Comments on: Maybe Murdoch isn’t nuts about blocking Google

By: tdubner

tdubner — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:49:32 +0000

I still think that Google should move into the content creation business. We know that organizing publicly available content was the backbone of directory publishing. If you are Google, why not extend your publishing reach into editorial content.

If Google put $250mm to $500mm behind a Google News brand with their own newsroom, they could take the bulk of the online news profits from the newspaper industry. They would just use their universal search capability as their primary distribution network.

By: tdubner

tdubner — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:49:32 +0000

By: mturro

mturro — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:44:22 +0000

Yeah… as soon as that came rolling off my finger tips I thought of at least half a dozen ways to do a mag with out USPS

By: danielrmccarthy

danielrmccarthy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:41:16 +0000

Your comment made me smile…. You can put out a magazine without the postal service, just like we do with our home and apartment rental catalogs. You just find ways to get your product in front of people as they go about their daily business, and when they pick it up, they'll have more value as prospects. That's not to disagree with your point about the danger of disintermediating Google.

By: mturro

mturro — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:48:20 +0000

Whether there's a logic at work or not – doing business on the internet while blocking Google is like putting out a magazine without using the USPS – possible yes, wise…?

By: danielrmccarthy

danielrmccarthy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:09:00 +0000

Unless, of course, they want to pay for every piece of traffic. Three things drive web traffic: your Google juice, your social graph and paid promotion, either with online marketing or offline marketing. The print brands count as paid promotion. My first thought — along with a lot of other people — when I saw Murdoch's comment was that he didn't know what he was talking about. Looking at the data, I realize they probably have got a logic behind the statement, as misguided as it might be.

By: mturro

mturro — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:17:38 +0000

It's a web, a network. Trying to segment it, block it out, is a fools errand and will lead to serious and unintended repercussions. Looking only at referral logs is a recipe for disaster… sure Google may only drive 13% of a given site's traffic, but the search engine's influence is latent in every other referral site on the list. Not acknowledging that is serious mistake.