Amy Gahran touched on the "Google Base" project in an
earlier item,
but there's plenty more to say about it. With Google not talking, all
that's been written is speculation, yet there's enough information to
make some good guesses where this is going.
Here's a
brief statement
that Google issued yesterday on the Google Blog: "You may have seen
stories today reporting on a new product that we're testing, and
speculating about our plans. Here's what's really going on. We are
testing a new way for content owners to submit their content to Google,
which we hope will complement existing methods such as our web crawl
and Google Sitemaps. We think it's an exciting product, and we'll let
you know when there's more news."
That's a logical step for Google to take. Foremost, it's about giving
people a way to publish information on the Web without even having to
have their own website. Yes, if you have something to sell, posting it
on Google Base may be an alternative to placing a classified (at a
newspaper, on
Craigslist, etc.). Add Google's rumored "Google Purchases" service (likely to be a competitor to eBay's
Paypal)
and this is a significant threat to those classifieds and
personal-commerce players. But Base appears to be bigger than just
classifieds.
Google is so widely used that it could, you might think, knock
Craigslist off its high perch, and even deliver a body blow to
newspaper classifieds with Google Base. Could Google become the king of
all classifieds?
I'm not so sure that will happen, despite Google's heft. You see,
Craigslist became a success in large part because of its "community"
nature. If you've used Craigslist, you've probably experienced that
sense of community and interaction among its users. It's as though
Craigslist users in a community are part of a "tribe" -- everyone
helping each other out. Craigslist doesn't have that sterile
newspaper-classifieds feeling; it's a vibrant, active place.
Google Base, I'm guessing, will be an efficient, comprehensive commerce
database service (among other things). It may work well, but I have a
hard time imagining it being anything other than sterile. So perhaps
Craigslist will survive a Google onslaught because of its more human
nature.
What about newspaper classifieds? I'd recommend that they go the
Craigslist route. Turn newspaper classifieds into an active and
interactive community, instead of just static, dull listings. A
cold-hearted newspaper classifieds database could well be smothered by
Google classifieds. A local-focused interactive community may be less
vulnerable.
