Open Letter to Google: You’re Wasting Your Time, and Ours

Dear Google,

I took the cover picture at a grocery store out of a delusional sense of pride. How wonderful, I thought, that Mexican food would have such a proud sense of self.

I feel the same about you, dear Google. Not the pride, the delusion.

I’m writing this because I hate to see folks waste time, and your .Soy thing is causing a huge time suck. We could be doing better things. You could have thought this out a little better, and the Latinos who are arguing with you about it could be on to other things. So I’ll be brief.

Your .Soy thing is not the big deal you think it is, neither is it the big deal that some Latinos in a corner of the Interwebs think it is. Oh, there’s arguing going on about .Soy; about whether it’s a paternalistic attempt to label Latinos, or whether it’s a typical corporate condescension. But don’t mistake that for attention. We’re familia, so it’s a family spat – it’s best for you to keep away from it. On the other hand, you can’t run from what you did. You willingly immersed yourself among Latinos. I’ll take for granted that you consulted with a handful of experts in one of those conference rooms next to one of your famous ping-pong tables or such. And based on that you conjured the .Soy.

It seems to me that whoever was in that room sold you on the idea of a Latino community in a box, and all you needed to do was package the box – and lets face it, you’re pretty good at packaging stuff. So .Soy was the best answer to your “how do we attract more Latinos?” question. But really, it’s not. And this whole thing, the .Soy, and the arguing, is boring.

I’ll cut to the chase. Latinos are not what you think we are. If you would have listened to the conversations on the Web you would have figured that out. A Latino who got to the U.S.last week is not the same as one whose family has been here for generations. A Latino who immigrated 30 years ago does not have the same world view as one who was raised by parents who endured discrimination in the 1940’s and 1950’s. A Puerto Rican whose parents brought them here from the island doesn’t see things the same way as a Mexican-American whose father got here as a bracero. I could go on and on.

Do yourself a favor, don’t fall into the corporate idea that thinks Latinos can be piled in a room where they can be measured and sold to. You’d be better served if you rely on what you already know: communities on the Internet are self-selecting. Don’t expect Latinos to act any different. We don’t need for you to provide a special dot-anything. We can figure out where to go and where to gather on the Web all by ourselves.

You would know that if you had a few more Latinos in your midst. If you had more Latinos working at Google Inc. they would have told you that .Soy was a waste of time and that giving Latinos that option would be seen as pandering by some.

There’s your answer, by the way. If you want to attract more Latinos, hire more Latinos.  I can’t say it any simpler than that. Neither can I waste any more time explaining something that you’re big enough and rich enough to have figured out by yourself. Like I said, this whole thing is kinda boring, and in the end Latinos will either use your little .Soy, or not. It’s really not worth more energy than that.

Oh, they soy chorizo? I think it would be a hit in your little Google coffee shops.

VL

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