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Newspapers Face the Prisoner's Dilemma With Google
Hugh Pickens writes "Nicholas Carr has an interesting analysis of Rupert Murdoch's threat to de-list News Corp's stories from Google and Microsoft's eager offer to make Bing Murdoch's exclusive search engine for its content. Carr writes that newspapers are caught in a classic Prisoner's Dilemma with Google because Google's search engine 'prevents them from making decent money online — by massively fragmenting traffic, by undermining brand power, and by turning news stories into fungible commodities.' If any single newspaper opts out of Google, their competitors will pick up the traffic they lose. There is only one way that newspapers can break out of the prison — if a critical mass of newspapers opt out of Google's search engine simultaneously, they would suddenly gain substantial market power. Murdoch may have been signaling to other newspapers that 'we'll opt out if you'll opt out,' positioning himself as the would-be ringleader of a massive jailbreak, without actually risking a jailbreak himself. There are signs that Murdoch's signal is working, with reports that the publishers of the Denver Post and the Dallas Morning News are now also considering blocking Google. In the meantime, Steve Ballmer is more than happy to play along with Murdoch because although a deal with News Corps would reduce the basic profitability of Microsoft's search business, it would inflict far more damage on Google than on Microsoft."
Yeah instead you'll get bloggers interpretation of news stories on the front page. Haha.
-The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
There is reason for hope however. Like all complex systems we will find a new equilibrium until something like this happens again. We are in the transition period right now into the Information Age. A new order will establish itself but because of the stochastic nature of the process we do not know what it will be. Also, there will be a much higher frequency of bifurcation throughout our fabric as a whole. But overall the equilibrium should be stable. If you knew where to look these things are apparent. I'm not being snide, I've read stuff and I'm sharing it with you to explore. Research and prove you are right too.
Shh.
I see. So. I think the general discussion is about newspapers. Not the thinly disguised escort service fliers that you pick up in most cities.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
...flame-bait articles...
Isn't that what fire-lighters are for?
I see. So. I think the general discussion is about newspapers. Not the thinly disguised escort service fliers that you pick up in most cities.
Maybe it's because I live in a city where escort service fliers don't need to disguise themselves thinly?
If one rats on the other, the rat goes free, while the other gets 20 years in prison.
Incidentally, the one who went free was later killed in a mysterious accident.
You can see this effect in the Huffington Post. During the run up to the 2010 election it was full of investigative reporting and could be seen as a source for substantive "news".
Dear Mister Future-man:
Do you have any stock tips or winning lottery numbers you could share with those of us living in your past?