Daily Patricia

Confidential To…

It’s hard to see the media try to understand, and then fail, at the bigger picture of the internet, as with today’s article by Fortune Magazine about the future of Google. I wondered why Google’s CEO, the ultimate spinmaster, was out talking about the company’s strength a few days ago. We all know that only happens when necessary. Now it makes sense.

The problem with Fortune’s article is that Google’s not been a “search” company for years. In fact, the more I see what Google does the more I believe it never intended to be. Google very much understands the internet and what it’s here to do. More so than any company in the world. Apple is second only. 98% of the time when I’m in a gray area that’ll emerge in the next few years, Google is there also. Often, it’s just me and them. Most of all, Google’s already in position to take advantage of what’s ahead, in places that the rest of the market won’t understand or see for years. But, all this aside, Google also owns the most important thing to own for the future: Internet infrastructure. He who owns the pipes always wins.

It’s not to say that Google will win every battle in what’s ahead or own every gray area it is participating in. But, Google wins the game most of all because it knows what’s ahead, and positions long before the rest of the world even begins to understand what’s happening.  Google could be beaten to the punch by those who also know the future and manipulate it, as I do. Judging on that Fortune article, it won’t have to worry about that changing any time soon.

Facebook is not a threat to Google unless the two decide to change position, and that’s assuming that Facebook doesn’t lose its very delicate spot in the coming future. Let’s not forget how giant MySpace had been. The media seems to have forgotten how it fawned and toted over MySpace, certain it’d never die, but that doesn’t change that it did — and it could happen to Facebook just the same. Google’s not in that position, and won’t likely be. In fact, Google’s so far away from any company in the space in terms of truly capitalizing on what’s ahead, the media should be looking at that with concern. When all is said and done, you can be sure you should be.

When I speak about these things, it comes from nine years on the side of those who created and built the internet. Will I be wrong? We’ll see.

Uh Oh, Search (And Content Farms Too)

Search is going to be fun to watch in the not-too-distant future. It doesn’t seem so today but its likely that the market will see shifts in the coming years. It won’t just be in how users search for things but what they search for, what they use to do it and where. If you think the internet is going across tablets and handhelds alone think again. It — and search along with it — will be in everything, and in many cases, customized and optimized for type of things native to devices, intuitive (versus the slop received now). It doesn’t mean Google will go anywhere of course. It’s likely well positioned to compete both today and in what’s ahead. But, if there were any time for someone to sneak into the category, it’s now while there is disruption. More than ever internet users are at a place where a new idea or tool could gain use and interest as well. The crack in the armor won’t be for a bit yet but likely soon. If you are in search, pay close attention to devices and particularly what happens beyond tablets and smart phones. The internet is only getting started in its ability to embody virtually anything, anywhere. There’s likely a place to potentially play for those who may anticipate three steps ahead.

What’s interesting is that this past week, an upstart search company said that its weeding out the SEO-gamed content of companies that have banked a big bunch of money on gaming search for traffic. There are already plenty of reasons why tricking out content to manipulate search traffic is flawed. Add this one to the list. Should everybody follow suit, particularly internet users, it’s going to get ugly as those companies scramble to hold a position. I know where I’ll be putting my bets here.

The Coming Privacy Freak Out Ahead

Ego is an interesting thing. So is the need for connectivity, acknowledgment, and attention. These are the things that likely drive an enormous part of social network use — a need fulfilled. If there wasn’t an element of gratification to it, people would not be participating. Facebook at 500 million users speaks volumes to how much we need, want and desire to have it. It’s a normal, human thing. What’s fascinating is that this hunger often surpasses logic in terms of privacy, safety and security. Consumers would never let every skeevy pervert, thief, scam artist, etc. know their every move, where they go, where they live, etc. They wouldn’t want the shady character following them home from the store at night. But, that’s essentially what they’re doing online — all in the need for attention, connectivity and acknowledgment. It’s a fascinating thing to witness.

Of course, far later everyone will begin to understand the inherent dangers — if not outright vulnerabilities — of embedding one’s life and self so deeply into the internet platform. It may seem like a fun toy that let’s you “share” and “connect” with your friends and buy fun stuff, but make no mistake: The internet is a government-designed and created communications and information delivery platform that is so sophisticated you will not be able to avoid it or its capabilities in the years ahead. Governments don’t make things for fun — they make them for function, and one of the internet’s largest functions is to track and control the movement of people and things. How would you like for a government, business or individual to go right into your life, open up your world and look inside? Surprise! It already can.

