Is there anything that Google cannot do? Google has always been at the forefront of breakthrough innovations which have changed the way the world uses the Internet.On the way, Google has had its share of controversies primarily on the privacy front.But, the internet community still thrives on Google products and Google never disappoints by adding simple yet useful value additions to its ever increasing portfolio of internet products.
However, Google seems to have irked the ailing newspaper industry badly.With the traditional media losing steam with advertisers, the traditional media industry is losing the battle to digital media.It is clearly evident from the recent face-off between Mr.Rupert Mudroch and Google over Google’s oh-so useful product Google News.
Call it Google’s way of answering the likes of Mr.Mudroch or its focus on simplify the web, LivingStories is out there to redefine Online Publishing especially news.A Google Labs product, LivingStories has taken a leaf out of Google News and enhanced the experience of catching up with the latest news.
Google has partnered with two of the leading newspapers The New York Times and The Washington Post to come out with a one stop online home for reading news.Unlike Google News, there are no excerpts here.The publishing industry has always attacked Google News on the context of Excerpts which supposedly make the publishing industry lose money.LivingStories is a clear attempt to answer the concerns by only showing the headlines.
However, it is the innovative execution of collating the related news is what make LivingStories a worthy product.Google has gone one step further and has implemented what any news reader would love to see.A timeline of events related to a news article
LivingStories collates all the related stories in a timeline and helps the user get a complete picture of the unfolding of a events leading to the news.So, now with one click the reader gets to read the summary,the important events associated with the story and the option to read through specific event news all in one page.
The product is still in its nascent stages and the news update is not particularly fast.However, instead of locking horns with the publishing industry over “All your news is mine” issues , Google has done what it does best – Re-define the user experience.The partnership details have not been disclosed but Google sure is giving the publishers some food for thought to re-consider their angst against Google.
If the project is successful, Google plans to open the code and let publishers implement the same with their own content and advertisements
Google is sending out signals to the publishing industry that it is not out there to kill the publishing industry, rather to help them leverage technology and internet the way the publishing houses have never thought before.
What are your thoughts on LivingStories? Will it change the mindset of the traditional publishing houses? It sure looks like a winner from the user/reader perspective and from the looks of it , the publishing industry might reap handsome rewards too.
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Author: Ankit Agarwal
Ankit Agarwal is an ERP Consultant by profession, a wannabe entrepreneur and stock market stalker by passion. You can follow him on twitter @ankit_aRelated posts:
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Really great. I don’t know if Google really did that to revive the publishing industry, but really this can be a bit of breather. The publishing industry would definitely not stay for long, but things like these can definitely give it some time to penetrate through the internet and find other sources of revenue.
If not to revive the publishing industry, google is trying to make a point that the publishers should not fear the digital medium and google is capable of helping them make money out of it too.
The attempt is to showcase the power of technology and bring home the point that the publishing industry can increase revenue with the help of Internet too
Must say that Google has surely created a WOW element by implementing the timeline feature. Lets see how far does this product goes in reviving the publishing industry.