Most of my classmates probably have no clue as to the origins of the title of this blog….but it’s the first thing that popped into my mind when I started to write today’s assignment. I believe Cindy is probably old enough to remember Marlo Thomas’ hippy dippy show that carried the message that anyone, girl, or boy, could reach their potential and be anything they wanted to be. It was absolute dreck, but the message was a good one. The context back in the 70s when the term was coined is much different from what I mean today…but for some reason it just seemed appropriate to answer today’s question(s): How does Google make money? Is this a business model that other media organizations could successfully adopt? Why or why not? What are issues/challenges?
The bottom line is that google makes money from each and every one of us….and it doesn’t cost us a cent. We are free to google to our hearts content, (like I just did to find out what would come up when I entered the phrase “free to be you and me”) and each time we do, additional data is gathered about us. Google continues to finetune their business of organizing the world’s information and has become the world’s biggest business juggernaut in the process. According to Jeff Jarvis, in 2008 Google had 71% of the internet search traffic in the U.S. and 87% in the U.K. They’ve turned those billions of consumer eyeballs into cash with the invention of adwords and the 2008 acquisition of the ad-serving company Doubleclick resulted in Google controlling nearly 70% of online ad traffic. The numbers are mind boggling. In mid-2008 Google said it tracked one trillion (with a T!) web addresses.
Could other media companies follow the same business model? That’s hard to say. It’s hard to imagine that the model could be duplicated….I don’t believe there is any other company poised to take them on. It is a much different world than 94 when Microsoft obliterated Netscape, but it’s also hard to imagine what might be next. Just ten years ago the concept of Google would have seemed fanciful and unbelievably impossibe to achieve.
It does make you wonder what’s next. And there will be a “next thing” that will defy our conception and blow our minds….and make a few lucky people multi-billionaires in the process.
Speaking of wondering….and circling back to the opening of this blog post, why is it that virtually everyone involved in this business at the highest levels are white guys? One of the things that “free to be you and me” emphasized back in the 70s was that gender and ethnicity was not a barrier to achieving our dreams. It is gratifying to look around the table in our class and note the diversity around the table. More women and minorities than are evident in the few videos we’ve seen, that’s for sure!
Perhaps one of my classmates will be free to be….rich and famous someday!
