Comment by dang
8 years ago
This comment and a few of your others have crossed into flamewar, which is the opposite of what we want here, so please don't do that.
As for your main point, I don't see a good solution. No one has heard of Verily. If we /s/Google/Alphabet/ in the title, that feels a bit like weasling to me. Everybody knows this company as Google. On the other hand, if we leave Google in the title, we get irrelevant (and worse) comments about search engines and ads.
Hey - I realize that comment was a little over the top, not sure what others you're referring to, though. My irritation got the best of me.
Regarding your other point, I think the good solution is to accurately address the topic/subject, even if that means some people don't recognize the connection. If the headline was referencing Verily, instead of Google, then a good number of people would learn about Verily, right? Pandering to the uninformed doesn't help anyone, except in this case, the publisher, which was clearly going for clickbait.
I really don't think it's a good idea to favor inaccurate information over writing a few extra sentences (maybe just one?) in the article.
As a better alternative: "Verily Has a Plan to Fight Mosquitos in California"
Then in the article, something like "Verily, a subsidiary of Alphabet, Google's parent company, ..."
Boom, no false info, people learn who Verily is, and the world is better off for not leaning into clickbait and outrage-based journalism.