Google's garden lunch press party...
By Tom Foremski - May 12, 2006
I've been thinking about Google since the Press day. And thinking how much I still like the company, and that more and more of my friends are now working at Google. Not to mention the fact that I've seen Google, just like Yahoo, grow up from a two-room operation into a mega-media company.
And I've known these people, such as Eric Schmidt, many years--before Google was even a twinkle in Larry and Sergey's eyes.
And the Google Press Day was a familiar thing, familiar faces on the media side, and on the Google side.
When we broke for lunch, we sat outside in the gorgeous Norther California sunshine, around umbrella sheltered tables, enjoying being amongst each other, acting in the same way the other groups of people do when they know each other, and like each other. And that's how a lot of the media and the Silicon Valley companies interact.
A free lunch in pleasant surrounding doesn't mean that media coverage of Google or any Silicon Valley company will suffer. I takes more than that to buy off the media than a very fine cafeteria lunch in the sun, and everybody knows it. Such gatherings and interactions are essential for both groups get to know each other, and develop professional relationships so that fewer misunderstandings and mistakes occur.
To outsiders, to the readers of the media that were represented at the Google Press Day, it might seem like a cosy situation, maybe a tad too cosy.
However, I can assure you that journalism has a long tradition of biting the hand that feeds it, even pausing to put some steak sauce on it, and resuming the meal with gusto.
That's why you will see some great stories some good, some not, about GOOG coming out of the press corp. I've got one or two sizzling hot pieces in the works myself and you'll see the first one in a day or so.
« Howard High: Join in this live tribute to Intel's retriring chief spokesman | Main | The limits of Google's limitless business model »
May 12, 2006 | Permalink | Comment | Category: | Subscribe to SVW
- Top Stories:
- Tech Awards For Benefiting Humanity
- The Death Of The Search Algorithm? Techmeme Has Six Editors
- TEDxSF - Little TED Just Like The Big TED
- SNCR Research: Social Media IS Influencing Business Decisions
- What's Next? Beyond Real-Time...
- PearlTrees: A Novel Approach To Human Mapping Of The Internet
- MediaWatch Analysis Part II: Google Has More To Lose Than Murdoch
- MediaWatch Analysis: Murdoch Will Negotiate Payment For Access To Basket Of Content With GOOG et al
- WeekendWatcher: The Sheer Number Of Things Will Devalue Them
- ChipWatch - Where Will The Next Generation Of Engineers Come From?
- Public Healthcare Could Cut Startup Costs And Help Spur Innovation
- Is GOOG's $750m AdMob Buy Strategic Or Dumb? An alternate view...
Comments (7)
I do not disagree the media is independent. But most media (realize we are being loose with the term) just "projects". Because Google or Apple or MS is useful in their profession (and it is to bloggers also), does not mean it is just as important to a sales person, an accountant, a shop floor worker or a trader, Enterprise technologies get 10X the spend of consumer orientied technologies , but the media covers them with 1/10th the coverage. It's that "bias" which has always bothered me - see my post below. The question is not whether media is being fair to Google but why do so many journalists show up for media day in first place when other technology is relatively uncovered?
http://dealarchitect.typepad.com/deal_architect/2006/03/is_the_media_bi.html
Posted: May 12, 2006 5:18 AM
Those of us who are not intimate with Goog truly want to understand them - and its not easy. Where do you think Google wants to go with Video Content? Do they want to own the living room ten foot viewer as well as the two foot viewer at his/her pc? I assume they'll build their own medi center/sarch optimized PC if thats the case?
Posted: May 12, 2006 6:53 AM
Google gets the coverage because it is growing so fast and growing into everyone's business. It wants to be a $100bn company and won't say if it means revenues or market cap--it's kind of an inside joke at the company. And as for media, it showed a media player as one of "gadgets" you can use as part of the Google Desktop. Yes, there are lots of other companies and technologies that don't get the coverage but there is also lot less media around these days to cover anything...
Posted: May 12, 2006 10:45 AM
come now, Tom - are you seriously telling me there is not much money to be made in covering $ 2 trillion worth of annual enterprise IT spend? Fact is most media find Verizon, SAP, etc too boring to cover. They enjoy controversial leaders like Larry and put ink to that but when it comes to product or even strategic market coverage it is not that interesting...
Posted: May 12, 2006 11:02 AM
Vinnie, the trade papers covering the $2trillion IT spend are being decimated...if anyone is making the money it is the IT analyst shops such as Gartner and some of the new boys on the page, the Redmonks et al, and of course your goodself :-)
Posted: May 12, 2006 4:40 PM
Tom, so, 100 of them show up at a Google event and expect to make money? Sorry for being pedantic, but we need the media as another leg of the reporting/analytical stool...they have investigative and other skills analyst/bloggers do not...but they have to show some interest in covering enterprise stuff...
Posted: May 13, 2006 9:58 PM
I agree with you Vinnie, but GOOG gets the attention because there is so much interest in the company. And interest = lots of pageviews = advertiser $$. That's the problem with this trend towards content-for-performance. It works (somewhat) in the advertsing arena but should content be rewarded in the same way?
Posted: May 14, 2006 2:34 PM