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What Would Google Do?

Jeff Jarvis

3.85 · Rating details · 9,017 ratings · 389 reviews

“Eye-opening, thought-provoking, and enlightening.”
—USA Today

“An indispensable guide to the business logic of the networked era.”
—Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody

“A stimulating exercise in thinking really, really big.”
—San Jose Mercury News

What Would Google Do? is an indispensable manual for survival and success in today’s internet-driven marketplace. By “/>What/>—San/>—USA ...more

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Hardcover, 426 pages

Published January 27th 2009 by Harper Business (first published 2009)

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Mar 29, 2016 Riku Sayuj rated it really liked it

Shelves: business, mba-stuff, organizational

How would Google run the world? How would everything look if every industry, every social activity was "googley"?

Everything would be more open, collaborative and fun, that is how. The book might be masked as an exploration of a successful way of doing things, but in reality it a call for the open-source "gift" economy in which everyone participates to create great value. It makes sense too, for much of it.

Apple posed some problems for the author though. Apparently non-open-source can also work ...more

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Nov 03, 2008 Ryan Chapman rated it it was ok

Recommended to Ryan by: Ami

Shelves: nonfiction

It may be unfair to give this book a rating since I couldn't finish it. For all I know, my complaints were resolved in the second half. So with that in mind...

It was interesting to read this book soon after a reread of Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody, as both are recent offerings by major publishers on our changing internet culture. However the strengths of Shirky's book and the faults in this one can be traced, I believe, to the two men's backgrounds. Shirky has been a professor at NYU for about It may be unfair to give this book a rating since I couldn't finish it. For all I know, my complaints were resolved in the second half. So with that in mind...

It was interesting to read this book soon after a reread of Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody, as both are recent offerings by major publishers on our changing internet culture. However the strengths of Shirky's book and the faults in this one can be traced, I believe, to the two men's backgrounds. Shirky has been a professor at NYU for about six years, and writes as an academic approaching a mass audience. Shirky's book is dutifully chockablock with interviews, statistics, and endnotes. Jarvis is one of the founders of Entertainment Weekly and, later, the blogger behind Buzzmachine.com and internet case study "Dell Hell" (mentioned in both books). He's coming from writing for a mass audience to, well, writing for a mass audience. But he's coming from writing blog entries to composing a book. Herein lies the problem.

While on paper the thesis is intriguing--Since Google is now one of the world's biggest companies, what if we applied their practices and ethos to other industries?--the execution lacks any evidence of sustained research or in-depth interviews. What we have then is the author's preliminary conceptions of Google repeated ad nauseum, without challenge or expansion, over the course of the book. As he takes on different industries, such as transportation or, yes, publishing, he jumps to pie-in-the-sky proposals with anecdotal evidence for justification: his prescription for the airline industry is to mimic RyanAir's wishes to make tickets free in exchange for revenues earned via in-flight gambling. The author seems to believe that we will agree with his arguments purely on the basis that they exist instead of the usual persuasions of rhetoric.

I'm very interested in what the critical reception to the book will be, especially from other tech journalists and bloggers. Even in my department at work (online marketing in publishing), this book has been defended and excoriated in equal measure. ...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Ryan Holiday rated it liked it

There's this example What Would Google Do? where Jarvis talks about how newspapers could respond to Huffington Post setting up a new blogging venture in Chicago. He basically says that they should become their new best friend - forget that they are competition and think long term. They'd get more out of magnanimity than being territorial.

But, he concludes, it doesn't matter because "news organizations don't yet think that way." The thing is, no one does. People, like Marcus Aurelius There's this example What Would Google Do? where Jarvis talks about how newspapers could respond to Huffington Post setting up a new blogging venture in Chicago. He basically says that they should become their new best friend - forget that they are competition and think long term. They'd get more out of magnanimity than being territorial.

But, he concludes, it doesn't matter because "news organizations don't yet think that way." The thing is, no one does. People, like Marcus Aurelius said, are "meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly." We shouldn't be surprised when they act that way.

