Media's Mel Brooks-like Reporting

In his movie History of the World, Part I producer, director and actor Mel Brooks repeatedly proclaims that “it’s good to be the king.” Although he was playing the role of French king Louis XVI, Brooks’ catchphrase most likely captures the sentiments of Google’s leadership posse – Schmidt, Brin and Page.

That’s because even their me-too product announcements generate a whirlwind of press attention, and send competitors scurrying into the shadows. Consider Google’s entry into the Web analytics space last week with its Ad Planner service. Market leader ComScore’s stock tumbled 23 percent in a day.

The Washington Post’s Kim Hart led her story with this insightful observation, “Suddenly having Google as a competitor could quickly spell death for a smaller firm.” Buried in the article was the point that advertisers may be reluctant to let Google measure the effectiveness of ads placed in its other services.

Google Enters ComScore’s Turf
Washington Post
http://tinyurl.com/3fue8m


This week Google trumpeted a new virtual world and chat service called Lively. While the New York Times fawned over Google and its innovation, it took blog GigaOM to provide a much-needed dose of perspective:

On first glance, Lively seems too similar to several existing MMOs, making it an also-ran without a key market distinguisher to be truly compelling (besides being from Google). You can stream YouTube videos in these rooms and embed rooms on websites, and it’s got appealing cartoon visuals and a fairly intuitive interface, but that’s true of numerous online worlds already out there.


I have repeatedly applauded Google for its efforts to develop new services as a means of diversifying its revenue. The company could easily rest on the success (and profits) of its search business. Yet, it recognizes the need to innovate to remain in a position of leadership and strength.

The concern I have is with the lack of insight and analysis provided by journalists when it comes to reporting on market leading companies. Their responsibility is to inform and educate, and that demands asking tough questions.

If business and trade media continue to go through the motions, the reader exodus to online news sources and blogs will accelerate.


Google Introduces a Cartoonlike Method for Talking in Chat Rooms
New York Times
http://tinyurl.com/6zkhw5

How Lively? Google’s Me-Too Virtual World
http://gigaom.com/2008/07/08/google-lively/

Organic SEO Finds a PR Home

If you believe the analysts at digital measurement company Comscore (Nasdaq: SCOR), people aren’t clicking as often on Google paid ads.

Google's paid search growth soft again in February http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/3031073/408925/105489/2/


Web search traffic continues to accelerate though. This means the organic results delivered by Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. is increasing in importance. And that plays well for public relations professionals.

That’s because a driver of organic search engine optimization (SEO) is Web content. Whether it is traditional activities like press releases, article placements, analyst commentary or industry presentations, or social media initiatives related to executive blogging and social network engagement, the content produced in a PR program typically finds a home on the Web.

At Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), we’re getting deeply engaged with our clients to further understand how to best research, define and optimize the quality content we’re delivering to the market.

The value proposition for public relations has always been the increased awareness and third party credibility conferred by industry influencers creates an environment in which a company can more successfully execute its growth strategy. Let’s add organic SEO to the ROI mix. It’s meaningful…and measurable.

Yahoo's Fine Tuning

The NY Times published an interesting article this week about Yahoo's efforts to revamp their strategy in light of intense competitive threats from Google, Facebook and MySpace.

Trying to Fine Tune Yahoo
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/technology/14yahoo.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1200434697-f1BJfqK1jlu/X1Zv7RF4TQ

What I find interesting is that Yahoo has clearly lost the perception of leadership and momentum in the market. Yet they remain the most popular destination on the Internet for consumers.

"With 136 million people in the United States visiting its sites in November, Yahoo remains the most popular property on the Web, according to comScore, a company that tracks Internet traffic."

I see this as much as a public relations challenge for Yahoo, as it is a strategy, features and functionality issue. They need to be aggressive in explaining to the market how the site is evolving and then consistently demonstrate how they're making good on the promise.