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October 07, 2005

Is Google The Devil.... Am I a "Fuddy Duddy?"

Does anybody else think it’s creepy that Google wants to provide the City of San Francisco with FREE WiFi (wireless internet service?)

I dig the Google search engine, If I type in "Fashion Public Relations" or "Beauty Public Relations" it’s fun to see who is in our space so quickly. I thought Gmail was launched well (exclusive and by invite only) and the first to give you so much space online. Then Google purchased that Teraserver-like company, the one that has mapped the globe and has Satellite imagery on it. They built it into Google maps, I like that, to be able to enter in your parents address on the website and to see old satellite photos of your backyard and see if your family was laying out at the pool the day the Satellite flew overhead and snapped the picture. Neto …but kind of creepy.

Now they want to provide a city that that is home to a huge portion of Americas technology industry with free WiFi. Meaning, many good things for Marketers and Advertisers in San Faransico. Not so good for the local Newspapers. And what if Google IS THE DEVIL?!!!!

Would I use it if I lived in San Francisco? Yes, absolutely –I’m a gadget junkie and would love the convenience of being on the grid all the time for no cost. I struggle with hypocrisy, I admit it. But I also have that feeling inside, you know the one that you see on the faces of those “fuddy duddys” on footage from Americans being afraid of technology, or communism. I am not a communist and love technology but I do have this “gentle terror” that Google is turning into the computer first seen in Space Odyssey (HAL 2000) or the more recent SkyNet on Terminator.

You might be thinking “what is Steve so worried about, what does he have to hide?” and I would say to that… nothing, I pay my taxes, open about being a mid-level cult leader in the past, comfortable with my sexuality and don’t mind if people realize I beam transmissions to my home planet late at night.

Perhaps it is just me, I’m going to go take my Zoloft and run to the gym. Have a good morning!

From Media Daily News

IF GOOGLE SUCCEEDS IN ITS bid to provide San Francisco with free, city-wide WiFi, analysts say that telecommunications firms and Internet service providers won't be the only companies feeling threatened. Local newspapers, which generate much of their ad revenue from local businesses, could find themselves competing directly with the global advertising giant for local ad revenue. Preston Gralla, a former editor in chief of a chain of local newspapers and a blogger for Networking Pipeline, writes that a Google-powered WiFi network could spell financial ruin for many papers, because a city-wide network would enable the sponsored listings provider "to deliver ads literally on a block-by-block basis." "Hop onto a free Google hot spot," Gralla said, "and ads may tell you about a good lunch deal around the corner, a sale at a nearby sporting goods store, cut-rate discounts at a local electronics shop." Gralla added that local ads are keeping many small papers afloat, but "if Google can better deliver targeted ads to free hot spot users, we may see some papers go under."

Media economist Miles Groves of MG Strategic Research agreed that competition for local ads and classifieds could intensify if Google is allowed to bring free WiFi to San Francisco. "The city has already been hit by Craigslist," he added.

Craigslist--a global online classifieds site that started in San Francisco--is free for most consumers and businesses, except in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, where it charges for posting help wanted ads. A December 2004 study by media consultancy Classified Intelligence estimated that Craigslist costs newspapers in the San Francisco Bay area $50 million to $65 million in employment advertising revenue.

Peter Zollman, founding principal of Classified Intelligence, agreed that Google's entry into Internet delivery would pose yet another "big threat" to newspaper revenues, but he was quick to add that local papers and Yellow Pages companies still have one big advantage: their relationships with local advertisers.

"These [companies] know what local advertisers need; they've been selling to them for decades--centuries," Zollman said, adding: "Google cannot field a local sales force in each market"--which he said makes a big difference to businesses that don't have the time or the resources to manage complicated marketing campaigns.

However, Zollman noted ominously that "Google could certainly afford to buy a Yellow Pages company if it wanted to."

Posted by Steve Hultgren at October 7, 2005 10:27 AM

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