The benefits of being open minded, collaborative, honest, and helpful are not new. We've been extolling those virtues since Aesop. Or on Google's business end, being scalable, keeping overhead low, treating your customers like partners, pocketing less value than you create. Those are the basic, bedrock fundamentals of business.

My point is that we already know all that stuff is good. Awareness isn't the problem. Children know that you shouldn't be evil. We don't need to praise it anymore. What we should be discussing is how to practice it.

The book itself falls into the gap between knowing and doing. Jeff misses a very teachable lesson at the juncture where he is mature enough to admit that it's sort of contradictory to take the most old school way of publishing his idea - advance from a major publishing house, syndicate part of the book in a magazine right at the release date, etc. His words: Sorry. Dogs got to eat.

Right. Welcome to reality. Where we all live. Where some entertainment companies would probably do innovative things but are tied to crazy artists. Or, companies controlled by petty bosses or signed leases or long term contracts or institutional inertia. The problem isn't that they haven't asked the right rhetorical question. If doing what Google does was easy, they'd have already done it. Since it's hard, they haven't.

This book and books like it lack concreteness. What would Google do is a great question. It's a wonderful title for a book. But it's not well served by 250 pages of proof that it's the right one to ask. We know this. Our collective wisdom knows this.

So what specifically makes Google able to ignore the barriers that trip other people up? How do they keep the instinct to be surly, meddling, dishonest and jealous from taking over? How can people put the brakes on a direction they know is conflict with their long term goals? In other words, we're trying to solve organizational problem with psychological treatments and it's never going to work. WWGD? has all sort of great examples of good - as in not evil - decisions that Google and other companies have made. What is doesn't have is much introspection as to how they fought the resistance towards making it.

I'd really like to read a book that doesn't think the solution lies in more talking. If you were to suggest one of the ideas in the book where you work nobody would tell you it was stupid - they'd just say "it's not realistic." THAT is where we need pages. Not to say Jeff's book isn't good (it is), it's just not what it could be. It's lame to treat all this as some revelation because it's not. It should be a starting off point. ...more

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Apr 11, 2015 Dianne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science, non-fiction

"Google is an avalanche and it has only just begun to tumble down the mountain."
The world wide web is an amazing phenomena in the way that religion is a phenomena. You may love it, you may hate it or you may be somewhere inbetween. Regardless where you are in that spectrum it is here and like religion it is powerful so we might as well try to learn about it. At first I thought this book was going to be about as exciting as the manual that used to come in the box with a new computer but it' ...more

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Aug 12, 2009 Natali rated it really liked it

Although I think this book is about 50 pages too long, I still highly recommend it to anyone trying to understand modern economy and culture. I was afraid that it would be a big bowing down to Google, which I see enough of in my career. It isn't. Instead, it is a series of case studies proving how companies like Google are leading a civil movement against closed-system corporation culture.

I didn't feel like I needed this paradigm applied to so many industries. Jarvis uses the Google template to ...more

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Aug 13, 2015 Chris Cahill rated it did not like it

Never before have I wanted to burn a book once I finished it.

I bought this at a charity shop to see what an outsider's perspective from 2011 matched with my insider's perspective in 2015. Unfortunately, Jarvis' canonization of the all holy "link" and constant chset-pumping of his own resume make me want to save anyone else from wasting their time with this trash. The only friend I would give this book to would be someone I know to be a true masochist.

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Nov 10, 2010 Hinch rated it really liked it

What Would Google Do? is not a book about Google. At least not directly. This is a manifesto for the social web. A book arguing for transparency, openness, and collaboration. A book imploring that we think differently; beseeching businesses to hand over control to their clients; to share and innovate; to develop platforms and networks of trust; to encourage discovery and diversity over secrecy and authority; to adopt a mindset of abundance over the scarcity models of the past. Google is position What Would Google Do? is not a book about Google. At least not directly. This is a manifesto for the social web. A book arguing for transparency, openness, and collaboration. A book imploring that we think differently; beseeching businesses to hand over control to their clients; to share and innovate; to develop platforms and networks of trust; to encourage discovery and diversity over secrecy and authority; to adopt a mindset of abundance over the scarcity models of the past. Google is positioned as the poster child of this new paradigm, the exemplar of the modern company. And the question, What Would Google Do?, is our call to action. A call challenging our assumptions of what is required to succeed in a world that is increasingly public and interconnected.

