After visiting Google’s Search Blog this afternoon, one begins to understand how the rumor mill works. It would seem the all the hubbub surrounding the possibility (pretty much a sure thing) of the Google Base seems to be attracting a slight amount of attention.
At last count, they had probably 150+ links in English, French, Spanish, Estonian, German, and some languages I didn’t recognize. I think I saw Klingon in there somewhere too. In any event, it is amusing to see how quickly buzz spreads around a subject like Google. The interesting thing is a fair portion of them says they are rumors in the title.
It forces my mind back to the days when a local rock band in California had their first concert. They were playing parties, clubs, just about any gig they could get. They had virtuoso level guitarist and an incredibly flamboyant lead singer. Word got around and when they gave their first concert, they had thousands of people show up. Word traveled fast by way of good old fashioned viral marketing. The band guitarist was Eddie, the lead singer was David and the band was Van Halen (I’ve dated myself now).
But it does show the power of speculation, the rumor mill and viral marketing. When Google eventually launches Google Base, whatever it entails, they won’t need to do much in the way of advertising initially. They get all the free publicity they want just be a simple little email to a couple of bloggers or something like the “mistake” they made by putting up the screen shots of the Google Base.
John Stith is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
