Sounds like fait accompli, does it not? Google enacts one form of business change or another pretty much every day, and every one of their changes puts someone else out of business. Yesterday, they outdid themselves.
Google’s business change (and business changing) idea o’ the day was the introduction of a feature that lets Google Toolbar users comment on web pages they visit. Interesting? Stupid? A little of both? I say “genius”.
If we start with the very idea of people being interested in other people’s comment on the items they’re reading, we immediately get to what’s driving the Internet. For better or worse, we’re all reading the rantings of strangers who may or may not have expertise in the subject they’re writing about. You’re reading this because you’ve come to believe that I have some expertise in business change, business operations, technology, business ideas, or . . . something. OR: you’re here because you followed a link. And that link may have been one I planted out there to draw you here, or it could have been put up by somebody else who thinks I’m smart. BUT YOU’RE HERE.
(Thanks, by the way!)
There are any number of web page commenting platforms out there, and Google is saying something clear by launching their own: they want a piece of everything we do. Now, tie it to their toolbar. The toolbar drives adoption of the new feature, and the feature drives adoption of the toolbar. This may not be business change for Google, but if they change the way you do business, it sure is for you!
My concern is this: Google is controlling which comments actually get posted. They’ve detailed the rules in typically non-specific Google fashion, which in itself is fine, but by being both the people who show us search results and controlling which results are available for search, they’re going a bit too far. I commented earlier this week about Net Neutrality, and Google’s been a big proponent. Now this?
When technology, business change, and ideology cross paths, this is what we get. Let The Answer Guy help manage your business change.
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