I came to this book dragging my feet. I've followed the work of Jeff Jarvis on his blog, buzzmachine.com, and on the weekly technology show, This Week in Google, for over 12 months. I'm a computer engineer, and an over zealous consumer of everything "web". I like Jeff. He is an insightful and opinionated professional, and although I respect his work, I feared he would deliver a book that had little to offer but the well trodden ground espoused in contemporary works such as Here Comes Everybody, The Long Tail, and The Wisdom of the Crowds. I was wrong. It is true that the themes and case studies are rarely original, but the accompanying analysis is uniquely compelling. There is no filler in this book. There is no preamble. No stage setting. No summaries and other secondary text. The formalism that frequently paralyzes non-fiction books is replaced by a rich and engaging conversation. Jeff is comfortable in this space, and it shows.

The first half of the book outlines the principles that underpin the companies that have originated and prospered in the internet age. The second half of the book considers how these principles can be applied to other industries: journalism, retail, insurance, politics, and even religion. And it was within this latter section that I started to grow unsettled. You see, Jeff is a futurist. In his words, an "internet triumphalist". He is the kind of man who doesn't see the glass half full, but rather overflowing. He is incessantly positive. Painfully hopeful. He is also a limitless fountain of ideas. And this is where I came unstuck. For his ideas, many of which are undoubtedly brilliant, are offered up like the rapid fire of a machine gun - so hastily that they are never considered critically. The fact that these ideas are often impracticable, or even contradictory, fails to stem his enthusiasm.

At one point I was reminded of a blog post by Seth Godin, in which he listed tips for increasing traffic to your web site: 1. write short posts, 2. write long posts, 3. write about your kids, 4. don't write about your kids, etc. The point was "there is no formula", but, like many internet evangelists, it appears Jeff has over extended the principle, and confused the incredible success of the few, with the guaranteed success of the many. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, etc, are astounding success stories. This is undeniable. And yet for every winner, there are thousands of us who tweet into an empty void. A willingness to be social is no guarantee of friends. A desire to share is no guarantee that someone will listen.

In one part of the book Jeff presents options for introducing "socialness" to the restaurant industry. Whilst discussing ideas for crowd sourcing menus and personalizing service models, I began to ponder my most cherished dining experience: a small family-run restaurant in Rome without a menu and without choice. You walked in. Sat down. And a meal was placed on your table. This was not a menu by committee. It wasn't an open source recipe. It was an experience welded to the history of a single family, shrouded in secrecy, and founded on authority. We can be sentimental creatures. Indeed the quirks of human psychology, our irrationality, and our stubbornness, may be the difference between an the success or failure of an open and collaborative project. Unfortunately, like the engineers at Google, operating solely at the direction of raw data at the expense of aesthetics and subjective decision making, Jeff does not stop to consider such subtleties. As Leo Laporte (the host of This Week in Google) has said to Jeff on many occasions - "your call for openness and standardization is admirable - even desirable, but Jeff, your dreams of utopia are not always feasible".

These criticisms, however, do little to dent the overall message of the book. Jeff's insight into the changing nature of our world is mesmerizing. His words are delivered with the certainty of experience, and with the wonder of a man still on the journey to a charmed future. Even for those convicted to the philosophy of the web, this is a frequently challenging, and always engaging read. Definitely recommended. ...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Carrie rated it really liked it

I will use this book in my future entrepreneurial journalism course, and possibly social media as well - which is saying a lot, because I rarely add new required texts.

