[LINK] Murdoch to block Google

[Stilgherrian]

On 10/11/2009, at 8:21 AM, Ivan Trundle wrote:
> On 10/11/2009, at 7:57 AM, Jan Whitaker wrote:
>> Murdoch could block Google searches entirely
>
> …but they probably won't, since they don't want to give up the traffic
> that Google sends their way. It seems to me that Murdoch wants his
> cake and wishes to eat it as well: he wants Google traffic AND he
> wants Google to pay him for it.
>
> Google UK's response sums it up:
>
> "Publishers put their content on the Web because they want it to be
> found. Very few choose not to include their material in Google News
> and Web search. But if they tell us not to include it, we don't."


I'll go further. Murdoch has got it wrong. He's still thinking in  
newspaper terms or TV channel terms, and this will be his downfall.

People no longer get their news from one newspaper for everything, or  
one favourite TV news bulletin, in a monolithic presentation. They  
gather it from all sorts of places, in little fragments. Increasingly  
from "aggregators" -- indexes which put together a bunch of things you  
might be interested in, tailored more closely to you, either  
automatically like Google or with an editor like a thousand blogs.  
Increasingly from recommendations from friends through Facebook or  
Twitter -- the "hey have a look at this!" process.

If Murdoch chooses to remove News Corp's material from those sources  
people won't discover the item unless they've already paid for his  
full package, so he loses that audience. And I reckon people will be  
less likely to buy a big package in advance.

Meanwhile, on Friday, at the Media140 Sydney conference, I heard Al  
Jazeera's head of social media explain how they put all of their raw  
camera footage online under a Creative Commons license, freely usable  
provided the Al Jazeera watermark stays. Surprise surprise, people  
associate the brand "Al Jazeera" with "news" and they increase their  
casual audience. And meanwhile professional outlets want to negotiat  
more timely access and faster downloads -- even though they could get  
it later for free -- and they're willing to pay for that. Win win.

I'm increasingly with what Annabel Crabb said to News Ltd's Caroline  
Overington on Thursday: "I think it is wonderful that your survival  
strategy depends on the robust genes of a 78 year old."

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/contentmakers/2009/11/05/caroline-overington-gives-some-hints-on-ruperts-plans-and-tangles-with-annabel-crabb/

Stil


-- 
Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/
Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia
mobile +61 407 623 600
fax +61 2 9516 5630
Twitter: stilgherrian
Skype: stilgherrian
ABN 25 231 641 421