Publicness

Googlejuice! Eight pages. Pages 40 to 48 alone are enough reason to buy the book. For me, reading about the importance of being "searchable" and how to be "searchable" is like turning on a light in a dark room.

This chapter is a rudimentary guide to a new reality. About.com is the poster child. About .com shows us how to use search engine optimization, SEO. Not only does it show you how, it tells you why.

Publicness. Life is public, so is business. This concept is somewhat counter-intuitive to our business instincts. Flickr is a great example of how publicness works in business. The author says, "...Living in public today is a matter of enlightened self interest."

Your customers are your ad agency. The author says so "fire your ad agency" he believes that with the Internet you don't need an agency. As someone in the agency business, this sounds threatening but when examined closely, to me it really means you don't need what ad agencies used to do. In my opinion, actually you do, you just need to know and use more tools in this new reality.

Businesses still need help from marketers just like people need doctors, lawyers and accountants. We may understand the concepts, but we need professionals in specialized areas. Actually, the internet gives agencies new tools to work with and to be creative with.

Google Apps

Main Google Apps link http://www.google.com/apps
Below are some sample links with a brief description.

Google Blog Builder
Blog software to create an online blog
http://googlewebtoolkit.blogspot.com/2007/10/epo-builder-built-with-gwt.html

Google Docs
Free web-based word processor and spreadsheet, which allow you share
and collaborate online
http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html

Google Calendar
You can access your calender from your computer or phone
http://www.google.com/intl/en/googlecalendar/about.html

Google Groups
Community Builder that can create mailing lists and discussion groups
http://groups-beta.google.com/googlegroups/tour3/index.html

Google Sketchup
3D online software structures can be used in Google earth
http://sketchup.google.com/

Google Picasa
Picasa is a software download from Google that helps you organize,
edit, and share your photos. It's free, and easy to use
http://picasa.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=93183

App Engine
Offers users the ability to build and host web applications on Google's
infrastructure.
http://code.google.com/appengine/kb/

Google Gears
Gears is a plug-in that expands your browser to offer a better platform for web applications
http://code.google.com/apis/gears/

New Architecture

New Architecture
The link changes everything
Do what you do best and link to the rest
Join a network
Be a platform
Think distributed

The above intro to the second chapter sums up one of the most important points in the book in my opinion.

The author describes his epiphany when after witnessing 9/11 he wrote a blog the next day thinking it would be only a way to share his
memories of the event. Some bloggers across
the country read his material and linked to him.
He responded and linked to them. The distributed conversation was born in his mind. Different places and different times made possible by the link.

“I saw a new structure of media: two-way and collaborative. I realized that this structure would redefine commerce, marketing, politics, government, education – the world. The link and search provided the means to find anything and connect anyone….” The first of many bold statements by the author. Most of them appear to be making sense of what the Internet is leading us to. He goes on to explain how blogs and networks lead us to social media and a whole new economic business model. He explains how cable, phone, newspaper and retail companies are being challenged by this new way of doing business.

He says networks are built atop platforms and that any of us could be a platform. He says Google, the Internet and Home Depot are all platforms. I am having trouble grasping this concept especially how I may able to build a platform for my own company. Perhaps another reader has a take on this.

Moving away from thinking centralized and toward thinking distributed is another concept where I would like to hear how other people interpret it. The examples are fascinating but I would like to learn more about how I can apply this to my business and my clients’ businesses.

The author throws a lot at us in this chapter. Great stories and examples. Feels like the first day of college all over again.

Jack Paolin