Internet a Cesspool Says Google

October 9, 2008

Wired Magazine’s “Google’s CEO Calls Internet a Cesspool, Thinks Brands Are the Solution” by Meghan Keane is an interesting read here. For me, the most significant comment was:

Schmidt was trying to quell fears that Google is trying to take over the role of publishers and advertisers online, saying: “We don’t do content. You all create content. It’s a natural partnership.”

I chuckled. A year ago, maybe 18 months, I wrote a report for a third tier consulting firm. The report provided a summary of Google’s publishing technology. You may have heard about Knol. That’s a grassroots publishing and knowledge base combo from the GOOG. Oh, there are examples of Google encouraging certain YouTube.com video creators to do more videos. Both of these are examples of publishing, and I have not mentioned Blogger.com. Google can, with the flip of a bit, do more content quickly. I write studies. Google could take one of my new reports, advertise it, and offer me a piece of the revenue. I would take the deal in a heartbeat. A more popular writer might take the deal even faster. The reason? Google’s got marketing clout. Publishers are losing theirs.

What struck me is that Google is a brand. If the Internet is a cesspool, and a brand is important, could I conclude that Google wants to become the Internet? Let me answer this question. “Yes.” In my two Google reports for the late and lamented “we play bridge” outfit Bear Stearns, I reported about Google innovations that point to Google’s becoming the Internet. I can’t recycle that information here. The firm may be dead, but the lawyers live on.

I may be an addled goose, but the GOOG is on the path to become the Internet. The question is, “Can Google make progress toward such an outcome?” It’s too soon to tell if Googzilla can clean up the cesspool. The company has the technology to slap a digital reverse osmosis system on the bits flowing through the Googleplex.

Stephen Arnold, October 9, 2008

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Cloud computing, Google, News, Technology

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.