In short – yes, and it is becoming more and more obvious everyday. In fact, yesterday, with the release (courtesy, Mashable) of Google Buzz they made a very strategic move that not only shows their interest in your social behavior but brings a tidy package to your mobile experience as well. AdAge has an article from the beginning of the year that shows the steps they are taking to be the dominant leader in this space – and it is a 360 degree approach. Google is not interested in one aspect of the equation, rather, they are intent on owning the landscape – from device, through service, and by application (if you are a doubter, watch the video below). This quote says it best:
“Now imagine this (it’s not hard): Google is your go-to source for almost all of your interdependent needs when you are out and about, not just mobile phone needs, but “mobility“ needs. It’s the device you use, the search engine that helps you find things, the map that tells you how to get there and the coupon you use to get a discount at a preferred restaurant or local shop, all in one seamless experience.”
ZDNet’s Dion Hinchcliffe has a robust, and sharp analysis of Google Buzz that is definitely worth the read.
Today a trusted media partner sent me a note about a Google search he had done on Starbucks during his business trip to Seattle. The subject line of the email: “Starbucks” search results & you! wow… Curious, I opened the email to find a screen shot of what his search result delivered. Interestingly enough – there is a new feature in Google’s search results that I had not seen before. That feature (in Beta, of course) delivers results for your search from people in your social circle. I know for a fact that this partner reads my blog from time to time and has it delivered as an RSS Feed to his iGoogle account. Google recognizes that, and delivers a search result based on that connection. Nice job Google – closing the loop on keyword search and your personal social graph. I’m impressed.
When I think of Google, I envision everything they do centering around an online presence – including the way they promote their goods and services. Very rarely do I look for an advertisement promoting Google’s wares in an offline environment – not in a magazine, newspaper, or TV – and certainly not on a billboard?!! Well – that all changed recently… Yes – Google has gone traditional in promoting their new Enterprise web-based suite of messaging and collaboration applications. Interesting approach, and not the first time they have gone offline to attract users to their cloud applications, as reported by BrandWeek today. Here’s the curious thing – if you take a good hard look at how the message is displayed on a the billboard, there are less than 140 characters AND a short url. Coincedence or foreshadowing of a future ‘Google App’?
I, being in my nascent stages of Twitter usage, apparently have very little Twitter Cred…but get some love on Google – see my results. What I find baffling is that neither service does a good job of selecting ‘portions’ of the search term. For example – search ‘Veneski’ vs. ‘dveneski’ vs. ‘David Veneski’ and you get vastly different results. Logical or did I just ‘mis-brand’ myself on Twitter?
You can quickly see how you rate through a service call Twoogle. Since there is a big debate these days about Twitter Search being more ‘real time’ relevant than the results through Google, this is a pretty interesting side by side comparison of the search capabilities of each medium.
It’s an occurence we see almost every year. A company that is small, nimble, and revolutionary can take on the ‘old’ guard and turn it on its head. While I would hardly consider Google part of the ‘old’ guard, it does appear to be starting to take on the characteristics the larger ship that becomes harder to steer as it takes on passengers. At first, GOOG’s premise was simple – they did ‘search’ better than anyone. They still do, for now, but they also have sprouted many branches from the original tree. This leaves their core discipline exposed to companies that are more nimble and more wholey focused on one objective. Chris O’Brien spells out the story here. I love this quote in the article…it’s so true: “Typically, when such goliaths are slain, it’s because they failed to recognize the threat and make the necessary changes until it was too late.“
I’m an early riser. I’m up at dawn, walk the dogs, get myself ready and then head into work. One of the first things I do is check Facebook. I used to check sports scores first. What happened? Well, to be fair I still hit the sports page – but it’s just not the FIRST thing I do EVERY morning… Facebook has changed my behavior. Has it done the same for you?
Research Fortune has done for this article says yes… “This addictive quality keeps Facebook’s typical user on the site for an average of 169 minutes a month, according to ComScore. Compare that with Google News, where the average reader spends 13 minutes a month checking up on the world, or the New York Times website, which holds on to readers for a mere ten minutes a month.”
When I think of 
