The (industrial) (r)Evolution of Media

What is Google's likely role in the evolving media landscape?

2nd update 9 09 08: Bloomberg reports US hires attorney to challenge Yahoo-Google partnership on search ad placement:  

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awx_t6haGxVI&refer=home

Update: This post from Forrester marketing blog (about Google Chrome) helps to further the points in this post.   Google Chrome Will Boost Pre-emptive Contextual Advertising

The title of this blog refers to a few main themes associated with this important time in our history. An article in the NYT on Aug 11th Is Google a Media Company?  touches one of them.

One of the key themes accentuated and capitalized upon during the industrial revolution were the benefits of specialization in the manufacture process.  Specialization had been known about for a century (and more) and yet it only achieved social momentum in the American industrial revolution.  Jump forward to today...

Generational Thinking that Squashes Innovation and how it is justified by politics (for now)

*updated with new links at end of post*

This post is the closest I've ever felt to controversy with my old professional environment when writing the root trend. Onward anyway:

This AM's Wash Post has a discussion of how Internet radio is struggling to survive. The story is characterized underneath as a battle of political wills and lobbying strength in that arena. The issue is made by both sides to be one of fairness.  It is offered indirectly by the writer that upstart competitors face many challenges...as if this disparity in treatment is not surprising. Maybe not but, the issues at stake are tremendous and transcend anything about music, the nature of competition in media, and politics in general. That no discussions of the very long term view (the secular trend) is available is disappointing but, not surprising. This issue will, one day, be framed as a generational conflict of interest. That is when this will be resolved and only then. I recently wrote about this topic (link above) but this update will frame it more briefly...I call it the (industrial) (r)evolution of media.

What follows will briefly frame this discussion in a very different manner than you see it told in the news today(Saturday 8 16 08); one that allows for both a changing social mood (the primary social trend) and our inexorable demand for information (content of all kinds).  The generational divide must be breached in order for this conflict to be resolved. Killing off the competition will not make old media's struggles better....nor will it serve the evolving needs of the market for content.

welcome