Google announced today that they’re going open-source to extend their “Living Stories” project, a platform cooked up in the Google Labs and initially tested in collaboration with writers at the New York Times and Washington Post.  The initial effort, rolled out in December, was billed as featuring

new ways to interact with news and the quality of reporting you’ve come to expect from the reporters and editors at The Post and The Times.

After two months, I guess they realize that Google’s own team are too high on crack to integrate trivial functionality.

NEEDS SERIOUS HELP

There’s no way to ENGAGE readers (no comment posting, thank you very much). Without engaging readers, it’s already doomed to fail.  Anyone who ISN”T a media mogul knows this already.

And uh, if you want to “share” an individual article within a specific broader “living story”, the URL has uh, a POUND SIGN in it because they use AJAX.  and Oh.  Duh.  Right.  That means SEO capabilities are CRAP.  Because the truth is, this is a GOOGLE system, to remain forever at GOOGLE. (see below for more on this reality).

So why did Google Labs turn to the open-source community here?

We’re talking about Google Labs, mind you – the very people who brought you the original Google On Crack, Google Squared and more recently, that ever useful belly-flop into the sea of uselessness, Google Wave.  The fact that they’ve actually opened this up to the open-source community can only mean one of three things.

Possibility 1 -The Lab Rats Found 12 Step Recovery

The complete failure of Squared and Wave to gain serious world traction, and the total EMBARRASSMENT in Google’s having had BUZZ roll out initially in the form of a Privacy Killing Chain Saw, only to be whip lashed by users was really a wake-up call that said – we’ve screwed up so many times we can no longer deny we have a problem, and we’re finally willing to admit we need help.  From an open-source community greater than ourselves.

This path is not a guarantee to success.  Honestly, the crack-heads at the Labs have to truly have hit their emotional, psychological and spiritual bottom here.  And there’s almost no proof of that at all yet to be seen.  So while the potential exists for 3rd party developers to salvage this thing, that’s already tempered by the counter-force that many addicts relapse because they’re not truly ready for across-the-board change in every aspect of their lives.

Possibility 2 – Some Families Try Intervention

It’s possible that someone higher up in the Google food chain, after the Wave belly flop and the Buzz whip lash, reached a breaking point psychologically themselves.  Often times, when this happens, all of the “normal” (read that – non-addict) family members get the ingenious idea that the only way this is going to have any hope of positive resolution is to conduct what’s referred to as an Intervention.  You may have seen the TV reality show by that name.  But believe me – it’s a LOT uglier than that made for ratings show ever portrays.  And usually ends up failing miserably.

But the family who is sold the Intervention bill of goods from a for-profit Intervention “specialist”, since they’re sick and tired of being sick and tired of the insanity and familial embarrassment caused by their “addict” child, is really, themselves, vulnerable, and so it’s easy for that “specialist” to snowball them into thinking this is the way to help the Addict.

And for the record, interventions are less likely to result in long-term success because it’s the FAMILY FORCING the ADDICT into treatment or recovery.  So most addicts go into it resentful, rather than humble.

Possibility 3 – Crack-Heads Are Manipulative Bastards

Here we have the most likely scenario of all.  When addicts get desperate, they become manipulative.  Especially when they think there’s something financial at stake.  In early childhood, long before they pick up that first drug, little future-addicts lack quality parenting.  They don’t get the true healthy mix of structure, encouragement, and nurturing that other babies get.  So they learn early on to manipulate others, rather than interact in healthy ways, to get their most basic needs met.

As life evolves for the addict, they become more manipulative over time.  And the more desperate they are, the more manipulative they get.  It’s a vicious cycle.

Let’s look at the situation that’s unfolded in the past several months.  Google had a working relationship with the print media.  Then, as the print media finally realized it was on it’s death-bed, they turned to anger, rage, and that classic symptom of denial – blame.  Rupert spear-headed the latest salvo there.  But that’s just one salvo in several recently.

Google, being arrogant (case in point Buzz Belly Flop), came out with that horrific FAST FLIP.  You know – where the initial thumbnail images are too small to make any sense out of them.  So you have to click on EVERY ONE to even see if it’s something you want to read.

And as soon as you do that, if you don’t like the headline you’re reading, you have to hit your browser’s BACK button to go back to the crappy thumbnail view.  So you stay in the larger view, but still with just a Screen capture of the actual news source intro.  And you have to hope that has enough of the story to make sense.  Otherwise you have to CLICK AGAIN for more info.

ONLY TO FIND OUT that you had read THE ENTIRE STORY.  or YOU HAVE TO SIGN IN or PAY for more in some cases.

And oh.  Yeah.  Google slaps their own display ads on those Page Flip pages.

ARROGANCE FAIL

Anyhow, Page Flip is a total fail for most people who are REAL HUMANS.  Which means the print media old-boys club is still looking for a way to monetize the fuck out of what they’ve given away for so long.

And at the same time, they’ve been firing the actual front-line journalists and editors that used to create the content that helped make the old-boys club stupid rich in the first place.   Because it’s more frugal to fire your staff than to cut out the big money-suck, or to have to tell the other old-boys that invested in your print media conglomerate that you don’t care about finding new ways to increase profits anymore – that you really care about the quality journalism, even if it means financial nimbleness.

So while some journalists initially drank the kool-aid of “the media is dying” and “the Internet is going to kill journalism”, many are now slowly coming around to the reality that they need to find a new way.  Maybe, heaven forbid, even adapt the Internet blogging model.

But if they do, there’s much less profit in it for Google.

OH SNAP – AN ADDICTS TRUE COLORS SHINE THROUGH

That’s right.  If most journalists turn to blogging, it will mean that many fewer sources of news for Google to pour into the GOOGLE platform.  Except in the old, fading ORGANIC results.  Which means the crack-heads had to come up with another way to manipulate those very journalists into thinking – hey – look – over here – a shiny object!

Because if enough journalists and editors buy into the “Living Stories” platform, it means Google controls the content directly.  And that’s where the most profit lies for Google.

THE FLAW IN THE CRACK-ADDICT OINTMENT

The problem here, of course, is that they have yet to show how taking the ENTIRE STORY away from media web sites actually financially BENEFITS the media companies.  Though they’re probably manipulating that reality already by claiming that Google will eventually put AdWords and Banners (all run by Google) all over the Living Stories system.  Which they’ll offer some percentage of to the media moguls, who will then pay the journalists LESS  to.  Which will make Google the number one International News Outlet online. With the lions share of profit.

And that will effectively KILL OFF many of the smaller and mid-size news sites that exist today.

And Google will most assuredly make a LOT more from this than any of the news industry participants ever will.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEEN.  WITH OPEN SOURCE

Since I’ve already pointed out the biggest flaws to this ever evolving into anything MORE than another CONTENT GRAB BY GOOGLE FOR GOOGLE’S OWN PROFIT SAKE, the open-source path is most likely nothing more than a way for Google to manipulate the Open-Source community into putting more time and energy (for free, mind you), toward helping to improve this for Google’s profit, AND most likely, to get systems in place (without paying developers) for the open distribution of content.

So Google can replace Reuters and the AP Wire service.  With the Google Wire Service of the 21st Century.
Because that’s how crack addicts think.

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Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month.

Google Labs shares the crack pipe – Living Stories Style is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom
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