"Local news is not a search problem"
February 8, 2008
That's Topix's response to Google's entry into the local news biz.
This is the same story I've been on about forever: it's about community. Community. Community.
§ From twitter
§ Comment Spotlight
Reader Ed Brenegar writes: This is a year to change the customer relations game. With less commerce happening, presumably, there is more time for interaction. That interaction has to build the relationships...»
§ Recent Comments
- says
“ Wonder how much did search-on.com went up in value after this commercial! ...”» - says
“ there trying to do so much different than any of the other engines they are gonna find the ...”» - says
“ Google's approach to tweeting is like Yahoo's approach to search. Seems like Google should ...”» - says
“ Google's approach to tweeting is like Yahoo's approach to search. Seems like Google should ...”» - says
“ Yine harika bir konuya değinmişsin dostum eline koluna sağlık. ...”» - says
“ Definitely a Kindle killer. And to think I almost bought one of those. With a pretty prote ...”» - says
“ I wouldn't be surprise if you discover that iPad does have a webcam finally (but not usabl ...”» - says
“ Hi... This is cleon dann after long time. Nice update. I like to read blogs on battellemed ...”»
§ Categories
Perfect for that person with everything: Order 'The Search
Yup, it makes the perfect gift for that officemate or colleague who you thought had everything... including you! If you order here, I promise to sign it, assuming we can figure out the shipping...
You can also buy the audio version here.
Check my book page for more info.
§ Newsletter
Enter email to subscribe to Searchblog's newsletter:
Comments
To defend Google for a minute: It doesn't matter if Local News is not a "search" problem. "Search" is not the be-all and end-all of world's information organization. Google's goal is not to search the world's information; it is to organize the world's information. Search is one form of organization. News recommendation, even local news recommendation, is another form of organization.
So I see no ideological problem with what Google is doing.
Where I do see a problem is when they spend inordinate amounts of time, effort, and money on thinks like Docs and Spreadsheets, or GTalk, Desktop widgets, mobile phones, etc. And they do it to the extent that they aren't really improving things like their Desktop Search client. As googlesystem.blogspot.com pointed out a few weeks ago, "search" is now disabled by default in the Desktop Client.
That just ain't right.
But local news? That's consistent with their mission. Android is not. Local news is.
Ah, I'm a total dummy. I so didn't get it. By saying "local news is not a search problem", Topix wasn't actually saying that Google is straying too far from its mission. Topix was actually saying that the expertise Google has in web search cannot be transferred/applied to local news. Is this correct? It probably is. I didn't get it at first.
Ignore my above comment.
Leave a comment