If you read Jarvis' blog/follow him on Twitter etc. and are generally well-read when it comes to digital disruption, there isn't much new here - but it's still an excellent, clear summary of the way not just Google but social media and the web more generally are changing many industries, including journalism, media, and education I will use this book in my future entrepreneurial journalism course, and possibly social media as well - which is saying a lot, because I rarely add new required texts.

If you read Jarvis' blog/follow him on Twitter etc. and are generally well-read when it comes to digital disruption, there isn't much new here - but it's still an excellent, clear summary of the way not just Google but social media and the web more generally are changing many industries, including journalism, media, and education. I think it will be particularly useful for introducing students to these concepts, much like Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody."

Some of his critics say Jarvis pushes his argument too far, is too wholeheartedly a Google fanboy - but to that I say...yeah, but so what? I think we need some of that in a world in which far too many people are exactly the opposite - STILL unwilling to see the change smacking them in the face. You don't have to agree with every word to believe that books like these and Shirky's serve a very useful purpose. We need our evangelists for the new age.

The one part I struggle with is with the Googlification of education. I am all for disruption in education in principle, and I wholeheartedly agree that even if I wasn't, tough luck - it's coming. But my experience as an educator who works with a lot of non-elite, first generation college students is such that we have a long way to go to marshal the forces of the web and disruption to provide greater access to high quality education to all. Why? Because we can Googlfy education and learning more easily that we can Googlfy motivation and grit, and at the end of the day, no learning goes on without those two things. Maybe motivation and grit will flower in an era of greater abundance, but I worry.

I like his point that most of our education system is still too highly focused on conformity and memorization; and that maybe that push for sameness that saturates the entire system is what turns kids off to learning - by the time I get them in college, maybe it is all but too late. I love this quote:

"There is an abundance of talent and a limitless will to create, but they have been tamped down by an educational system that rewarded only a few against, and discouraged by a critical system that anointed a closed creative class."

Yes. But. I teach classes in which there are never quizzes or tests (no memorization - who needs it in a Google age?) and creativity and innovation are encouraged, even demanded - we build things and make stuff. We play with new social media tools, make cool multimedia projects on topics entirely of their choice, and/or we build media startups. And I have some success with that - but frankly it is a relatively small handful of students who actively participate, even do the required work. You can bring them to the Googley classroom but you can't make all of them drink.
...more

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Feb 01, 2009 Jon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-i-ve-finished-in-09

This might be my favorite read so far of 2009 (although I thoroughly enjoyed Outliers and Here Comes Everybody as well). I love discussing creative disruption and this book is full of that. While some of the best ideas aren't Jeff's (Umair Haque and Fred Wilson are heavy influences and mentioned repeatedly in the book) for me it didn't much matter because of the importance and timeliness of the subject matter. If you're entrepreneur you have to read this book.

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Mar 18, 2013 Deniz rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-çeviri, business

I can't tell you how happy I am to be done with this book. Since I cannot let a book go without finishing it, this one became an obstacle that prevented me from moving on to other books. It was so repetitive and hollow that I wanted to punch the author for wasting my time and money.

The main idea of the book is really interesting and worth delving into, because what Google does is truly great. But Jarvis shouldn't be an author, or, he shouldn't write books. I'm sure he's doing fine writing ...more

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Jan 08, 2019 Tamara rated it really liked it

Google is the biggest company of our generation. “Hey google” is the easiest way to get an answer whether you're on your phone or computer.

In 2009 Jeff Jarvis wrote a book exploring the principles that made google a success and how those could be applied to other businesses.

Jarvis explored how other industries could be “Googlefied.” Jarvis looks at all the major industries from Airlines to Soda manufactures and asks how they can be more like Google. He provides ideas and insights for a wide ra ...more

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Nov 16, 2017 Antonia Munteanu rated it really liked it

I think it is a good start to better understand how Google works. It is not a black hole where all our information goes, behind it were people that made the decisions on how to simulate artificial intelligence.
My granny was using Google and was always seeing it like a wise friend. This book give her an understanding on what it is behind the click, each commercial that you get depending on gender and so on.

