{From my lastest Huffington Post article.}
Everyone is talking about Google's new operating system. A threat to Microsoft?
Journalists should note he way Google announced it – in a blog post. A threat to newspapers?
From the Wall Street Journal's email alert (emphasis added):
News Alert from The Wall Street Journal
Google Inc. is preparing to launch an operating system for personal computers, a direct assault on the turf of software giant Microsoft Corp., which has long dominated the market for software that runs PC applications.
The Silicon Valley Internet giant announced the new move in a blog post late Tuesday night. It said the software, which will initially target low-end portable PCs called netbooks, would be based on its Chrome Web browser and available to consumers in the second-half of 2010.
Yes, folks. The Wall Street Journal is quoting a blog post in what may turn out to be the biggest tech news of the year. (So did the Washington Post, AP, and everyone else.) And Google didn't even think it was necessary to call the newspapers.
As of 6 am EST, Google search found 626 articles about the story (yes, there's some irony there):
For those of you still on the fence about the role of blogs — there's your answer.
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{ 7 comments }
Great move by Google. The company doesn’t have to immediately start answering questions, as it would do at a normal press conference. As a result, the message is much more controlled, and, of course, it adds to the Google mystique.
You’re right on, Andy.
Well this is great… if you’re Google. Google’s news would be news no matter what, but that isn’t necessarily true of every start-up in the Valley, let alone every company on the planet.
I totally agree it’s really important to post your own news on your own channel like a blog, but press releases and other traditional methods still have their value to those of us not working at the Googles and Apples of the world.
And this comes just as we’ve been hearing some who should know better shouting, “Blogs are Dead!” Seems like that meme comes around about once a year or so.
Apparently Google thinks blogs are alive and well. Go figure.
This is proof that reporters are becoming more information saavy. Five years ago people would use the phrase “Don’t believe what you see on the internet” now folks are saying “Well if you hear it on Twitter it must be true…hahahaha” I suppose in five years they’ll be quoting twitter and facebook as real sources too. Just proves they know where to find sources and who to trust.
-Keith Burtis
Great observation! It didn’t sink in that the mode of information transmission Google selected didn’t involve newspapers at all…
I heard a related story on the radio the other day, that the WSJ online had posted something about the financial troubles newspapers are in these days. I thought “How funny, that NPR is quoting WSJ.com, not WSJ.paper.”
And all the bloggers chanted, and so say all of us!
Can we PLEASE put the discussion about SOURCE of news to bed?
a television,
Vetted, worthwhile, and credible “news” CAN and IS news no matter if it derives from
1) a blog,
2) a dog-biting man,
3) a Tweet,
4) a twit,
5) a seasoned reporter,
6) an impassioned victim who wants to tell the world of HER experience,
7) a paper full of news,
9) someone with a video camera and live video feed, or
10) ANY website
And let us remember the definition of NEWS:
news [nooz, nyooz]
–noun (usually used with a singular verb)
1. a report of a recent event; intelligence; information: His family has had no news of his whereabouts for months.
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