Baidu doesn't differntiate between paid advertisments and organic results within it's search results. Baidu has also been shunned for the linking to pirated MP3s. Baidu however claims that even though these allagations may be true (or at least partly) the Chinese user base should be the one who decides who's results are truly better. Baidu's stock price seems to also whisper that the latter is correct. And as they say, money talks.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Hey, if Baidu's so great, why doesn't it have an English version?
As yet another day where Baidu's stock price goes up passes it leaves you to wonder(Baidu trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol BIDU)how a company that has no service in English ,spoken in the US, the world's second largest internet user, be so successful? Well answers to that question will be varied but it likely has something to do with the fact that Baidu is one of the few search engines that has more users in a designated country than the titan of search, Google. When it comes to search, China is a very difficult market to sell to. China's Communist government will actually go as far as to censor the internet! They will filter out sites that do not represent the government in a positive way or even display content from sites that do not represent the government well. This is done through a system that those familiar with this issue refer to as "The Great Firewall of China". Obviously a more local company which knew the culture and the government's likely behaviors better would have an edge. Baidu also has a few fingers on the pulse of China's culture. Fingers which an American company, such as Google, can't successfully replicate. However like a political candidate, Google likes to attempt to harm Baidu's reputation. It's claims include that
Baidu doesn't differntiate between paid advertisments and organic results within it's search results. Baidu has also been shunned for the linking to pirated MP3s. Baidu however claims that even though these allagations may be true (or at least partly) the Chinese user base should be the one who decides who's results are truly better. Baidu's stock price seems to also whisper that the latter is correct. And as they say, money talks.
Baidu doesn't differntiate between paid advertisments and organic results within it's search results. Baidu has also been shunned for the linking to pirated MP3s. Baidu however claims that even though these allagations may be true (or at least partly) the Chinese user base should be the one who decides who's results are truly better. Baidu's stock price seems to also whisper that the latter is correct. And as they say, money talks.
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