The world according to Google

In some ways reading the book What Would Google Do? was the perfect accompaniment to my departure from San Francisco last week. It sets out to describe the enormous changes that our near-on instinctive use of the web have already heralded, and more importantly, where it points to the future. All with a central conceit around the eponymous creators of the web’s first true superpower – and chief resider in Silicon Valley, the outskirts of San Francisco.

Blogger Jeff Jarvis, who resides in cyberspace at Buzz Machine but decides to deliver his message in 20th century print, begins by explaining the his analysis of the Google phenomenon, before tackling the question in the title. Namely if Google ruled the world (not a ridiulous notion if you are working in the media right now) how would it change the thinking and structure behind what individuals, companies, public authorities or governments do? In his chatty, snappy, wise-cracking way Jarvis skips through a guide to living, working and playing, Google-style. And for at least the duration of a most enjoyable read you’re convinced.

Through this work and his subsequent broadcasts and writings Jarvis has now become high priest of a new mantra which he has long preached for the media but he argues should spread like wildfire across pretty much any pursuit we do. His 10 Google Commandments? Thou shalt link, be public, open free and collaborate. Thou Shalt not: be afraid to fail, control, be evil, hesitate or overcomplicate. Sermon over.

Of course the world is not quite as simple as the one Jarvis describes. Yet there is enough of his central argument – that the way Google approaches a problem, thinks through challenges, experiments, opens itself (to a large degree) to its users is truly revolutionary and is a blueprint for how we need to act – to ponder seriously.

For people like myself there are sober lessons to be had, made all the more poignant by the current prospects for both newspapers and for magazine (for those wanting to indulge in a bit of schadenfreude try the Private Fraser Doomed Magazines blog which charts UK magazine closures). As he points out Google’s impact has been felt more immediately and painful in the sector as it’s effectively turned content distribution on its head: gone are the days of the publisher or broadcaster as distributor. Hello to the world of free content and the link. Just a painfully it has undermind much of what a journalist thought he or she was: one separated from the audience, standing aloof, amassing and disseminating content one-way from the page to the reader.

Here’s a snapshot of Jarvis’ vision for “Paper 2.)”:

It will be more of a network with a smaller staff of reporters and editors still providing essential news and recouping value for that. Paper 2.0 will work with and support collections of bloggers, entrepreneurs, citizens and communities that gather and share news.

Jarvis remains upbeat in discussing this and nearly all other fields (barring a few – estate agents receive an unsurprisingly tough time). He thinks that newspapers and media sources could “be bigger than papers have been in years, reaching deeper into communities, having more of an impact, and adding more value”. But they must “act small but think big and see the world differently”.

So there’s the gauntlet set down for my trade. Jarvis only offers an aside when it comes to construction, but his Google principles have sparked some thoughts in my head as to where the industry needs to head to take on board the rise of the search engine-cum-media-magnet. More on that in a future post.

And Jarvis’ book could not have come out at a better time – in the midst of a firestorm where newspaper publishers are attacking Google for feeding off its content. Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thompson (effectively the voice of Rupert Murdoch) called the such aggregators as “parasites or tech tapeworms in the intestines of the internet”. This has set Jarvis off – on his blog he rails against such rhetoric as protectionist and ridiculous. And I think he’s right. Bleating from publishers about the rise of Google is akin to medieval scribes complaining about the invention of the printing press. The genie is out of the bottle. The web is here and however much we think we can control it or stop the fundamental structural change it is going to bring to our world, it’s inevitable. To quote the current US president change has come.

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