I did not read any similar books so this makes it hard to rate it by comparison. Hope thi ...more

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Apr 01, 2009 Dave rated it really liked it

Posted on my blog at http://blog.liftdevelopment.com:

I recently finished reading the book "What Would Google Do?" by author/blogger/journalist Jeff Jarvis. Jarvis is probably recognized primarily as proprietor of the popular blog Buzzmachine.com. I had an interest in this book right from the start because I am fascinated with the approach Google takes to everything they do: Offering premium services for free and finding alternative ways to make their money. A lot of money.

Without giving too much of the boo Posted on my blog at http://blog.liftdevelopment.com:

I recently finished reading the book "What Would Google Do?" by author/blogger/journalist Jeff Jarvis. Jarvis is probably recognized primarily as proprietor of the popular blog Buzzmachine.com. I had an interest in this book right from the start because I am fascinated with the approach Google takes to everything they do: Offering premium services for free and finding alternative ways to make their money. A lot of money.

Without giving too much of the book away, Jarvis first dives into the "Google Rules." These are concepts which he feels Google (and other successful web companies) follow which make them successful in the growing world of social media and instant search.

One of the firsthand stories that really summed up the status of marketing and customer relations in the Googlefied world today was Jarvis' own example of typing "Dell sucks" on his blog after a bad customer service experience. The buzz from that single post grew and grew, and it eventually reached the front page of Google for the keyword "dell," at which point Jarvis got a call from Dell and they tried to make it all better. Dell has since changed their approach to service and actually uses Twitter to keep a finger on the pulse of their customer base. Marketing has become less of a bullhorn and more of a conversation.

The concept that I really took away from this book was the idea of being a platform. Google is a platform. Facebook is a platform. Twitter is a platform. We as users of the web can create our own online brand using these tools. Businesses can do the same. Give people control to create and improve...and they will. From my own standpoint, so much of my business is Google-based. Get up in the morning, check my Google-hosted Gmail, read my favorite blogs on Google Reader, browse news topics from the past 24 hours on Google search, etc. The platform is alive and well.

As for making money, Jarvis argues that the idea of a "side-door" is where it's at in the Web 2.0 world. If your platform itself is not free or at-cost, someone can easily come in and undercut you. However, if you are running free services and able to create a side-method for income (think Google's ad-words/ad-sense concepts), your user base will be much greater and your income will instead be generated from marketers.

The last half of the book was Jarvis' attempt to apply Google concepts to other business types: media, advertising, retail, utilities, manufacturing, airlines, real estate, money, welfare, etc. Some of these were really interesting, and some were kind of "out there" in my mind. But Google is an "out there" company and I guess that's why they're so successful.

I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in the direction of business in a Web 2.0 world.
...more

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Oct 31, 2010 Howard rated it it was amazing

This book is written in two parts. The first outlines the rules for how Google works and is so successful in a digital economy. In essence, he reverse engineers the company. The second part of the book applies these rules to show how different industries can apply these rules to move from being atom-based to being digital, to moving from profiting from scarcity to profiting from abundance.

I find the author's cautious but enthusiastic optimism refreshing. So many times these types of ...more

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Jul 18, 2010 Ahmad rated it liked it

It should be 3.5 stars out of 5 (or somewhere between 3-4 stars).

In this book, author Jeff Harvis of BuzzMachine.com, discusses the concept of "Googlethink". He takes Google and studies what made today's huge company, an enormously successful organization and how that success can be transferred to other industries.

The book is divided into 2 parts. The first of which is the answer to "What/Why?" as in "What/Why is Google successful?". Jeff discusses the concepts of "Google ...more

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Mar 25, 2009 David rated it liked it

I have to admit that the title of this book put me off from the start. Could it be a serious book based on a blatant rip off of WWJD. So I was a bit grumpy to start with, but the author won me over by the end of the book.

Jarvis does a pretty good job of pulling apart some of the things that Google has done and tries to apply it to other industries.

