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[Mockup] Google Notifications

Luka [PersonRank 10]

Thursday, October 30, 2008
15 years ago4,438 views

I have a problem with my Google experience today... And I think Google is aware of this problem...

With Web 2.0, information comes to you (whereas in web 1.0, you went to information). But the how can you access the "meta-information" ? What I mean is that with all that services, how can you know that somewhere something updated ?

Friendfeed is a wonderful way to follow friends and to get friend notifications, but for personal or private information, nothing comes to you. You have to check your mails via Gmail, open Google Reader to read your feeds, launch Google Calendar to have reminders, visit Google Docs to discover if a doc was updated by a friend, open Dopplr to know where your friends are...

But you will say : "You can have all this with email notifications...", That's true, but don't you think that email should be only used by "humans" ? Considering my experience, spam not included, the "bot"-mail / "Human"-mail ratio is often greater than 5 or 6... And I think it's boring. I want my mailbox filled with human written mails more than bot generated.

That's why I thought about a service that Google should develop : Google Notifications.

Here is a mockup, explanations to come...

http://www.zorgloob.com/images/notifications.png

Luka [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

The principle of Google Notifications would be the same as the notifications for Gmail, Calendar, Orkut in Google Talk (or Growl Notifications in MacOS X). You can compare Google Notifications to Google Reader for web 2.0 services (instead of feeds).

You can choose from a list of Google Services or Third party services the one that you want to suscribe. Gmail will display your mail (with a filter or for specific label); Google Talk notification will display changing status, or missed chat; Picasaweb will display new Albums from friends or relatives, comments; Jaiku will display new jaikus...

In the main page, you can see last unread notifications, all notifications, or add a tab to have a custom experience (for example, a tab for photo/videos – Picasa and Youtube- , a tab for messaging – Gmail, Talk, GrandCentral -, ...)
  
The search field allow to find old notifications (by date, service, contact). Each notification can be hidden by clicking the "x" on it, Notification appear without reloading the page with some "comet" ajax (twitter like) in real time, a color distinct them when they are fresh (< 5 minutes). Each notification has its own contextual actions as "read" or "share" to quickly do actions.

Jérôme Flipo [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

That's what I expect from the Jaïku acquisition. I think Google doesn't want to develop a product that would be "out-dated" with future releases. They've been saying they want to launch (amazing) to-do lists for Gmail and Calendar for a very long time:

On Oct 13 [2007], 3:44 am, Google Calendar Guide wrote:
> Hey everyone – thanks for the loud and very clear feedback on your
> desire for a to-do/task list feature. We're pretty passionate about to-
> do lists here as well, and we've got something in the works. Of
> course, we're working to add our special Google secret sauce to the
> to- do lists space (which can take some time to get right,) so we don't
> have something to announce just yet, but the entire team is listening
> to these threads closely.
> Please be patient – we'll have more to talk about soon.

Presently, they're pop-ups in Google Talk Labs Edition (pretty cool, but out of the browser...), Gmail, Calendar and Orkut.

Now, I expect notifications via the iGoogle chat, via a special add-on in Chrome, via Android, and above all via the OpenSocial API. I don't know enough about its specs, but I guess Google will be able to notify users of events and updates from all apps that are part of the iGoogle space (Docs, Youtube, Calendar, LinkedIn, GrandCentral (?), Blogger, MySpace, Yahoo, etc.). They could use Jaïku technologies to spread them on mobile, gadgets, PC, etc. And Remember they manage SMS notification massively via Calendar and Google SMS Channel India.

Will notifications come as a setting of iGoogle/chat, a stand-alone application, a new version of Jaïku* or anything else? I don't know, but I'm sure it's a crucial issue of their "app" strategy.

* BTW, receiving personal notifications on Jaïku could help make it mainstream and be the Twitter-killer feature (Twitter's motto is "What are you doing?" >> change it for "What are you doing and what should you do?").

Zim [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

I've been thinking about something like this too. It would be nice to have it. Something between this and the popups from gtalk labs edition...
It's a good idea!
It could be easier to follow everything from one place.

Luka [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

[put at-character here]Jérôme : I agree! I think the secret sauce for notification is centralization!

Once you have centralized all the notifications you can expect to receive, you can broadcast them to devices the way you want (SMS, IM, email, html, ...) the format you want (Text, RSS, XML, API, Desktop App, Web App...)

This would be better than present use of notification : SMS is available for Calendar but not for Gmail, RSS available for News but not for Youtube... Why ?

Jaiku may be indeed an interesting way to centralize everything. But there is a lot of work to do...

Jérôme Flipo [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

[put at-character here]Luka: I didn't get your second posts before replying to the first. I really like your idea.

However, IMHO, there remain two questions so that notifications can reach users at the right time and the right place: how to know (permanently) where the user's attention is, and what category of notification he's ready to accept in his current environment?

If I'm on the road, I probably want a notification on my mobile, if I'm on my desktop I may want it on Google Talk, if I'm on the Internet I may want it displayed in Chrome, if I'm working, I may want it in Google Docs...

Yet, I can receive a notification in many different places as Google doesn't know what I'm focus on (I hope it doesn't know!). I've have this trouble with chat , which pops up in Gmail, iGoogle and Google Talk. Moreover, I certainly don't want to be annoyed by futile alerts when collaborating on a professional work.

By offering users the possibility to personalize the way to receive notifications doesn't answer the two questions of user's attention and contextual notifications. Naturally, users will blame themselves for not settings their notifications properly, but the whole solution will annoy users often enough that they may be confused or even silent it. My experience with SMS notifications in Calendar – which I love – is interesting: there's very , but it's hard to make them relevant).

Google has succeeded mostly thanks to its contextual advertising system. Now, can Google find a "contextual notification system" that doesn't annoyed or confused me?

BTW, they may be some great monetization opportunities in permission-based advertising notification!

Jérôme Flipo [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

[put at-character here]Luka: Excuse-me, one more time I didn't get your last post before commenting the previous one!

Luka [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

[put at-character here]Jérôme : No problem, it would have been easier with notifications of my posts ;P

(OT : speaking english with a french person when you are french too is odd...)

Wouter Schut [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

They should implement the notification just like in android, in the top-bar.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

The screenshot's idea reminded me a bit of Friendfeed.

Also see the screenshot in...
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-06-29-n63.html

Socialstream 3.0 [PersonRank 1]

15 years ago #

IMO Google talk is best thing for notification but

if i m on public pc with no Google Talk then i think they can integrate it with Google Gear coz sooner or Later it will incorporated with all Google service and 3rd party site also using it .

then Gear will analyze if i m online or not if yes then where is my current focus Gcal or G Reader or Zoho (it use Gear) then it will pop up like Mozilla Aurora (future browser) Type . check the Video on 0:50 -1:20 min

HD version : http://vimeo.com/1450211?pg=embed&sec=1450211&hd=1

  
Low Quality : http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=AYMA5W8b1zY

http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2008/08/04/aurora-concept-video-part-1/
   and lastly send me sms notification only when i m not log on any google a/c

ps. forgive me if i mistake on grammar and spelling as English is my 2nd language

Jérôme Flipo [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Seems like none of us are English native speakers in this thread. Google is killing diversity...

socialstream 3.0 [PersonRank 1]

15 years ago #

LOL

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