Google acquires TalkBin (YC W11)

Mobile's going to be an increasingly interesting strategy with local businesses. When these owners and workers are running their business, they're not running into the back room to check computers or laptops or websites - but they do have their phones and can often step aside to respond to a quick SMS. I imagine Talkbin has caught on to this - lots of other startups don't seem to - and this really feels like a product where everyone benefits in the end.

It's a great idea. A complaining customer can probably get hold of a manager quicker this way than by causing ruckus and looking like an idiot.

Lots of interesting possibilities like integrating testimonials to a tv screen or social media sites.

Small nitpick..I think you meant alley instead of ally.

SHLD == Sears. The ticker symbol is ambiguous to the untrained eye, and saved you maybe one keystroke.

Email me and I'll give away all my secrets. :)

While I'm sure everyone here is happy for them (and you, their backers), I think it's also natural to be inquisitive as to the nature of the acquisition. alain94040's post might have benefited from a more curious and less categorical tone, but I don't think it was fundamentally 'nasty' either, as it's common knowledge that many products do not really continue to exist once in Google.

Of the YC companies that have gone to Google, what were their products, and those products' fates inside Google? (Not a rhetorical question, the subject got me interested; maybe I'm wrong in my 'common knowledge'). Edit: something else interesting to look at, utilizing your own data, might be the acquisition price vs the product's fate.

In any event, it's good news, and the team deserve congratulations.

I'd rather be acquired for my personality than for my product, actually. That's what you do too, right? You always say that you'll fund the team, not the product.

I was trying to show how double-speak works. I stand by my analysis of both parties' announcements. Read them again for yourself and tell me they are not phrased carefully:

“We’re thrilled to welcome the TalkBin _team_ to Google. They’ve built a cool way for customers to engage with local businesses, and we think _they_’ll be a great fit for our mobile and local _teams_.”

When we started building TalkBin in 2010, we set out to find a better way for consumers to connect with their local businesses in a more personal way. While we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, we believe Google’s awesome mobile and local _teams_ combined with their consumer reach will help us make our bigger goals a reality.

To be clear, when I said the product was dead, I meant the code base. Its ideas and concepts will now be incorporated into the larger Google team.

Yeah... your comment clarified this for me. "Reviews" are intended for other (potential) customers. "Feedback" is intended for the business itself. Prior to TalkBin, customers left reviews on Yelp/Foursquare/etc and hoped the business itself looked at it once in awhile. TalkBin makes the feedback process more direct.

There's a back-end to Yelp, Groupon and all of the "pre-sale aid" models out there. Foursquare and their cohorts move it forward in time a bit to reflect "I'm here," or sellING.

For a pedestrian example, think of the times you've called your cellphone or power company and the recording on the phone tells you to have the helper send you to a satisfaction survey. Now transpose that to proximity services: you leave a restaurant and your phone pops up, "Thanks for visiting! Care to tell us how we did?" ...which is then popped-up to the manager. Googlers are smarter than me, so I'm sure they have more nuanced and lubricative plans, but you get the idea.

Yelp deals with what you're planning or where you've been, bracketing your experience, and the coupon services act as nudges against your retail future. 'Long as you keep checking your phone, that is. The pot of gold I feel is to reflect where the user will actually go (determination). This is where recommendation engines become useful: to (try to) tell the user where they're going to go. "Rhizome, there's a Taco Bell on the next block. I KNOW YOU LOVE TACO BELL"

The user's time and attention is getting pinched at all times for these services to pull information about where the user is in the retail thought process, and maybe Yelp will have their reactionary review model knocked from under them when recording the reaction takes much less effort on the user's part. Then again, maybe this is all cynical and evil on my part. I don't know. ;)