This is every public relations professional’s greatest nightmare I think – a launch that goes wrong. The worst time to fall is when all eyes are on you.
Cuil was touted to be a Google killer in the search world, which are really enormous shoes to fill, as anyone sane will think. Unfortunately Cuil overpromised and underdelivered, and now it’s making waves on the web for all the wrong reasons.
The worst parts of a web launch?
No. 1 – Your mistakes are told to the world, via multiple outlets, almost immediately. Check out the scathing reviews of Cuil’s launch here.
No.2 – Data persistency (in techie terms) or legacy (in layman terms). Reviews, both good and bad, stay on for a long time on the web, making it hard for people to forget your mistakes.
It’s not true that Cuil is doomed forever, and I think many people out there are secretly rooting for an underdog to overtake Google’s dominance. But I think Cuil has some PR issues it needs to work on right now, to build trust in its service hereon.
