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What Would Google Do? Reverse-Engineering the Fastest Growing Company in the History of the World – By Jeff Jarvis
What Would Google Do?
Google seems to have taken over a vast majority of the Internet and digital media since its birth in 1998. But what if Google did rule the world? This is a question that Jarvis brings up on the second half of his book. He touches on ideas that businesses can learn a lot from Google that could eventually help their company for the better. So how can Google improve business? A business can improve drastically if they follow the same rules that Google puts in place for their own company. These rules include, building better relationships with customers, creating a new structure of the way they do things, creating a better public profile, having a new attitude, keeping a good ethic, and more.
Building new relationships is very important to a successful business. In the book Jarvis talks about a blog post he made about the Dell Company and his poor experience. This blog post went viral resulting in their customer satisfaction dropping. He explained that he wrote a letter to Dell giving them options of how to better their product and customer satisfaction. He told them that talking with customers and personally responding to complaints shows that the company is making an effort to better their relationship with consumers. He also talked about how bad press/PR for a company can work in its favor by showing them what needs to be changed.
Another rule that Jarvis touched on was the idea of new architecture. This idea talks about building links and connections with other companies. These networks that come from these relations are important for collaboration. An example from Google would be how their search engine works. Google learns from what we search for and click on making it easier for them to pull more accurate results from searches. So these “chains” work together to find us exactly what we are looking for.
The next rule Jarvis explains is new publicness. This basically means that to have a successful business you need to be simple, clear, and available. If you do this your company will be seen and perceived well by the public. There are risks to being public with your company but in the long run it is probably a risk worth taking.
New attitude is another rule by Jarvis to create a successful business. Jarvis explains that businesses need to have a new attitude about how they run their business. They need to learn to trust their customers and their opinions. An example from Google is that they pay attention to which websites are linked more and these specific sites are worth more and Google decides this by looking at user feedback and trusting their opinions or thoughts. Businesses should also listen to their customers. They say that the customer is always right so business should listen to them and make changes to the way they do things to accommodate what their customers are saying.
The last rule that Jarvis touches on is the rule of having a new ethic in your business. Everyone makes mistakes. When a company makes mistakes they should do two things, admit to their mistakes because this makes the company more believable, and fix their mistakes, which makes the company appear more credible. Working with the customers hand in hand can be very beneficial because they can give their input on what they like or don’t like about the company and what could be fixed. This will overall build a better connection between the company and the consumer resulting in better products that the consumers actually want to see, and a better chance the consumer will promote your company. Collaboration is key. These rules may be a little confusing at first glance but once a company is able to understand them and begin utilizing them, they should see a rapid growth in the overall success of a company.
By Scott Roberts and Justin Snide
Review of Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle
Is technology destroying our ability to socialize? Sherry Turkle certainly thinks so. One of MIT’s most notable professors, Turkle is the author of a book called Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, and a rather poised critic of social media’s impact on the human experience. The argument in Alone Together comes in two parts, the first being that we are currently going though a “robotic moment.” In other words, Turkle dedicates the first half of the book to exploring the possibility of a world in which people see robots as an apt replacement for human interaction. Admittedly, this idea initially seems more appropriate for a 1950’s science fiction novel than a piece of academic writing. Using the success of the Furby as evidence of her claims, Turkle begins a provocative discussion regarding the substitution of humans for robots. Turkle documents her findings when interviewing a five-year-old about whether or not her Furby is alive. “Well, I love it. It’s more alive than a Tamagotchi because it sleeps with me,” (28). Although this is a rather surprising anecdote, it’s quite hard to believe that words from an age group notorious for having imaginary friends are indicative of an impending social apocalypse. Luckily, Turkle has more in her arsenal than this. Turkle’s discussion of Paro, a robotic harp seal, is a bit more compelling. Miriam, a lonely and elderly woman, begins to develop an affectionate relationship with the lifelike creation. “On this day, she [Miriam] is particularly depressed and believes that the robot is depressed as well,” (9). Alarmed, Turkle declares this scenario as a prime example of the “robotic moment”, and notes that she believes this, as well as other examples of human-robot interactions serve as proof that people are “willing to seriously consider robots not only as pets but as potential friends, confidants, and even romantic partners,” (9). Though these examples are rather shocking, the reader may rightfully question their validity and universal applicability. However, that is not to say this entire section is without merit. The idea of artificial intelligence has long been a fantasy for many people, so at the very least, Turkle calls the reader’s attention to a subject that is often overlooked.
The second half of Alone Together explores more relatable territory—the consequences of social media and electronic methods of communication on real world social interactions. Turkle provides various thought provoking stories of young people who feel trapped by social media—ranging from themes of painstaking creation and maintenance of fabricated identities, to the regret of teenagers who come to the alarming realization that their personal information has been permanently logged into the searchable world of cyberspace, to fear-inducing tales of the degradation (and sometimes total absence) of real world interactions. Turkle notes that nowadays, “we express ourselves in staccato texts.” She goes on to say, “in text messaging, and e-mail, you hide as much as you show. You can present yourself as you wish to be ‘see’. And you can ‘process’ people as quickly as you want to. Listening can only slow you down,” (207). Through such shifts, Turkle believes, we voluntarily give up the emotional content of interactions, and rely on the coldness of technology to convey simplified, and borderline meaningless messages. Combined with Turkle’s captivating writing style, such revelations create the potency of Turkle’s message. Alone Together is a certainly a worthwhile read that will, for better or for worse, leave its audience questioning the place of social media in their lives.
Want to learn more about this book?
Listen to Sherry Turkle talk about Alone Together in her own words!
Or view our PowerPoint presentation below:
Review and PowerPoint presentation by Nicholas Doherty and Katelyn O’Sullivan
Digital & Social Media Literacy 