Unit Structures: Google: The General Motors of Social Software?

Google: The General Motors of Social Software?
Posted 10/20/2007 11:35:00 AM |

This wouldn't be news for any other company, but this morning we hear that Google has created its first Facebook application. The app is extremely simple - it is nothing more than a personalized Google News canvas page in Facebook; there's sharing capability but no profile integration. In my interview with Editor and Publisher, I recommended that news organizations should go social - they should place their content in places where the audience resides. Clearly, Facebook is one of these places, and Google News recognizes this. But the simplicity of the app leads me to believe that Google's heart really isn't in social, that this is a placeholder rather than a real effort. Of course, Google has pretended the social networks space hasn't existed for the past few years, so perhaps this isn't surprising.

As Digg, Reddit and other social media endeavors have illustrated, news stories are excellent social objects. News is inherently conversational, and methods for sharing and conversing around the news are woefully behind the times. By simply transposing Google News into Facebook, Google does nothing to push this conversation forward. Instead of being an innovator, Google establishes itself as the General Motors of the social space: slow moving, resistant to innovation, and simply inadequate. This certainly tampers expectations of the November 5 announcement, to say the least.

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3 Comments: (Post a Comment)

At October 20, 2007 4:40 PM, Amanda said...: It's more than a personalized News app because it keeps track of Most popular stories and of the stories that your friends shared. The profile integration is there, and done quite well.
At October 21, 2007 1:29 AM, fred said...: As far as I can tell, profile integration is limited to what your friends send you. You feel it is done well - can you explain why it make any sense for Google to display this private transaction on one's profile?
At October 25, 2007 11:55 AM, Charlie said...: As a former GM employee, I resent the comparison. :)