Henry Farrell thinks “The New Gmail Sucks” and doesn’t care who knows it.
Every time someone complains about Google, a commenter will inevitably riff that, “If you’re not paying for something, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.” But many of us are actually paying for premium versions of Google and other online services available for free. In the case of Google, I’m paying for additional storage on two accounts. It doesn’t seem to matter, though, in that Google has no real customer service to speak of.
But it’s not just the Google suite that has recently annoyed its most loyal users by inexplicable changes to the interfaces and usability of the products. I don’t recall a change to Facebook, Twitter, or any other major online service that I use that has been widely liked. Or, at least, those who like the changes are much less vocal than those who hate them.
Facebook, in particular, seems to change the user experience every couple of months just for the hell of it.
