Current Events

Web technologies such as Twitter have enabled celebrities to become publishers, and also now paid advertisers.

The two titans of the desktop and browser world, Microsoft and Google, have escalated their epic battle by introducing products into each other’s strongest-held territories. Microsoft recently released Bing, its new search technology, aimed directly at Google’s core (tune into my next blog, where I’ll discuss this in detail). Google struck back by hitting Microsoft’s monopoly, the desktop, with a version of the Chrome Browser as a streamlined, no-frills operating system. These giants have been attacking each other’s market share, technologies, business models, and license access for years, but never has the competition been this volatile.

The big buzz in our office today is swirling around Google’s work with HTML 5 and a centerpiece application smartly named Google Wave. Announced at their I/O conference keynote, Google Wave is email with a monster social-media makeover. Think true real-time online conversations through a combination of email and instant messaging, but that doesn’t do it justice. Every day we see new technology ideas with varying levels of “wow factor,” but only occasionally do we get something that is revolutionary. The significance of Google Wave is up there with the shift from DOS to Windows.

You have an idea that will get your business or persona a lot of attention online either as a direct result or by-product. You’ve cooked up a contest, promotion or publicity stunt that will incite the desired result of increased website traffic. But is that really the desired result? Although a good scheme may get you a spike in website traffic, will it get you more sales, contracts or donations? Will this new found fame be sustainable or short lived? When the traffic gets to your website, what would you like for the users to do?

The reality of life is that we are living in a different world than our parents once lived. A digital world. Today we can barely get by without checking our phone, email, text messages, music files, etc. People are constantly on their Blackberries and iPhones, among other personal mobile devices. Social networks have virtually exploded, allowing us more opportunities to connect with technology and one another.

I agree with Thomas Jefferson when he said: “The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers and newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to choose the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers, and be capable of reading them.”

If you are judging by Chinese standards, the newspaper industry is now clearly under the old curse, “May you live in interesting times.” At no other point in modern history have the storied institutions been so in flux; their future so uncertain. The recent move of the Seattle-Post Intelligencer to an online only status and the closing of the Rocky Mountain News (as well as several others less well publicized) is not only a milestone for the industry, but is also a harbinger of things to come.