{"id":308,"date":"2009-01-21T21:37:24","date_gmt":"2009-01-22T05:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostlynf.wordpress.com\/?p=308"},"modified":"2009-01-21T21:37:24","modified_gmt":"2009-01-22T05:37:24","slug":"what-would-google-do-jeff-jarvis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stevecampion.com\/MostlyNF\/?p=308","title":{"rendered":"What Would Google Do? (Jeff Jarvis)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s difficult to remember the Internet before Google.\u00a0 In just over ten years, the little company begun in a Menlo Park, California garage has grown into a globally-known giant.\u00a0 Its name has become a common verb.\u00a0 Its search engine is the world’s primary link to exploring the Web.\u00a0 Some of its freely-shared tools have replaced resources that seemed indispensable a short time ago, and its other applications may be destined to do the same: Google Maps, Google Earth, Google documents, Chrome, G-Mail, Google Scholar, Picasa, and on and on.\u00a0 Google tools are certainly part of my <\/em>daily life.<\/p>\n

\"google\"What made Google an unrivaled success in such a short time?\u00a0 How can other companies survive in a Google world?\u00a0 Media writer and blogger Jeff Jarvis<\/a> thinks the best way to adapt to this tumultuous new world is to emulate the giant.\u00a0 In whichever industry, business, or organization you might be involved, Jarvis suggests you ask yourself the same question: “What would Google do?\u00a0 How might Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin approach your circumstance?<\/p>\n

In What Would Google Do?<\/strong><\/em> [LibraryThing <\/a>\/ WorldCat<\/a>], Jarvis presents his case in two parts.\u00a0 In the first half of the book, he describes the Google model as a means of explaining its success.\u00a0 Google seeks simplicity and effective results.\u00a0 It gives its products away, knowing well-used tools will keep people coming back for more.\u00a0 In many ways, Google offers itself as a platform for other people’s creativity, realizing that people prefer controlling, manipulating, and tweaking the tools they use.\u00a0 Its corporate culture has been cited as a model for nurturing ideas, research (backed up by arguably the best data crunching on earth), and deployment.\u00a0 Even Google’s contradictions (e.g., a corporate giant with a start-up’s metality, tight-lipped projects with a freeware face) add to its success.\u00a0 [Short mention is given to Google’s selective censorship in some countries despite it’s claimed support for freedom of information, too.]<\/p>\n

With the Google approach described in the first half, Jarvis runs down a checklist of specific industries in the second half.\u00a0 He applies the Google philosophy to each.\u00a0 It’s harsh at times, but the approach seems appropriate in the competitive business world.\u00a0 I found it intriguing, for example, each time he urged companies to step back and ask themselves what business they are in.\u00a0 Take newspapers.\u00a0 Are they in business to sell newspapers?\u00a0 Seems obvious, right?\u00a0 Are they stuck with newspaper<\/em> or might they be in business to sell news — regardless the medium?\u00a0 Perhaps they do best selling advertisements?\u00a0 How can they best supply an audience to their advertisers?\u00a0 Another example: airlines.\u00a0 Do airlines fly airplanes … or move people?\u00a0 Companies should take a hard look at their defining product focus its resources there.\u00a0 If serving people is crucial to its bottom line, then it jolly well better offer quality customer service.<\/p>\n

Jarvis also suggested being open to change and, if necessary, radical <\/em>change.\u00a0 If a company’s future lies in completely ripping apart and restructuring its product, it must do so.\u00a0 Hesitation could doom the company.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because if there’s a better way to do something, someone<\/em> will eventually do it.\u00a0 Better you than a competitor, don’t you think?<\/p>\n

Jarvis gets wobbly with some of the industries.\u00a0 He’s not equally familiar with all of them, but nevertheless tries to apply Google principles with mixed results.<\/p>\n

The tumultuous changes he predicts\/advocates was making me a bit wobbly by the end of the book, in fact.\u00a0 Every revolution he discussed could be imagined at the ground level as uprooted careers and job displacements for many people.\u00a0 Millions of them.\u00a0 I’m not saying Jarvis is wrong.\u00a0 He may be quite right.\u00a0 I just hope the ride into the Googlification of all business isn’t as devastating to as many people as it seems.\u00a0 This was a provocative book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s difficult to remember the Internet before Google.\u00a0 In just over ten years, the little company begun in a Menlo Park, California garage has grown into a globally-known giant.\u00a0 Its name has become a common verb.\u00a0 Its search engine is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,24],"tags":[70,80,126,134,135],"class_list":["post-308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-technology","tag-business","tag-change","tag-google","tag-industry","tag-innovation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stevecampion.com\/MostlyNF\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stevecampion.com\/MostlyNF\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stevecampion.com\/MostlyNF\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stevecampion.com\/MostlyNF\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stevecampion.com\/MostlyNF\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.stevecampion.com\/MostlyNF\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stevecampion.com\/MostlyNF\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stevecampion.com\/MostlyNF\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stevecampion.com\/MostlyNF\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}