Google, Facebook, and the Future of Content
Based on two and a half years of research, and extensive interviews with Larry Page, Sergey Brin, former CEO Eric Schmidt and other principles in Googled: The End of the World As We Know It (Penguin Press), Ken Auletta has constructed probably the best narrative yet about this crucial company’s rise and rise, as Google, and we the public, look ahead to the next imminent developments in Internet culture. In an interview with the Huffington Post’s Anis Shivani, Ken said:
Traditional media should have done many things. They should have responded to the Internet as if it were a five-alarm fire. Invest in digital companies. Set up an online newspaper that recognized it had to be different from the newspaper and free to break stories. Stop insisting on selling entire CD albums and let consumers buy individual songs, as iTunes would do. Etc.
I do not think most traditional makers of content will emerge stronger than ever. I do believe they have to try and charge for content. I also believe it is crazy for digital companies to rely solely on advertising as their only revenue source, aping what broadcast television does. Interestingly, I see a shift in the Valley on this subject, with many early proponents of the Internet coming to the view that a second revenue source is needed. This could bring some of old and new media into partnership.