What would google do

What
Would
Google
Do?
Jeff Jarvis For Tammy, Jake, and Julia Contents
WWGD? 1
Google Rules 9
New Relationship 11
• Give the people control and we will use it
• Dell hell
• Your worst customer is your best friend
• Your best customer is your partner
New Architecture 24
• he link changes everything
• Do what you do best and link to the rest
• Join a network
• Be a platform
• h ink distributed
New Publicness 40
• If you’re not searchable, you won’t be found
• Everybody needs Googlejuice
• Life is public, so is business
• Your customers are your ad agency
New Society 48
• E l e g a n t o r g a n i z a t i o n
New Economy 54
• Small is the new big
• he post-scarcity economy
• Join the open- source, gift economy
• he mass market is dead — long live the mass of niches Contents iv
• Google commodiﬁ es everything
• Welcome to the Google economy
New Business Reality 70
• Atoms are a drag
• Middlemen are doomed
• Free is a business model
• Decide what business you’re in
New Attitude 82
• here is an inverse relationship between control and trust
• Trust the people
• Listen
New Ethic 91
• Make mistakes well
• Life is a beta
• Be honest
• Be transparent
• Collaborate
• Don’t be evil
New Speed 103
• Answers are instantaneous
• Life is live
• Mobs form in a ﬂ ash
New Imperatives 109
• Beware the cash cow in the coal mine
• Encourage, enable, and protect innovation
• Simplify, simplify
• Get out of the way
If Google Ruled the World 119
Media 123
• he Google Times: Newspapers, post-paper
• Googlewood: Entertainment, opened up
• GoogleCollins: Killing the book to save it Contents v
Advertising 145
• And now, a word from Google’s sponsors
Retail 153
• Google Eats: A business built on openness
• Google Shops: A company built on people
Utilities 162
• Google Power & Light: What Google would do
• GT&T: What Google should do
Manufacturing 172
• he Googlemobile: From secrecy to sharing
• Google Cola: We’re more than consumers
Ser vice 182
• Google Air: A social marketplace of customers
• Google Real Estate: Information is power
Money 189
• Google Capital: Money makes networks
• he First Bank of Google: Markets minus middlemen
Public Welfare 199
• St. Google’s Hospital: h e beneﬁ ts of publicness
• Google Mutual Insurance: he business of cooperation
Public Institutions 210
• Google U: Opening education
• he United States of Google: Geeks rule
Exceptions 222
• PR and lawyers: Hopeless
• God and Apple: Beyond Google?
Generation G 229
Continuing the conversation 243
Ac know ledg ments and disclosures 245
Index 247 About the Author
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher WWGD? It seems as if no company, executive, or institution truly understands how
to survive and prosper in the internet age.
Except Google.
So, faced with most any challenge today, it makes sense to ask: WWGD?
What would Google do?
In management, commerce, news, media, manufacturing, marketing,
service industries, investing, politics, government, and even education and
religion, answering that question is a key to navigating a world that has
changed radically and forever.