Blogs and Stories
Jeff Jarvis Asks: Is Google an Evil Empire?
DB: You muse about Google running everything from a hospital to a utility company. If you could select an industry for Google to enter and run under the WWGD terms, which industry would it be and why?
JJ: Gawd, how I'd love it if Google ran my cable or phone company. Instead of making their businesses out of telling us what we can't do, GT&T would recognize the benefit of helping us do what we want to do: use the internet more and create more of our own stuff. Google might even figure out how to make connectivity ad-supported and free. Sadly, though, I think Google knows what it is and won't expand into other industries, even if it would be good at running a cable or energy or phone company.
DB: Did you get any flack from folks who wear WWJD bracelets?
JJ: I'm hoping even they have a sense of humor. If not, I'll hide behind the fact that my sister is a Presbyterian minister and I used to sing in the church choir.
DB: Google’s stock has fallen quite a bit recently, down about 50 percent since May of last year. Does this reflect any problems for Google beyond the basic economic crisis, such as the difficulty of maintaining a culture in the midst of massive growth?
JJ: I bought Google stock at $512. Oh, well. I think Google shares' current fall is the same fall we're all still experiencing. The larger question is: Could Google blow it? Yes. I hear that life inside is getting too big and bureaucratic. Growth creates opportunity and stress. Google has its systems to maintain culture—its hiring gauntlet—and innovation—its 20 percent rule requiring engineers to invent. Even its 'don't be evil' rule is important culturally, as it enables employees to challenge decisions (don't we wish that phrase had been carved over the doors of Wall Street?). Google is not God. It's not perfect. But I wouldn't bet against Google.
DB: Where can folks find out more about WWGD?
The conversation will continue on my blog, Buzzmachine.com. That's where the conversation—and the book—began. I explored the ideas in the book there and I'm grateful that my readers and commenters pushed me, corrected me, challenged me, and gave me examples and ideas. For example, on the blog, I said that I thought insurance could not become Googley, but my readers disagreed with me and gave me so many ideas that they took over that chapter. So I do hope the discussion continues on the blog. And I'll be searching for what people say elsewhere. Via Google, of course.
Dave Kansas is Editor at Large at FiLife.com and author of upcoming book The Wall Street Journal Guide to The End of Wall Street as We Know It (Collins, Jan. 27, 2009).
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Dave Kansas is president of FiLife, a personal-finance joint venture between Dow Jones and IAC Corp. Previously, Kansas was editor of the Wall Street Journal's Money & Investing section and author of The Wall Street Journal's Complete Money & Investing Guidebook.
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Dave Kansas is president of FiLife, a personal-finance joint venture between Dow Jones and IAC Corp. Previously, Kansas was editor of the Wall Street Journal's Money & Investing section and author of The Wall Street Journal's Complete Money & Investing Guidebook.
Google is an amazing search engine and credit should go where credit is due on that front, but the ideologies incorporated have drastically contributed to the dumbing down of information. Their rigid keyword doctrine and specific SEO content that websites have to provide is one of the worst things that has happened on the internet. Much content on the web is written for Google alone. Certainly not for the consumer or reader. When Google addresses and corrects this problem, I'll have more respect for other endeavors they try.
Google didn't invent web search as is implied here -- Yahoo! and others were in the games years ahead of them -- they innovated search by ranking by a page's popularity instead of by the amount of relevant keywords (trust me Apparently, the other way *really* had a bad effect on content).
I haven't read the book but given what is stated here isn't Wikipedia is the better role model for what is being described as the model culture of democracy, transparency, innovation, stewardship and responsiveness? Google is more economically powerful, maybe that's what is so intriguing to the author really?
If so, I think there needs to be a newer and deeper look at Google.
As the heady days of "we make money hand over fist no matter what we do" are disappearing Google is acting more and more like a regular corporate culture. They're a difficult company to work with: finding someone in charge (enough) to make a decision is a real challenge; they are pretty arrogant and dismissive about ideas that don't come from within and by the way, that 20% time on innovation rule fell by the wayside a long time ago as the economy soured. Check out their response to the public that didn't 'get' their new iGoogle design: clearly the people needed to be told they just don't get a better experience and need to adjust to Google's superior thinking. http://www.google.com/help/ig/tour/
The two people in charge are frequently...missing. Although the rumor is they've issued the mandate to employees focus on creating more revenue.
Given the lack of strong leadership where morality has to be role-modeled and yes, mandated, with a great deal of influence on society and the new and humanly familiar pressure to make more money Google is set up to possibly do something really...wrong.
This interview is fascinating as I'm sure the book is. I intend to purchase the book as soon as I get an advance on my book. What a delicious irony! Google is literally changing business and education models at light speed and will become a victim of their own success. The reason- large organizations inexorably become bureaucratic. The herd animal instinct still influences the human species decision-making process (it's a security thing) but the greatest impact of the Internet is its diffusion of the herd.
Keep it coming TDB. I'm totally addicted. Have you thought of adding a rehab tab?
lol no click here lol
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