Must Google die?

Earlier in the week I ran into an interesting and intriguing article, titled "Why Google Must Die" from from John C. Dvorak. The least I can say is that the article made noise in the blogosphere and on the internet in general. Several sites included detailed discussions about why John was wrong (Sphinn, Newsvine, NamePros to name a few). Some even go to point out this is Google bashing.

Frankly, I have personally experienced the symptoms John describes. I have been on the phone with a colleague, thinking I could use Google rather than dictate or send him a long and complex address. By a matter of fact, while researching for this post, I ran into a number of articles that had nothing to do with the subject. And let's be honest, Google is out there to make money, as much as possible. So, I am only half surprised they push forward the sites that make them most money. What irritates me is that they do not recognize this fact.

Well, maybe this is an overstatement. Interestingly enough, I received yesterday an e-mail from Forbes drawing me to an article titled "The Verdict of Google SearchWiki". On its own blog, Google presents this new facility as a way to "customize search by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting on search results. With just a single click you can move the results you like to the top or add a new site. You can also write notes attached to a particular site and remove results that you don't feel belong." I have not had the opportunity to use it, as it is not yet rolled out in our part of the world. Now, is this the solution that John is looking for?

Frankly I do not believe, as the SearchWiki is, according to Google, strictly private. They don't say what they are doing with your changes, as I am sure they are tracking them and use them to their advantage.

However, if we take the web 2.0 promise seriously, and if we believe Tim O'Reilly's definition that the user adds the content, we may want to seriously think at helping WikiaSearch out. They rely on trusted user feedback from the community to improve their search results. And if we refer to the Wikipedia example, they may turn out to be quite successful in the long run. Will that make Google obsolete?

Web 2.0, use within the enterprise?

As I mentioned in my last entry, I am currently traveling in Asia. I had the opportunity to meet with a series of business leaders and in at least two occasions, the use of the web 2.0 tools came up. If you are not familiar with the term web 2.0, you may have heard about blogs, wiki's, instant messaging, facebook or linkedin etc.

The point that was raised is whether it makes sense to start using the web 2.0 tools in the enterprise. My feeling is absolutely yes, and for two reasons. First, as the younger generation, who grew up with IM, SMS and facebook, comes on board, taking advantage of their familiarity with these tools, it is a tremendous way to increase the communication with them. Whether they are part of the enterprise, or part of the customer base, they are expecting you to communicate with them using those tools.

But there is a second reason, and that is what I call the "virtual coffee corner". Let's remember the time we were all located in the same office and we got all the gossip and informal communication happening at the coffee corner. That quickly became an essential communication vehicle in the company. It allowed the informal network to develop itself. And we all know and experience the importance of that informal network.

Unfortunately, the desk sharing, home office, tele-working etc. which many of our companies have put in place, have tried to kill the informal network, the gossip and the "corridor radio" as we used to call it. That in return has reduced the loyalty of many employees towards their enterprise. I dare to advocate the importance of rebuilding those networks and would like to suggest the web 2.0 tools give us a unique opportunity to do this. They will allow us to rebuild the strength of the enterprise.

Many CIO's today are afraid of the security risks many of those tools are posing. So, they cut out the IM message streams, make Skype illegal, and discourage the use of any tools such as linkedin, plaxo and others. I believe it is a fundamental mistake. Yes, we need to ensure the IT environment security, but we also need to implement the tools that maximize the productivity of the organization. Web 2.0 is definitely part of that. So, let's start the web revolution within the enterprise!