'd buy that Mac users are on the average wealthier (Macs are more expensive) but as someone who has supported both PC and Mac users in a wide variety of circumstances, I don't see much difference between the two in regard to "net savvy".
that Goooooogle users actually know what they are looking for when they search on the Internet, and so use Goooogle, and people that don't know what they are looking for are happy with whatever Yahoo! and others dish up?
I know I use Gooooogle because I'm able to use it to find what I want to find, and normally in the first page. This is not so with other search engines. I may be biased by personal taste, but that seems to show some difference that might explain the headline?
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Today, Google seems to be going in the other direction. Offering more services, integrating more advertising.
Just the past 6 months, I have noticed a new form of advertising by Google. In the past, there would be the advertising on the right of the page, and the advertising on top in the blue or green box. But now they sneak in 3 or 4 searches on the first page mixed in with the regular searches as advertising. Google is tempted to make money, and it will burn thier support.
Who knows, maybe someone else will start a search engine. Google came around at a time when Yahoo and Excite dominated, but Google made a product easier to use. I remember my first time using Google... I was at Yahoo to search for something when someone said "Why don't you try google, check it out". I was hooked.
The past few months I have been using Yahoo more for a few reasons. Maybe reason #1 is I got tired of Google having so many websites listed so high that was spam.
The other thing which turned me off to Google was I started a website and wanted to add it to the listings. Google would not add my listings for six months. And mine is NOT spam. Why is spam listed so high, but legitimate websites are not?
...while I put my surprised face on.
Joe Average goes to his local Best Buy, Circuit City, or other mega-store and buys the PC that the pimply sales dweeb recommends. He doesn't know a Gigahertz from a megabyte. He unpacks his PC, plugs it in, answers yes to every question the computer recommends he answer yes to. He opens the browser and it points to MSN. His twelve year old daughter's friend uses Yahoo messenger, and therefore so does she.
Is anyone surprised that the technically non-savy and generally lesser educated segements of the populous don't know what's out there and pretty much just take what's fed to them? Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of well educated and afluent people who don't have a clue either.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
Ah, i think it's just that people who are smarter can figure out how *not* to use the default msn search in ie
This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
AOL, MSN and Yahoo (via relationship with SBC) are all dialup providers. It's not surprising their portals are visited more often by the, erm, underprivileged.
Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
Oh, you mean that *nix distro with an AWESOME GUI? Yeah I use it. I also use google the most often because it looks better in Lynx.
On a more serious note: Some people don't use google? Even the semi-computer illerteate people I know use google and nothing else. It's like second nature to most everyone, I thought.
"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm." - S. G. Colette
http://sbc.yahoo.com/
The whole "less savvy" thing appears to me to be due to marketing to less savvy people.
That survey is 3 and a half years old and identifies the reason that mac users (at that time) were more net savvy as due to the fact that half of them had been online for at least five years. Three+ years is plenty of time for that factor to swing in a different direction.
SG Cowen is a wall street investment bank. Their analysts get paid to do research on publicly traded companies.
They may have a position in google stock in which case they would try to find information to suggest that the stock should be priced higher. They may do investment banking business with google which introduces a conflict of interest. By law (regulation full-disclosure), the analyst needs to disclose such positions or investment banking relationships if they exist.
Their clients may have positions in google stock or be interested in buying or selling google. They pay the analysts for their reports. Accurate analysts develop good reputations and draw more business to the bank.
Well, I know that this is a huge surprise for everyone. *rolls eyes* Keep in mind that people who aren't netsavvy have no idea how the internet works at all (big shock!). I've seen many people who open up a browser, get sent to MSNs or AOLs page or wherever the latest hijacked homepage is, then type the address that you give them into the search bar there. They don't realize there's a difference between an address bar and a search field on a page. Every time this happens, one more hit for MSN, Yahoo, AOL, etc. Only people who go out of their way to get to Google (setting it as a homepage, installing Firefox, etc) use it. By these actions alone, it shows that they're more netsavvy. Can't say anything about the affluence part though...
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
Oddly enough a lot of people I know insist on using Yahoo. They admit that google has a cleaner interface and better results but they still use yahoo.
It's a bit like those people that can't manage to switch to Firefox. They tried it, saw that it worked just as well or better than IE, had better features, and still used IE.
I've given up on figuring them out. It must be something like religion, it doesn't make any logical sense.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
I have always believed these kind of people think IE is more "official" or something (installing "that other program" won't do, even though they install every mini-"game" that comes in cereal boxes), and because Yahoo! and MSN smack them 15 of their other services in the ir front page they use nothing else (They use either (MSN || Yahoo!) Messenger ONLY, etc.
They still probably have the 15 shortcuts to AOL, MSN, Compuserve, etc. in their 50 shortcut 800x600 desktop.
Google is the epitome of good desing, unobtrusive on the outside but yet full of substance.