Google is perhaps give a bit too much credit as being the saviour of all businesses. Google got lucky with Adsense - it was a ...more

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Jan 31, 2011 David rated it liked it

Shelves: business, audiobook

While the title implies that this is a book about the Internet, this book really covers a much broader topic: This is a book for all types of businesses; restaurants, airlines, real estate companies, computer manufacturers, you name it. Its subject is about figuring out what business a company is really in, and then serving its real customers. Many large companies flail around because they cannot decide on what their real products and services are. The book is about building trust in one's compa ...more

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Feb 02, 2009 Christopher rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dorobekinsider-com, federal-news-radio-book-club

I love this book -- it is why I selected it for Federal News Radio 1500 AM's Federal News Radio Book Club next month.

In the end, this book isn't really about Google. It is about being agile and sharing information and how to operate in a very new and very competitive world.

I think it particularly speaks to government, which could use some new ways of thinking.

Not all of these ideas are brand new, but Jarvis does a good job building and adding to what has been out there... an ...more

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Aug 09, 2013 Jinsong Zhang rated it liked it

A good one to read, and like many of Jeff's ideas.
Quotable quotes:

Do what you do best and link to the rest
When you complain make sure you are giving a gift
At Google, we are the God, and our data is the bible

But could hardly agree that life is a beta. Life is never something one can come back to fix. Rather it is a road taken or not taken:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference(Robert Frost).

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Jun 06, 2011 Tim Kubiak rated it really liked it

A quick easy read with a some interesting comparisons of how google and ultimately the internet will open up industries. There were several references to Clue Train Manifesto and many of the positions reminded me of segments of Wikinomics and Naked Conversations but still was worth the time to read.

If nothing else it will force you to look at inefficient business processes and the business of innovation itself.

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Jan 28, 2011 Michael Carnell rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Geeks, new media types, and business folks

Hard to give the one a rating. Jeff Jarvis is a brilliant guy and he has some really good insights into Google. The only problem is he tends to repeat himself in the book. Once his point is made, he makes it over and over again. I would recommend really reading the first third, lightly reading the second third, and skimming the final third.

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Feb 17, 2012 Jacob Senholt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, danish

Didn't have many expectations for this book, but it actually ended up giving me quite a few ideas. The last chapter on 'generation g', also brings up some interesting perspectives about the future of the modern world, and especially how technology changes the way we interact and think (resulting in future changes, 'power to the people' etc. as currently evidenced in the Arab Spring risings).

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Jul 12, 2014 Lindley Walter-smith rated it it was ok

I managed to slog through this for a Coursera course, but it seems badly thought out and embarrassingly fanboyish about Google, Apple (for some reason) and himself (the whole Dell Hell thing), while gliding over any complications.

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Jun 18, 2012 Rushay Booysen rated it really liked it

This book dissect how google and other technology platforms basically transformed everything as we know it.Was a real informative read and alters ones approach to conventional ism

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Sep 08, 2011 Dirk rated it really liked it

Maybe a bit overoptimistic and too enthusiastic about technology but still an interesting read

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Oct 02, 2018 Adam rated it really liked it

Excellent. I feel like we all think we know how Google works. Simple, smart and “do no evil”. I learned a lot with this and it was very readable – this is what I am looking for when I read non-fiction. I learn a lot from reading scientific papers but they can be too taxing as they’re usually ostentatious and dryly written. Fiction tends to be easier to follow but I tend to learn less.

Google, like Amazon, found opportunity in very low profit margins. The internet as a platform is huge Excellent. I feel like we all think we know how Google works. Simple, smart and “do no evil”. I learned a lot with this and it was very readable – this is what I am looking for when I read non-fiction. I learn a lot from reading scientific papers but they can be too taxing as they’re usually ostentatious and dryly written. Fiction tends to be easier to follow but I tend to learn less.

Google, like Amazon, found opportunity in very low profit margins. The internet as a platform is huge, so as long as you achieve scale, who cares that your profit margin per person is low? They went so low that everyone wanted to use them, and eventually, once they’d achieved scale, there were no competitors.