This of course isn’t a bad thing if governments, individuals and businesses play nice but we know that they rarely do. In the coming years, everyone will begin to understand the vulnerable position that they allowed themselves to be put into. Unfortunately, it will be likely too late to do anything about it. At first glance, trojan horses always appear as gifts.

Speaking At The PNNA Conference

I’m speaking at the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association conference on Thursday, September 16 in Portland, Oregon. My session’s at 11:15am and will be on Creating your Digital Content Strategy and Adjusting Your Content Staff to Fit Today’s Digital Environment. You can imagine a girl like me might have a lot to say to the newspaper industry. Come say hi!

 

I’ve Also Talked About…

Transmedia/cross-platform storytelling at MIT

Social media at South By Southwest Interactive

Transmedia storytelling at Digital Hollywood

Startup business at Women 2.0

Fashion and technology at Fashion Group International

Fashion and technology, Girls in Tech

Print media and the internet, Community Next

Technology/internet business at the “August” movie premiere

Careful Facebook. Games Aren’t Why Users Are On Your Site

There was a blog post about Facebook today that said the company plans to amp up its gaming focus. No doubt this has been in response to the giant popularity of Farmville and other games on the site. It would of course be only natural that Facebook want to capitalize if it not already, or even think it might be ideal to create a whole team dedicated to making games for the audience (as the blog post above suggests). It sounds a lot like a typical approach in the internet business — after all, Yahoo and lots of others have smelled blood in the water in areas that weren’t native to their core business and swam quickly to cash in.

The internet with its extensive capacity and room, and relatively inexpensive development costs, certainly makes it lucrative. It seems so easy, and of course someone else succeeding in an area is always proof. Surely if Zynga could strike gold with Farmville, Facebook could do the same. Except, that’s usually not how it plays out. Users visit sites for one reason and while it’s possible to migrate them to other reasons, it’s no easy task. In fact, the internet business has far more failures at this than successes — especially when it comes to giant companies. Yahoo is a great example.

In a information delivery and/or communications platform environment (like the internet), Facebook falls more into a communications service than anything else. It doesn’t mean games and other fun things can’t succeed among customers (or in internet lingo, users) — providing that it’s an organic fit to the experience for them.  Facebook can play with these things if it wants, but it would be wise to understand it’s a new, modern communications service first and position for it — because what’s ahead for the internet will put social networks more squarely there than anything else. Even giants with user bases the size of small countries can be whittled to 0 in no time by making the wrong moves versus what users want. Just look to Myspace. -1? We’ll find out.

Idea vs Execution

One of my advisory projects continues to have bloggers and other entrepreneurs copy its ideas and work. It started when PR to blogs began but has continued on as the company has grown and gained marketshare/presence. At times its been down to the company’s exact messaging and even its content. It’s not the first time I’ve seen it. A friend’s exact words were lifted off one of her media interviews and used word-for-word by a competitor in one of its own. I’ve also had it happen here — for a few years, it seemed almost everything I said and did was somehow found being said and done out of the mouths of other people, also sometimes verbatim. In the end, I didn’t mind as this isn’t my primary revenue channel, though if you notice a lot of my posts here speak in a way that only a few will really understand or lack all of the information to do so. That’s a little on purpose. For clients when this kind of thing happens I always remind them that the race isn’t won by everybody being a runner, but by those who run the race the best.

Riddle For Today

What company has the ability to potentially watch the every move of both government entities and people, locate anyone from anywhere, hear your conversations, see what you buy and where you go, and in the not too distant future will likely be able to control acesss to everything from utilities to currency? How would you like someone to be able to hone right into your home and see what you’re doing from above? Guess who!

Capitalizing On The Early Position

I was reading about Redbox today, which I admit I’ve not heard of until today. It’s said to be a Netflix competitor. From what I understand the company’s cornered a little market by offering self serve movie rental outside of grocery stores, like a vending machine. Clever! When it comes to the internet, however the company is likely late. iTunes, Google, and maybe Hulu are now positioned to distribute movies if they want to (and they’ll likely want to). Google has a deal with Sony, Apple is Apple. It’s hopeful to think of the little guy killing it but it’s not likely in this case. It doesn’t mean Redbox won’t do well and can do so across dual platforms like DVD and internet. It’s just that the idea of it dominating the internet movie retail market is not likely in the cards. Redbox could be fine. But the workaround isn’t the internet. You can be the right early or late to a market. The middle is a wasteland.

Weekend In Pictures

(1) Bird mafia like in Finding Nemo, Santa Monica

(2) Citizenship day in L.A. this weekend!

(3) In search of the perfect pancakes, at Cici’s

(4) First official food truck dining experience

(5) Before dinner Friday