John Battelle's Searchblog

Somebody at Google must be out of his/her mind. They didn't really say that, did they? I can't wait for the backlash!

I may be obtuse, but I can't figure if Google is deliberately smacking down Yahoo with the brazen title (Do You Google?) which is a rip off of a ten-year Yahoo marketing campaign (Do You Yahoo?). If so, that is obnoxious and clever.

If not, they look really ignorant.

Scott you didn't have to wait long. Doesn't seem all that big of a deal to me, but boy are people pissed! Nothing like acting arrogant when you are on top I guess.

I agree... they have been acting arrogant lately, it's very sad as I have always admired Google for their innovation and for being different... I guess everyones good at being different until they get "into power" or reach the top...

they have habit of telling the users what the users want. it's a bad habit.

I was the creative director for Yahoo! from 1996-2000, where I was responsible for the brand guidelines for Yahoo!. As part of those guidelines, I outlined the syntax for the word "Yahoo!": how it should be used in a sentence as a verb, noun, etc. It makes me chuckle to see Google's blog not only riff on our tagline, but write a very similar syntax for "google" to what I did for Yahoo!. Ah, it takes me back! I suppose imitation *is* the sincerest form of flattery, even if it's 10 years later. ;-)

"they have been acting arrogant lately"

lately?

Didn't this debate make the rounds already? A xooglers post from July (3.5 months ago) talks about this exact same issue.

The funny thing is, a few weeks ago I overheard a fairly senior Google exec say, in response to a question, "Google me, and you'll find it on my homepage".

Also, if you listen to this IT Conversations presentation from late July (after the initial furor, in which Google's lawyers sent out trademark protection letters to the dictionaries), you will hear another Google employee also use Google as a verb.

When Googlers themselves actively "google" things, it makes this post from the official Google blog that much sillier.

I googled this story on Yahoo, then I googled it on MSN, and I couldn't find more stories related to it. In writing the above line I have been "very, very bad" and no doubt upset scores of Google attorneys . . .

Do you Jello? Come on, the idea that your product has affected the population is amazing.

Google - This isn't the playground, you are important, but don't turn people off to you by staying on the subject of people using your name incorrectly. It is a fad, don't go down with it.

If you have a first or last name that rhymes with something negative, you know what I am talking about. If you were rich, are you going to sue them? Come on!

Whats the legal opionion on this? It google allowed to stop "normal" persons from using the word google as verb ?

John, show some courage here, and submit a post saying "you Googled something on Yahoo." I'd be very curious on how the Google-plex would reply. Just even for the fun of it . . . what's the worse that could happen?

Well, it all depends on the users how they use the word in the long run. There are many countries for example where the word 'Colgate' is synonymous with Toothpaste. So some customers may ask for Aquafresh Colgate at a shop !

How would Google react if Yahoo comes up with - 'Yahooing on Google'?