They knew what type of business they were. They remained a simple, powerful, no nonsense, search engine. Competitors like Yahoo wasted resources on trying to be content providers and shoved this into the search engine. I would add to this that whilst Google has expanded, its search engine remains pretty much the same as it was 20 years ago.

Google provides a service and then gets the hell out of your way.

Google treats its audience as distributors. Nowadays, companies like Facebook do this too.

An aside mentioned in the book is that as there can be more content online than on broadcast television, it means there can be more stars. Back in the day, you had few places to consume content, whether it be soap operas, comedies or cooking shows. This meant that there were fewer celebrities, but that each celebrity received, on average, a larger percentage of the viewership. I would add to this the flip side that this previous paradigm meant that you could not become successful hosting a niche show, as you would be outcompeted by the shows with much larger demographics. A great example of this is probably mixed martial arts, which could not break through to the masses with massive competitors from other sports, especially boxing. With the internet, fans all over the globe were able to come together and more easily consume the content. It was tough to watch an event in Japan if was not on TV anywhere else and if exporting it was prohibitively expensive.

Despite all of this, I do not like how much Alphabet (parent of Google) is policing YouTube and potentially how it might be doing this to give preferential search rankings to some sites. This isn't really discussed in this book but this was written in 2009.

I'd like to see an Amazon version of this, so let me know if one turns up...

Rambling done. ...more

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May 04, 2018 Keeganbutler rated it really liked it

The book What Would Google Do by Jeff Jarvis, is a book analyzing the current marketplace, with the introduction of the internet and google. It breaks down how google became successful. It references how other companies became successful as well. The main message of the book is to let the customers have the power, and don’t hide things from them. Google was one of the first companies to do this, and set in motion this new form of thinking. Old companies, who have stuck with their old philosophy ...more

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Apr 07, 2019 Alex Shaikh rated it really liked it

Seriously the author Jeff Jarvis is in love with Google like I am but Jeff is more like obsessed with Google. If Google was a person, Jeff will be the stalker. I believe this is a profound book about changes in the business world created by continued advancement of the information age. The book as I read it, really is not about Google, per se. Instead it is a thoughtful discussion as to how all kinds of businesses will be impacted by the forces on which Google has so brilliantly capitalized. Ove ...more

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Dec 13, 2018 Don rated it did not like it

Everything in this book is at least 10 years old and in the world of the Internet that is an eternity. Pretty much everything he is saying that is so revolutionary in this book has been standard business practice for many many years and is obvious. He says the word blog about 1000 times in the first few chapters and I couldn’t take it anymore. I quit reading it after two chapters.

The story about Dell and they’re supposed turn around is BS because even though they went out and fixed problems for ...more

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Mar 02, 2019 Penny rated it liked it

I did this as an audio book read by the author. I've had the paperback on my shelf for years and haven't managed to get around to it.

I enjoyed the analysis of the things that set Google apart from all other companies. I'm a fan and so it was interesting to read. However, the book is a tad dated now, though still worthwhile if you have a company or blog/internet presence. There's a lot to learn from Google's example regardless of the arena you play in.

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About Jeff Jarvis

Jeff Jarvis

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Jeff Jarvis is an American journalist writing for publications such as New York Daily News, the San Francisco Examiner, and The Guardian. In 2006 he became an associate professor at City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism, directing its new media program. He is a co-host on This Week in Google, a show on the TWiT Network.

Picture by Robert Scoble

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Quotes from What Would Google...

“Memorization is not as vital a discipline as fulfilling curiosity with research and reasoning.....Internet and Google literacy should be taught to help students vet facts and judge reliability.” — 8 likes

“Writing in Library Journal, Ben Vershbow of the Institute for the Future of Book envisioned a digital ecology in which "parts of books will reference parts of other books. Books will be woven toghether out of components in remote databases and servers." Kevin Kelly wrote in The New York times Magagzine: "In the the new world of books, every bit informs another; every page reads all the other pages.” — 6 likes

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