Friday, March 17, 2006

According to the Official Google Blog, Google is now offering "up-to-the-minute sports scores and schedules" via cell-phone text messaging -- just in time for the NCAA college basketball tournament.

In yet another instance of a major tech company moving into the content-delivery realm, this move puts Google's service directly in competition with services provided by some news Web sites, such as KUsports.com.

How does a news organization compete?

First, realize that sports scores and schedules are a commodity. Also, focus on what your organization can provide that Google can't: local expertise and flavor. Offer player-specific SMS updates written by beat reporters. Get writers to distill the essence of the game into bite-sized text messages, and send 'em out a couple of times per half. Go beyond bland numbers and provide tenderly crafted value.

Google can automate the publishing of numbers and dates, but it can't (and, from what I can tell, doesn't want to) automate human judgment. Exploit that.

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