“... it's my fault that Google shut down Google Reader”

https://twitter.com/nickbaum/status/775176446318776325

by rtpg • 10 years ago

70 36 10 years ago

credo• 10 years ago

These tweets are great marketing for his new company Storyworth and I mean that seriously :)

No one (well, almost no one) would have known who this guy was and that a company called Storyworth existed, but now a lot more people will know about it and how the founder is older and wiser now compared to when he was at Google :)

WKPlus• 10 years ago

Can't agree more.

justin662• 10 years ago

Not especially, in my opinion. In light of his comments to the effect that Reader was a failure because it didn't achieve 100M users, I'm not even remotely interested in whatever Storyworth is.

snowwrestler• 10 years ago

Why? That's not a number he invented, he's saying that that 100m is the user number that would have convinced Google execs to continue funding Reader.

The real question--unaddressed in these tweets--is why Google insisted on such a large user base to keep a project going.

eachro• 10 years ago

But now you have heard of Storyworth and that's the whole point.

earbitscom• 10 years ago

I've actually been a Storyworth user for quite some time and it's a slick service. It has really helped me connect with my grandmother.

trvrprkr• 10 years ago

I wonder how many other people in the hierarchy of that product (or really, any other that met a similar fate) would cast the blame on themselves. Especially with the legacy that Google Reader has left.

That said, I wonder the details of why it was discontinued (the gritty details available to the final decision makers) and whether those same people who blame themselves today might still have decided to discontinue it had they had the total picture.

worldburger• 10 years ago

Am I the only one who's becoming more tuned into these thinly veiled self-promotion tweets/comments/stories which are actually about something else?

I can't speak to this guy's motivations, but my tuned-up sensitivity to marketing/advertising has my radar going off.

hkmurakami2• 10 years ago

I've noticed them more and more as well, but I am not sure if it's because (a) there are more self promoters now, (b) there is more reason than ever to self promote -- gold rush!, or (c) I myself am more sensitive to it now.

That being said, good move by said person for content marketing.

sosuke• 10 years ago

You aren't alone. The goal for marketing is to get eyeballs and direct self-promotion is ignored and frowned upon. So you pick whatever you can that will get some attention, even if it is pointing out a failure or flaw (quite popular) and then be sure to put an enormous shout out to your product on the same page.

At least I get a nifty anecdote to go along with the self promotion.

amitutk• 10 years ago

There is a term for this: Backdoor bragging. Source: Jenna Maroney in 30 Rock.

SkyMarshal• 10 years ago

“... it's my fault that Google shut down Google Reader”

Related Stories