> "Even if I used Google, it wouldn't be hard to just go enter the same searches on Bing or DuckDuckGo and find web sites there instead."
Okay, go try that and compare the results.
It's not about overlapping, it's about it being equivalent. Bing and DuckDuckGo are not equivalent to Google. They are inferior products. That may change (I hope it does) but for now that is how it is.
You could make the same counter-argument about Facebook and Twitter. If you really think they're interchangeable, that just tells me that you don't value the things that many of their users do.
Edit: Downvoted your original comment by accident, and there's no undo button. Sorry. :( Maybe someone else reading this can fix that?
> You could make the same counter-argument about Facebook and Twitter. If you really think they're interchangeable, that just tells me that you don't value the things that many of their users do.
I don't think you could. Facebook doesn't offer an inferior product to Twitter, it offers products that are effectively the same, and come packaged with other products.
I really don't think many people value the 140-character limit, which is the only core difference between Twitter and Facebook feeds.
I can totally identify with the criticism that I don't value the same things as Twitter/Facebook users (I don't have accounts on either service). But I think I'm capable of empathizing with them and extrapolating what they value from each product.
Okay, go try that and compare the results.
It's not about overlapping, it's about it being equivalent. Bing and DuckDuckGo are not equivalent to Google. They are inferior products. That may change (I hope it does) but for now that is how it is.