Search quality complaints and imaginary repair
Control in articulations of Google Search
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12656381 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Daniel Griffin (0000-0002-1547-3615, University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author), Emma Lurie (0000-0003-0909-0500, Stanford University) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 9 |
| Pages | 5554-5572 |
| Publication date | 2022-11-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Media & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14614448221136505 |
| OpenAlex | W4309865730 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 43 |
In early 2017, a journalist and search engine expert wrote about “Google’s biggest ever search quality crisis.” Months later, Google hired him as the first Google “Search Liaison” (GSL). By October 2021, when someone posted to Twitter a screenshot of misleading Google Search results for “had a seizure now what,” users tagged the Twitter account of the GSL in reply. The GSL frequently publicly interacts with people who complain about Google Search on Twitter. This article asks: what functions does the GSL serve for Google? We code and analyze 6 months of GSL responses to complaints on Twitter. We find that the three functions of the GSL are: (1) to naturalize the logic undergirding Google Search by defending how it works, (2) perform repair in responses to complaints, and (3) boundary drawing to control critique. This advances our understanding of how dominant technology companies respond to critiques and resist counter-imaginaries
Boundary (topology · Control (management · Epistemology · Internet privacy · Quality (philosophy · Search engine · Search engine optimization · Social media · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Mathematics · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Philosophy · Privacy, Security, and Data Protection · Artificial Intelligence
Shaping technology/building society
The Propagandists' Playbook
Spam
The Googlization of Everything
Algorithms of Oppression
Rethinking Repair
The Relevance of Algorithms
Better, Nicer, Clearer, Fairer
The global landscape of AI ethics guidelines
Beyond “Points of Control”
Algorithmically recognizable
“Shadowbanning is not a thing”
Sorting Things Out
Exit, Voice, and Loyalty
“Google Told Me So!” On the Bent Testimony of Search Engine Algorithms
Even When You Are a Solution You Are a Problem
The labor of search engine evaluation
Between coordination and regulation
Future imaginaries in the making and governing of digital technology
Internet governance as joint effort
Hackers and the contested ontology of cyberspace
In Google We Trust
Is Relevance Relevant? Market, Science, and War
Rethinking gaming
Shaping the Web
More than K-pop fans
Invisible Search and Online Search Engines
Search algorithms, hidden labour and information control
Technological Dramas
Professional Vision
Participant' Perceptions of Twitter Research Ethics
The Society of Algorithms
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |