Slashdot Mirror
The Google News Dilemma
(54)T-Dub writes "Wired has an interesting article about the status of news.google.com. It has been 3 years since its release and the major bugs have long since been ironed out, so why is it still in beta? Apparently, it's because Google hasn't been able to figure out how to make money off of it. Slapping up some Google Adwords seems like the obvious solution. The problem is that Google News has multi-million-dollar news publishers scared because of the incredibly low-cost method that Google has employed to bring us 'up the minute news.' Currently they are able to scrape the content of news sites under fair use because they are not using it for commercial purposes. Once they move away from the nonprofit, educational purposes of their system they can expect to be deluged by cease and desist orders. Before you break out the tissue box though, remember that google sent their own cease and desist orders to a Google News RSS feeder a few months back."
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=dilemma&r =67
...visit Google News.
1. Create some cool web portal things
:-)
2. Drive traffic to it
3. ??
4. Profit!
Google, like the rest of the world, is still stuck on figuring out #3.
-Charles
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
well they can still take stories out of your gmail account and present those as news
Do we have editors over here?
Face it - tech news is the field for people who really sucked at both technical writing and journalism. You're not going to find the best writers aspiring to be techno-journalists.
Wired not work good beer without.
Am I reading it wrong, or is the title of that Wired article (Google News: Beta Not Make Money) really bad grammar? Do they have editors over there?
Tarzan like job at wired but miss jungle.
wait, you mean google is useful for stuff other than finding porn and fixing linux kernel module compilation errors?
vodka, straight up, thank you!
"Oh no! Beta!"
-Snake, from The Simpsons
My current employment is beta, until I make some money that is.
Why stop there?
The next time my mother-in-law asks why I don't make more money, I'm going to tell her I'm in Beta.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
"Apparently, it's because Google hasn't been able to figure out how to make money off of it.
;)
At $135 per share, I'm thinking somebody has fgured out how to make money off of it
You need a FREE iPod Nano
the best plan to make money is to hold other news sites hostage. Good ole extortion, that's a great way to make money. Offer to make Google News worse if the 10 largest competitors pay up proper.
As someone once told me after looking at my personal weblog, "Here's a piece of advice, fire all your geeks and hire one news guy."