Google CEO Eric Schmidt penned a column for British publication The Sun Online, where he cited several examples of how people have become empowered by the availability of an online connection and new technology.
Schmidt followed up his address of the Tory Conference in London with the article, where he explored the present and possible future for people who work or play online. Google’s long-time stated goal has been to organize all the world’s information, and people have given the company plenty to organize:
Shelf space, air time, room on the pages of a newspaper – these used to determine which artists got their records played, what TV shows we watched and which elite opinions appeared in print. Now anyone can record songs and put them online. Or shoot home movies, edit them, add special effects and broadcast them to millions worldwide.
He makes a very apt statement. While I’m typing away within the lead-lined writer’s room at Murdok HQ, a number of co-workers have been working hard at making video content available for our site visitors. Eighteen months ago, the prospect of doing this simply was not part of the conversation.
A growing number of media netcasters have aspirations to try to reach a video audience. Just as websites, blogs, and podcasts increased over time, video will do the same. Schmidt noted how the future will look with more and more content arriving online:
As more information becomes available, the harder it’ll be to find what you are looking for, and the more important search will become.
Expect to see more personalized searches too – bringing quicker, more accurate results.
Think mobile – because people are increasingly going to access the web through their phones.
Opening emails, checking the weather, reading the news headlines – you don’t need to be at your desk to do these things.
Personalization and mobility, these are very important concepts because if they are on Schmidt’s mind, one can be pretty sure that indicates Google the company considers them important.
This should be a signal to search marketers of which way the winds are blowing in that field. If Google wants to reach people everywhere, by name if possible, those who do paid search might find customers hitting their landing pages expecting a personalized response.
Beyond the task of organizing all of the digital information they can access, Schmidt sees some potential for technology fulfilling a vision of his:
And then there’s my dream product – I call it serendipity.
It works like this. You have two computer screens. On one you’re typing, on the other comments appear checking the accuracy of what you are saying, suggesting better ways of making the same point.
This would be good for journalists and politicians too!
Impossible you might say. But I’m an optimist about human nature.
We can’t help but think a system that automatically rejected political claims that twist the truth could wipe out a large segment of the Internet today. Let us hope Schmidt and Google make such fact-checking an opt-in, manual process.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
